I used to have a running blog but, considering that I haven't been able to run since May, I'm probably not very behind in my updates.In a nutshell I wasn't able to reboot after Boston. I took a week off and ran two easy 45 mile weeks, one 5K, then struggled through two 20 mile weeks and crashed hard. It's been 8 weeks since my first symptoms and six weeks since I stopped running and time off hasn't helped. I'm dead in my tracks looking for a diagnosis which hopefully might show the path towards recovery.
I was looking forward to this stretch of late spring and early summer as a time to run races for fun and focus on not having much focus. I had already signed up for three races which have all gone by unraced. To make maters worse I tried to compensate for my running volume on my bike and got a secondary injury by most likely ramping up too quickly. Fortunately that one was clear cut and I'll be fully recovered from that soon. I'm already back on the bike.
But that running injury? It's still undiagnosed. I've seen my doctor twice, an orthopedist twice, and had an x-ray and a bone scan. Nothing. Last weekend I saw a sports medicine specialist who has ordered a compartment syndrome test next week. They advised me to go ahead and take some Tylenol an hour before the test. Great! I guess that's a kind way of saying it's uncomfortable. If that's negative my next move is an MRI.
I've run a couple easy one mile test runs and they didn't go well. In the meantime I've discovered I'm a much better swimmer than I ever knew. I've been swimming every other day and average more than a mile per swim. I can comfortably knock out a mile is less than 40 minutes. Those YMCA swimming lessons back in the early 80s are paying off big time right now.
That's my update. I still owe a report on my second half of Boston but the cliff notes version is that I faded in Newton due to having trashed my quads in the first half but held steady in Brookline and had a very strong finish from Kenmore easily passing more than 100 runners down Boylston.
I'm keeping my focus on overcoming this injury and am still registered for New York, which I hope to run. I don't expect to set any PRs this year but think I might like to try my hand at this local race April 16, 2012 once again. I'm a glutton for punishment.
