Post-Marathon Injury and Recovery

It has been a rough couple of weeks for me despite the strong showing in the marathon. I tried to get back to running the week after the race and after a 3 runs it was apparent something was wrong.  I had consistent pain in my foot and the day after could barely walk. Thus begun my saga with the medical professionals...

Over the course of two weeks I saw roughly 5 doctors who all seemed to have different thoughts on what was wrong.  The worst by far was the podiatrist who just shrugged me off as a crazy runner and gave me a $400 foot brace and said to staff off my feet for 6 weeks.  I went back to him to pick up my x-rays and questioned him about his diagnosis and he said it was very plausible that I did have a stress fracture or dislocated bone in my foot.  I did end up finding a podiatrist/orthapedist who specializes in running injuries.  He said that it was most likely tendonitis but I could get a bone scan to rule out the fracture for sure.  The scan showed no stress fractures so I was somewhat back to square one.

I believe I have been able to maintain some of my fitness by aqua jogging and spinning. I really disliked stationary bikes because they were always really uncomfortable but I actually am finally getting used to it.  The aqua jogging was brutal because I run intervals in the pool for 45 minutes and always feel completely wiped afterwards.  For all of you who think water aerobics are for old ladies in swimmies I challenge you try and spend 10 minutes running intervals in the pool.

Since I haven't had any pain in my foot for over a week or more and the bone scan was negative I was given clearance to start running again.  I will be doing some lightweight run/walk exercises this week to see how my foot handles it.  I am also working on transitioning away from stability/neutral shoes to more minimalist shoes as they supposedly are better for your ankles/feet in the long run.

I am putting together a schedule to see if I can get back to normal base (50-60 mpw) in about 4-6 weeks. This will be very dependent on how I feel because if I get sore or any pain I'll ramp down or if I am feeling good I may ramp up faster since I have the fitness level and have had plenty of rest.  Stay tuned to find out how my recovery goes and what my schedule is going to look like for my next goal: sub-3:00:00 marathon.