It’s been about 10 days since the doc said I don’t have a stress fracture.  I finally got a run in on Sunday.  10 minute walk, 5 minute run, 5 walk, 5 run.  I walked to and from the little dirt track around the drainage field a few blocks from the house before starting the prescribed walk/run interval.  I ended up with some ankle pain in the left leg but I wrote that off as a side effect of wearing the boot for a week and a half and having all the little muscles in my ankle, foot, and lower leg immobilized for such a long time.  The pain lingered for a couple days but hasn’t come back since.

I went to my first physical therapy session on Tuesday.  A lot of notes taken about things she saw and a couple of stretches recommended to strengthen totally unrelated areas.  She thinks the left leg got sore after compensating for weaknesses in my right leg.  Sounds plausible.

I spent about 45 minutes on the elliptical on Tuesday evening before going to study for finals.   Upped the intensity a little bit to get the HR up some more.  I went in for another PT session yesterday afternoon.  Got a nice massage on the calf and left leg.  She then taped my leg.  When she told me she was going to tape the leg to offer some support where the calf muscle attaches to the tibia, I imagined the lower leg being wrapped tightly.  However, she took a long strip of sports tape, ran it from just below my knee all the way down towards my shin right on top of the tibia.  Towards the ankle, she cut the strip in half and then wrapped it around under my foot.  The only thing I can feel is how bad it’s going rip out leg hairs when I go to pull it off.

Went for another run last night.  5 walk, 5 run for 30 minutes.  Didn’t have any issues with the leg. Things feel pretty good today, too.  Planning on getting some quality time on the elliptical or the bike this afternoon and then another run on Sunday.  Looking at the rest of the plan, I should be running for an hour by the end of June.  After that I’ll spend a few weekends going to Barr Trail and back and then a couple weeks of training on the summit.

Got in to see the sports medicine doc yesterday and after a quick eval and discussion of my symptoms, he told me I likely didn’t have a stress fracture.  He took a couple x-rays stating that a stress fracture that has been around as long as I’ve had pain in the shin would show up on film by now.  They came back negative.  He prescribed some physical therapy for shin splints and recommended I be custom fit for some orthotics to correct the poor alignment issues as a result of my severely flat feet.  I’m going to start running again tomorrow evening using the Pfitzinger rehab plan for stress fractures (just in case) and take it real slow getting back up to speed.  Hopefully the combination of PT strengthening the muscles/tendons on the medial tibia, added support from the orthotics, and a slow and sustained ramp-up of miles will keep me injury free and I can get back to Pikes Peak training soon.

Still walking around in this stupid boot and doing very little in the way of working out.  I’m going to put in a marathon session on the elliptical this afternoon.  I’ve got an appointment with a specialist tomorrow to figure out when I can get back to running.

Spent all weekend in Phoenix, sat by the pool, drank a lot and spent time with Michelle, her  brother, and her parents.  In a bit of a fog for a Monday.

So I’ve been running for a couple months on a stress fracture.  Can’t remember how long exactly it’s been since I started feeling the pain but I wrote it off as shin splints for the longest time.  After it didn’t get better following a two week break, I broke down and went to the doc.  Bone scan showed a fracture in my left tibia.  Gonna be in a boot for a couple weeks and then evaluated by a sports doc to get me back into training while not hurting myself again.   The doctor said I may still be able to start running again and get plenty of quality training in before the Ascent.

I took a solid two weeks off, no running or hiking or anything strenuous save for a couple circuits at the gym.  All the pain in my shin dissipated and things were feeling pretty good.  I decided to take advantage of the awesome weather and head over to Palmer Park on Monday.  As soon as I started running I could feel the pain in my left leg.  Fabulous!  As it has done every time before it went away within the first mile and I got a nice 3.5 mi run in.

Woke up Tuesday morning to the familiar stiffness in the shin.  It got worse today.  I finally decided to call the doc and see if they could tell me how to fix it.  Went in for a look at it today and she sent me off for a bone scan.  I can’t get in for that until next Tuesday so I’m stuck doing nothing again until next week.  Hope it’s not a stress fracture and I can get it to heal up with a bit more rest.

This is getting depressing…..

Gonna take a couple weeks to let my calves/shins heal up.  They usually are fine to run on once I warmup but have been getting progressively more sore after runs as of late.  The tender areas are also spreading.  Will ride the bike in the meantime.  Hopefully I can hold out and heal up until about the 20th of April.  Sucks!

I wasn’t terribly sore from the run with the Incline Club on Sunday. My legs just felt kinda tired and a little stiff but not much in the way of muscle soreness. I felt it would be a good idea to go out for a few miles and warm them up and stretch things out. I can’t say it was a horrible idea, but it wasn’t fun. I decided to run to the gym, get a quick workout in, and then run home. It was only two miles, but it hurt most of the way there. It just took that long to get warmed up. I finally started feeling good when I was almost there. I felt fine after and did another half mile up a nice hill and back down to Michelle’s car. Thankfully, she didn’t make me run all the way back home.

Pretty good week.  The weather is starting to get nicer and that makes it easier for me to go out and run.

Mon - 3.75 mi - down past the baseball stadium and back to the house

Wed - ~4 mi, Palmer Point loop with a little extra added in.

Sun - 10.2 mi, Incline Club workout

Total 18 mi

Finally got off my ass and went to an Incline Club workout. Got there a few minutes early, ran into a girl that recognized me from the RunnersWorld forums, signed in and then hit the streets. Ran up to Ute Pass Trail, over to Waldo Canyon about a mile in, and then came back the same way. I forgot how much the first couple of hills on UPT suck. Definitely need to get some more hill training in, but I guess thats why I show up to run with those folks.

Map of the run:

Not near as sore as I thought I would be today. More tired in the legs than anything. Thursday night workouts start on Thursday and I’m planning to make it over to Manitou for that as well.

Another busy week.

Saturday - 5K; 30:34 (PR)

Sunday - 2.5 mi on treadmill; 33:00 (10 minutes at 10% incline)

5.6 mi; 63 min