Breaking things, Part 2
...The only trouble I had with C25K was the same trouble everybody has: The jump from week 3 to week 4, where the length of each run doubles. That week lasted a fortnight. Week 5 is the first week where all three days aren't the same, and it ramps up pretty quickly, too: three 1/2 mile runs, two 3/4 mile runs, then a single 2-mile run.
The day of the two-mile run was also the day I had to go out of town for a funeral, so for the first time, I ran before 7:00am. I don't know if the time had anything to do with it, but the run was fantastic. Towards the end I had to remember my promise not to overdo anything, because it really did feel like I could go a full 5K. The only unusual thing was that my left ankle started to ache about 3/4 of the way through the run. I didn't think much of it and finished the two miles, but then the damn ankle didn't stop hurting. Hustling through airports didn't help, nor did the campout with Maggie a week after I got back. I went to my regular doctor, who sent me for X-rays, which came up negative. *whew* Except the pain was still there. So the doctor sent me for different X-rays, but they came back negative, too. *whew* again. Except the pain was still there.
Finally, a month after what would be my final run of Crutch-to-5K, I went back to the orthopedist, who sent me for the MRI I should have gotten right away (the insurance company had more to do with that than my doctors). The MRI tech, not being a radiologist, could only say. "Yeah, it lit up pretty good; there's definitely something going on down there."
That something was a high lateral malleolar non-displacement ... [wait for it] ... fracture. That's right, fifty years of nothing and now twice inside of six months, and back in Das Boot, although I could at least still drive. The resulting bone-density scan indicated osteopenia, and led the orthopedist to correctly guess that I was lactose intolerant. No surprise that I'm hitting the calcium citrate pretty hard now.
Out of Das Boot in eight weeks, I was cleared to ski, but this year's yucky warm rainy winter made that not happen. But on March 3, I started C25K from the beginning, one more time. And like last time, I was out of shape enough that starting from the beginning was the right thing. I'm almost on borrowed time. I'm in week 4 again. The first two days were hard enough that I may have to make it a fortnight again. But I'm really curious as to what's going to happen when I do hit week 5 day 3 and that two-mile run.
In any case, if I get hurt again before completing the program, that's it for running. I hope it doesn't come to that.
The day of the two-mile run was also the day I had to go out of town for a funeral, so for the first time, I ran before 7:00am. I don't know if the time had anything to do with it, but the run was fantastic. Towards the end I had to remember my promise not to overdo anything, because it really did feel like I could go a full 5K. The only unusual thing was that my left ankle started to ache about 3/4 of the way through the run. I didn't think much of it and finished the two miles, but then the damn ankle didn't stop hurting. Hustling through airports didn't help, nor did the campout with Maggie a week after I got back. I went to my regular doctor, who sent me for X-rays, which came up negative. *whew* Except the pain was still there. So the doctor sent me for different X-rays, but they came back negative, too. *whew* again. Except the pain was still there.
Finally, a month after what would be my final run of Crutch-to-5K, I went back to the orthopedist, who sent me for the MRI I should have gotten right away (the insurance company had more to do with that than my doctors). The MRI tech, not being a radiologist, could only say. "Yeah, it lit up pretty good; there's definitely something going on down there."
That something was a high lateral malleolar non-displacement ... [wait for it] ... fracture. That's right, fifty years of nothing and now twice inside of six months, and back in Das Boot, although I could at least still drive. The resulting bone-density scan indicated osteopenia, and led the orthopedist to correctly guess that I was lactose intolerant. No surprise that I'm hitting the calcium citrate pretty hard now.
Out of Das Boot in eight weeks, I was cleared to ski, but this year's yucky warm rainy winter made that not happen. But on March 3, I started C25K from the beginning, one more time. And like last time, I was out of shape enough that starting from the beginning was the right thing. I'm almost on borrowed time. I'm in week 4 again. The first two days were hard enough that I may have to make it a fortnight again. But I'm really curious as to what's going to happen when I do hit week 5 day 3 and that two-mile run.
In any case, if I get hurt again before completing the program, that's it for running. I hope it doesn't come to that.