Hmmm. I don’t think any other poster on this forum is quite as much a glutton for punishment as you are. (No offence intended. I find it interesting that the only two regular female posters on this forum are by far the hardest on themselves in training).
As you have probably noticed by now, and as Herb pointed out earlier, you are suffering a series of injuries related to cumulative stress and overuse. (Low iron levels, knee pain, shin splints etc etc). As you will probably find out, if you keep on flogging yourself mercilessly these injuries will become chronic, or at the very best, recurrent.
You know what the answers to your questions are. It will be time to start running again when the pain is gone. The ‘off-running’ time will be wasted if you don’t ease back gradually into training when the pain is gone and resume training with twice as much effort as before in order to ‘make up for lost ground’.
I suspect you know this already, and I suspect deep within you find these answers highly unsatisfactory. Therefore you will have to find a way to satisfy the following three conditions (i) Stay off the track long enough to let your body heal (ii) Find a non track-related activity challenging enough to satisfy your drive and ambition i.e. quiet the little demon whispering in your ear that you ought to be hauling ass (iii) maintain your strength and conditioning so that when you do return to track your progress will have been minimally impacted.
Personally, I use weightlifting to satisfy these goals, when forced off the track for long periods due to injury. By, say, aiming to improve my squat PR by 20kg, or my power clean by 10kg, over a month or so, I manage to keep myself off the track, have concrete goals to work towards (it’s difficult to maintain motivation for seemingly pointless workouts if you don’t have goals), and feel like not all is lost. But that’s me. Perhaps another activity arouses your competitive instinct, like cycling or swimming. It’s up to you. But you know what to do.
Thaaanks…
I think I needed someone to tell me all this, as you said I probably know all this already, I just need to be reminded cause I’m very stubborn and I’ll openly admit it…Herb said “live and learn”. I live, but when it comes to injuries, I never learn… I just want to keep going…
I think the hardest part for me will be once the pain is gone, to gradually go back into training. I’ll need a LOT of patience to do that…
And I don’t know if I should compete in my indoor season or not… My coach in Greece told me it’s not worth it to compete if I keep getting injured, and just get ready for outdoors.
I guess I’ll just see how the healing process goes. I think swimming will be a very good replacement workout. Last year when I stayed out for 5 weeks that’s what I did, and then PR’ed in both the 200 and the 400 (only I got extremely sick of biking and running in water…) But I’m not really allowed to bike yet. I’m hopefully starting pool workouts next week. Using the weight room too.
injuries suck and my instinct is always to ignore them if possible, or train through while doing treatment. I always thought that this proved my courage, but a coach once told me that it takes true guts to rest and he is probably right.
props to you for taking time off! If you keep up in the weight room, you can still make gains. I took last summer off for my ankle and hit the weights hard and gained a lot of strength and muscle that I probably wouldn’t have otherwise, and my speed didn’t suffer much.
good luck! I’m sure you will still be ready to compete.
I wish I could ignore this one (injury), but I DID learn something from my last year’s inury: if you keep pushing, the bone actually breaks :eek:
Now I’m not sure if what I have is a shin stress fracture or not, but it’s certainly not a break, so I’m proud I didn’t get it to that point…see, I’m making some progress, thumbs up! :rolleyes:
I’m going to the pool, the weigth room and possibly cycling, starting this Monday. For now I just do stuff at home and giving my abs the workout of their life. I used the big bouncy ball today a lot (what’s the proper name for that ball anyways???) and also did push ups (on one leg) and some leg toning exercises. The whole thing took me about an hour. One of the two DVD’s I bought the otehr day has some really good exercises with the ball. I just like doing them without the tape (once I watch the tape once) because I do more reps, concentrate on stuff I want and skip all the boring explanation and “bla bla” talk.
I don’t know what happened…I posted earlier this day, but for some reason my post got erased…oh well, here I go again:
Did no workout on Christmas.
Today worked out for about two hours doing:
ABS: 6 sets of 100 bicycles (100each side), with 1min rest per set
20min of leg toning exercises from my “Body prep tennis” tape (good stuff)
10min abs from same tape, followed by some glute exercises
about 40minutes of Pilates tape
Tomorrow I’m going to the pool and lifting. I need to feel like I’m working out again…
My shin still hurts while walking, and it gets worse if I’m out in the cold. I stopped taking anti-inflammatories about two days ago cause I thought I was taking them for way too long (more than three weeks). Should I keep taking them? Do anti-inflammatories only ease off the pain, or do they actually enhance the healing process?
Aaaah…finally a real workout, although it was in the pool
10min warm up: jogging in water, some kick boards.
At this point I’m experimenting to see what hurts and what doesn’t. I can actually feel my shin while running in water, but it’s not the bad pain; more of the “massage pain”. So I decided it was all right to keep going. Please state any objections.
Pool Workout:
4*(5*1min runs), w/30sec rest between the reps, and 2-3min between sets.
This will help me with endurance, cause I have a problem after the 300m mark of the 400m.
I’m hoping my speed won’t suffer by doing weights (tomorrow) and shorter, harder runs in the pool (20-30seconds). I don’t think the bike is a good idea quite yet.
Oh: went to the sauna afterwards and felt sooo good.
Pool:
10min warm up running in water, swimming, etc (kickboards kinda hurt my shin).
Workout:
2*(630sec runs), 1min/ rep, 5min/ set
Nice workout
Then with the floating belt: 3 A skips, 3* B skips (alternating one with the other)
25minute sauna
Weights: legs (oh gosh, I wish I remembered the weights I did…)
4leg extensions(I think I did up to 70lbs)
4leg curls (same as leg extensions)
4I don’t know what these are called, it’s on the hi abductor machine, but instead of kicking to the side, you kick backwards, and then I did 4 more where you kick forwards and upwards (increasing weight every set)
4 hip abductors, 4* hip adductors (up to 110lbs I think or a bit more)
Warm up: 5minutes jogging in water, followed by 15 minutes board kicks (less shin bothering today, yay, but still there…poop)
Workout: 2* (5*20sec runs), these were quite fast, with one every minute and a half, and 5min/set
Then sauna for 10minutes.
Weights:
4bench press, (1090lbs, 1095lbs, 10100lbs, 8105lbs) This is the most bench pressing I’ve ever done, and I hardly did any all fall
4 hallway lunches going forwards and then backwards, first two w/ 25lbs DB’s, then I felt my hamstring pulling on my and went down to 15lbs, then skipped the fourth set all together to avoid any damage
Those were superset with:
4* chin ups (5 reps). I didn’t even know I could do these all by myself! :). Cause I hadn’t done any since last spring and last year it took me a while to achieve them.
3* curl and press, 10reps, with 25lbs DB’s
Need to stretch that hamstring…
And I need to get used to lifting weights again pretty heavily. In Greece my coach was not very big on weights.
The real fun starts when you wake up in the morning lying in bed, “probing” your shin the way you probe at a sore tooth, and you feel ab-so-lute-ly nothing, so you think “oh wow, great, it’s gone, it’s gone” and then you get out of bed and stand up, and then - you feel a twinge, the slightest of twinges, nothing really, but that sinking feeling comes … oh sht, the dmn thing is still there …
So are you saying that the time to start running regularly again will be when the slightest twinge is gone?? What if that never happens? I’ve heard cases where people haven’t been running for a full year and still have shin splints. Sorry, but I’m not waiting that long… :eek:
Was planning on having today as my cool down day and it worked out fine cause I’m sore all over from lifting yesterday. So went to the pool with a guy teammate and girl friend and did:
10min jogging in water
10min kickboards (these hurt even less than yesterday)
25m kick board race (I won )
6* (1:15min running in water, these were pretty easy)
And of course had my finale in the sauna
Today I ate mustard with liver eeeewww cause I can’t forget that I need to raise my hematocrit. My next blood exam is Jan 15.
This was supposed to be a 2min pool interval day, followed by lifting, but I called the gym before I went there and found out it is closed…bummer…
So I hopped on my bike which my daddy fixed a week ago and I went on a 51min course with the first 15min being pretty steep little uphills and downhills that took my breath away and the rest being fairly flat, with some gradual inclines here and there.
When I was done my legs felt tight as a rock. I’m pretty sure I PR’ed in this course from last year :). Next time I’ll look to break 51min.
I should be doing some stretching now, but I’m going shopping, so that has to wait…
Might do an ab workout later on as well.
Today:
Went outside in the freezing cold and did my bike hill route and PR’ed by 2:30minutes . It was so cold that I think my legs were numb throughout the whole thing, so I don’t really know if this was good for my shin or not :rolleyes: .
Oh, I did this in 48:30, compared to 51:00 last Friday.
Stretching.
One hour advanced tai bo tape for abs and butt. What a workout!!! I’m definately doing this more often (my sis got it two days ago and we tried it today together). I was sweating, tired, my muscles got a strength and explosiveness workout, almost pulled my butt and my abs were burning . And I liked this tape because there was no real hopping to hurt my shin. Yay! I strongly recommend it. It’s called TAE BO, Ultimate Abs/Butt.
Oh…now that I’m looking at the back cover of the DVD, I think there was also a second part to the whole thing for a total of 2 hours! Haha, well that will have to wait until next time…
A’s and B’s with floating belt, for about 7minutes.
Shot some hoops with two teammates.
Then we headed over to the weight room (these are all in lbs):
RDL & HC & JK, 3 sets of 2 (90, 100, 105)
Hang Clean, 5 sets of 3 (95, 100, 105, 110, 115) (PR’ed here, and that was my first time doing hang cleans since last May )
3a. BB Forward Lunges, 5 sets of 8 each leg (95, 100, 105, 115, 120, I think)
3b. Clap Push Ups, 5 sets of max reps (10, 8, 9, 10, 12)
3c. Pull Ups, 5 sets of 5, with some assistance after the 3rd rep, and more assistance after the 2nd set…(first time since May)
4a. Single Leg Squat, 2 sets of 8 each
4b. DB Curl % Press, 2 sets of 12 (15lbs)
300abs (using Swiss ball, then regular crunches)
Then played some more basketball. I’m not good at this sport, but I can be competitive playing “horse” with guys
Oh yeah, I visited the trainer today about my shin. She said to ice (been doing that), strengthen my shins and get my calves more flexible (could work on that more) and stay away from running for now (been doing that :mad: ).
Also did an hour tai bo with my sis this evening, concentrating on glutes and abs (glutes mostly), took about an hour and I was in pain, and dripping sweat throughout the whole thing…
My shoulders are quite sore from lifting this morning.
I was so sore this morning, it was hard to get out of bed :rolleyes: Yesterday’s lifting is what did it… Shoulders feel the worst.
I visited the trainer before I did anything today, so I can go to the doctor about my shin and possibly get a bone scan. My coach insisted on doing that, so we at least have a diagnosis and know how much rest to give it.
I’m going on Thursday.
Pool:
WU: 10min easy running, 10min kickboard
1060sec fast runs, w/60sec rests
620sec very fast runs, w/60sec rests
10 laps of kickboard
Went in the sauna for 15min then had a COLD shower and it felt great.
Then played “coach” for two of my teammates who had to do a workout on the track. That was fun, watching them run in great weather for January standards…
10min warm up at level 2 intensity (scale of 1-9)
3*(6*30sec fast), w/1min/rep, 3min/set.
I tried keeping the speed above 140mph at all times (during the fast runs of course, during the first fast 15sec I was up to 145, and towards the end I hit 152-153). Heart rate went up to 182 right after the speed part, during the rep rests it fell down to 168-172. Rest intervals were at 70mph.
15min cool down
Played some basketball.
WEIGHTS: (time to test my memory…)
SN & OHSQ (=snatch, and then while arms are up fall into a squat), 3 sets of 3: only did the light bar with this in order to learn the technique right.
Snatch, 4 sets of 5: 45, 45, 55, 60
3a. Back Squat, 5 sets of 5: 115, 125, 135, 145, 155 (my PR last year was a 165 I think, w/ same amount of reps)
3b. Box Jumps, 5 sets of 5
4a. 3-Way Shoulder Raises, 3 sets of 8 each: 5 lb plates
4b. Seated Row, 3 sets of 8: 50, 60, 65
RDL, 3 sets of 8: 55, 65, 75
Core (a bunch of different things with med ball mostly)
Tomorrow morning I’m seeing the doctor about my shin. It’s A LOT better, but it still bothers. It’s not comfortable if I try to run either. :mad:
Classic case of shin splints (left leg). Treatment: ultra sound, anti-inflamatories, ice massages, strengthening exercises, yada yada…we all know this…
Chondromalacia, which is what caused the severe left knee pain. Caused my inbalance of the four muscles of the quad (usually weakness of the inner muscle), which causes the knee cap to become from looking icy smooth to looking like “cottage cheese” (this is how the doc described it).
Treatment: It can easily be treated with physical therapy; working towards balancing all 4 muscles of the quad. And I can “start running when appropriate” (depends on what the therapists tell me).
YAAYYYYY… This is a lot better than what I was afraid of (fracture).
Not sure what I’m doing for a workout today. Either bike intervals, or two hours of tai bo’ing to take care of my core and leg strength.
Forgot to post what I did yesterday:
55min on the elliptical
1 hour of core from the tai bo’ing ab tape. Very good workout.
I am quite upset because I’m supposed to be doing physical therapy at my school’s health services, but they are closed for winter break until the 20th!!! :mad: So I went to our trainers and they said I could go and do stuff with them, but to be honest, those people are half clueless…I don’t trust that they will make my injury any better…So I’m searching on line and doing my own physical therapy, while going to the trainers as well. If anyone knows any good exercises for the treatment of chondromalacia (or runner’s knee), let me know!!! All I did today was single leg squats, an exercise with the resistance band, and squats against the wall with the Swiss ball. Then some stuff for my shin splints too.
I asked the trainer if I can start running again next week, and she said only if I’m pain free :eek: I tried doing some drills today, but my shin hurt. I’m a bit confused, cause I’m not sure what to do about these injuries. The doctor seemed to let me practice with shin splints, cause he gave me anti inflamatories and told me to take them if I hurt in practice, and for the runner’s knee he told me to get advice from the physician.
Hang clean+Forward squat+Jerk, 3 sets of 2: 95 (that was too much), 85, 85
Clean & Jerk (65%of Monday’s max), 4 sets of 3: 70,75, 80, 80 ( I think I went up to 70% though)
3a. Walking Lunges (forwards and backwards, for one looong hallway…), 4 sets, w/ 20lb DBs
3b. Split Squat Jumps, 4 sets of 10
4a. Chin Ups, 4 sets of 5, w/ some assistance after second rep (arms STILL sore from Monday…)
4b. DB Incline Press, 4 sets of 8: 20, 20, 25, 25
4c. Single Leg Hip Extension, 4 sets of 10 each.
Was planning on going to the school to do a bike workout, but it was raining ice… and it was waaaay too slippery and yucky to drive there, so I stayed home and did 70min on the elliptical while watching Elf and then went on with my physical therapy exercises. My leg feels A LOT better. I might try running on the treadmill tomorrow.
I freaked out today because I was told there was only one week left for winter break, when I thought I had two more… So that only leaves me with two full weeks of training before my first indoor meet, and that is IF my leg feels all right when I start running.
Tomorrow I’m giving running a try. The knee feels fine and I’m doing my quad strengthening exercises for it, I just don’t know how my shin is going to feel. BUT I’ve been getting no pain when I wake up in the morning. I’m keeping my fingers crossed…
I just want to keep going…
What if that never happens? I’ve heard cases where people haven’t been running for a full year and still have shin splints. Sorry, but I’m not waiting that long… :eek:
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