and the doctor says....

....run!

I went in for another appointment. I'm sick of pain and I wanted answers about it. The pain has shifted from ankle to mid-inner-calf, my calf ALWAYS feels tight, and it always hurts. It's not horrible - I circled 3 out of 10 on a pain scale, and that's on the worst of days - but it's annoying. I did get some relief after an hour of yoga but it tightened up again way too quickly.

Plus, I can't tell you how much I miss enjoying running. Running in pain is just not fun.

The doc said it's nothing serious, yep, I pissed off (his words) my posterior tibial tendon and continued to piss it off so it put a strain in my soleus muscle. If I'm not mistaken, this makes Courtenay and I injury twins. He said it makes perfect sense if my previous shoes were rolling my feet out, and with proper fitting shoes/orthotics, lots of stretching, and some time, it should heal just fine. Oh, and I'm fine to run on it.

....except I'm really not. Because I got all excited and ran 3 miles and it hurt. And it hurt afterwards. I stretched a lot before and after and I used the stick and I iced and today it hurts to walk on it and I'm just not happy. Plus, cardiovascular wise, that run sucked. The hills kicked my butt when they're usually not so bad. Arrgh. Blame it on donating blood, marathon recovery, both, or the option I'm taking - just forget about it because it's not even worth worrying about.

I did find a calf/shin brace at Dick's when I went there to pick up more KT tape, and it seems to help more than my compression sleeves. It's got velcro so I can put it on tighter and it's more supportive. It took away nearly every shred of pain when I put it on and walked around the store. I just don't think anything is helpful enough at the moment if I want to run on it.

I do get to see my old PT for a gait analysis to make sure it's nothing structural (read: it's not the shoes. It's your running form.) He said it's doubtful if I've already been through PT and addressed my weaknesses. That will be fun and interesting, anyway.

So no triathlon this weekend. I wanted to do one last one this year, but honestly, it's going to be cold and I HATE swimming in cold water, plus tris are pricey (remember, I just spent tons of money....didn't even mention my new swimsuit and running clothes) and it's 2 hours away. There's stuff I want to do next weekend, though. I want to do Warrior Run - and I probably will, regardless of how I feel - and there's a bike/run dual that I'd love to do the next day. (Yep, they took out my least favorite part of the tri!!) Maybe another week of not running will help, provided that I and everyone around me can survive that long. They're both 5k runs so I'm not worried about losing so much fitness that I couldn't do them.

Guess I may be getting my money's worth out of my gym membership next week, although I didn't time my tattoo so well because I'm really not supposed to be swimming either....(I considered the tri because the swim would be brief and the tat would be covered by a wetsuit). 

Grumble. I hope this is a speedy healing thing.