If I’m being honest, while the first week was difficult accepting I was injured, this week was far more difficult. It didn’t heal in the first or second week of cross training so now I’ll be heading into week 3 of cross training.
I have decided I’m letting go of Wineglass August 1st. If by August, I don’t feel any better I won’t run the Wineglass Full and defer it until next year. I’m sad to eve think about this but I know it’s better. A lot of people can do a full marathon cycle in 2 months but right now I’m not one of them. It would mean running a 20 miler within a few weeks of coming off an injury and diving into high mileage again. (Hashtag dumb, hashtag forever injured).
Trying to cram miles in, cram my long runs and be stressed about it would probably lead to me to get injured again. There are plenty of seasoned marathoners that could do it…but I’m not one of them. It would be upsetting to defer but there is a marathon (or 100) every year and I would rather run a healthy race versus hobble an injured one.
Training and Recovery: (AMT Post here)
| Monday: | 1 hour high intensity cardio AMT | Nike Training Club Core |
| Tuesday: | 1 hour low intensity cardio AMT | Nike Training Club Core |
| Wednesday: | 1 hour high strength AMT | |
| Thursday: | OFF | |
| Friday: | 90 mins medium AMT | |
| Saturday: | 90 mins medium AMT | Nike training club core |
| Sunday: | 1 hour low intensity AMT | Full body workout at gym |
Just reading my AMT cross training, I’m happy I got it all done. Writing it out makes it seem more intense than it was. Each session went by quickly and I felt like I did enough to suffice but not overdoing it. I never felt my foot at all (another thing that is frustrating since I only feel it when I run).
Recovery Wise:
I did two things last week that I am hoping will speed up my recovery.
First on Monday I got a deep tissue massage and a trigger point on my foot, calve and leg. On Monday I went to the most painful massage session I’ve ever had. It was completely focused on my problem areas. For an hour I thought I might just cry. The woman was great though and broke up a lot of junk in my foot.
I went to a podiatrist.
Second on Thursday, the podiatrist confirmed I had a case of plantar fascitiis. Not the worse case since I have no problems walking or moving. It is a case due to my stride and gait cycle that isn’t going to go away easily. (I’ll do a post on what I believe caused this problem another day. The long story short is: I ran once in an newly updated model of a shoe and have felt problems since).
The podiatrist did a number of things for me including giving a cortisone shot to reduce inflammation. To answer the question, yes it is extremely painful. I know cortisone is a very controversial topic but honestly I had good luck with it. My case of PF was determined to be an isolated incident from running in a shoe that didn’t work for me.
All of that being said, after getting the shot Thursday, it’s been 72 hours and I don’t feel like it did anything right now.
So at least this week I have answers to what I suspected. I also hope that cortisone takes longer than 72 hours and it wasn’t useless to point myself in that much pain. I think it took around 72 hours for my last cortisone shot but that was 2 years ago and also a different injury.
I appreciate everyone’s support. It stinks being out for 2 weeks now but I’ve tried not to whine on the media too much. There are far worse injuries and things in life to let 2 weeks get the best of me.
Questions for you:
Have you ever had a cortisone shot?
I had one once prior for my cyst and it completely got rid of it.
What is the shortest amount of time you’ve ever trained for a marathon?
I had a cortisone shot in my shoulder a few years ago and it worked like magic. Unfortunately most of the people we know who have gotten them did not see any noticeable improvement. Hang in there.
Thanks Gene! I had good luck with cortisone previously so I’m hoping I do for this as well. 🙂
Yuck injuries are the worst, I really feel for you but you are totally approaching it in the smartest way possible. I hobble through mcm last year and I just want to forget the whole thing happened. I trained for Boston in 12 weeks coming off the tendonitis and pushed it even for that as I wasn’t fully recovered at the beginning. Hard decisions to be made where injuries are involved!
I have never had a cortisone shot. Sounds terrible. Lol
But I hope this injury is short lived. Just let Hollie run gosh darn it
You know, you should try acupuncture. It always worked for me.
I’ve never trained for a marathon. I will once I get back to the states. But I use to do trial/road half marathons back to back. My body can handle it very well.
Cortisone should begin working almost immediately, but effects can be masked by temporarily increased inflammation from the shot itself. Usually you should feel relief by the 72 hour mark. I think the soft tissue work is a good idea. Are you wearing an arch support during the day to help it heal? I don’t think it’s good to rely on them long term, but just to allow the injury to settle down, it would help. Even just one of those elastic sleeves that you slide over your arch and instep would probably do the trick. Good luck.
Thanks for your advice Gracie!
I actually tried orthotics but to be honest they made my foot hurt worse as did that foot sleeve. It was pretty disappointed with the sleeve especially because I felt like it set me back even more!
I’ve heard severe cases of inflammation might take a few days to really disperse so at this point I’m hoping that’s why I haven’t felt the effect!
Oh, sorry to hear the supports made it worse. It seems like what sets off or exacerbates PF is so different and personalized to each case. You know what feels right or better for you.
Oh Hollie, I am so sorry to hear that 🙁 But you are doing the right thing. There will always be other marathons, and you are better safe than injuring yourself for the next few years by doing serious long term damage. That massage probably worked wonders, I know when I had really deep it helped. Have you tried graston? Or Active Release? Both of those were VERY helpful to all my muscle injuries. I haven’t had a cortisone shot, but I know it is usually last resort, and should be avoided if possible. I think the podiatrist will help you out though.
Stay positive, you will run better someday because of this setback.
I hate to read that you’re still not running, but kudos to you for being smart about it at least. So many people would just attempt a marathon no matter what, but you are very right- after taking a few weeks off, you have to take a while to build your base back so you don’t get injured again AND so you’re fully prepared for a race. I’m learning this myself right now.
I have never had a cortisone shot, but I don’t blame you for trying it and for being proactive. Same with the massage. It looks like you had a good week of cross training too, at least you’re staying active and hopefully it won’t take you too long to rebuild your training once you can run again (I don’t think it will- you’re a strong runner).
I think that’s a reasonable plan, but hang in there. All the work you are doing to heal is important, regardless if where you’re at by August 1. I had a cortisone shot on the side of my knee for IT band syndrome a couple years ago. That – and physical therapy – did the trick. I trained for a marathon on a 12-week plan once, but I don’t think that’s the best question. August 1 is a good deciding point, but if you can start training before that, then what does your race goal become?
I’ve never had a cortisone shot.
i used to do a few races a year and really train for them. I had so much fun b/c i would be prepared and accomplished my goals. The past few years i ‘ve randomly signed up for races or not really trained. I got injured about 8 weeks out from Boston and had to cross train for two weeks. Boston went okay but i realized for me that races are only fun if i am able to hit a certain goal – assuming im fully trained. Of course you could do wineglass. But what are you looking to get out of it ? I sense you also like hitting certain goals and i am sure you would do really well but if you instead are able to start over and target a spring marathon with a solid 20 week training it might give you the confidence to be the most successful. Once you heal up now you can target some fast fall 10ks and halfs. You don’t want to rush back into fast intervals and long runs – your cardio will probably be fine but i found my tendons and muscles were not 100% and i got injured again during the race (altho didn’t feel it until crossing the finish line).
Sadly we seem to be having similar experiences with deep tissue massage and cortisone injections not doing any good at all. I thought the dry needling (basically acupuncture + small shots of cortisone) was helping me, but I had the worst run of my life today and my hamstring is back to square one. If anything, it’s even worse than before.
I really hope it’s just taking a bit longer for the effects of your cortisone injection to kick in. Everything crossed for you.
xxx
I also hate to see you out Jess. I hope you are also able to run injury free again soon!
I am so sorry to hear you are injuried!!! but it sounds like you are doing everything right to get right back to it. I have never had the shot, but I have heard it hurts like a mother. Sorry to hear you are going through all of this 🙁
You are being very smart about this – as hard as it would be to defer Wineglass to 2015, much better for your long term development as an endurance runner to do that if your training is compromised leading up to it. It’s not like Congress is going to outlaw the 26.2 distance next year, plenty of time to go after it.
This made me LOL a lot. I guess congress has a lot more to worry about then outlawing marathons…although it is bad for your knees. 😉
Hang in there, girl! It sounds like you’re doing all the right stuff but I’m just it’s hard staying off the pavement. I hope you recover fast!
I usually give myself 16 weeks to train for a marathon. I’ve started to think that might be a little long because I’ve found myself peaking too early. I think for my next one I am going to do 4 weeks of base building and 12-14 of training.
I think you are being so smart and realistic. It sounds like you are handling it really well even though I’m sure its so upsetting! I hope you start to see improvements soon!
That ‘s my plan for the next one too ! I am kind of looking forward to that base phase. I’ve always just jumped in to a couple of days/ week of speed bur the idea of building a base and just working on consistency is totally different (for me ). Exciting!
I think I also excel in just base building versus adding speed.
I had plantar fasciitis (although the podiatrist thought it may have been bursitis instead) and got the cortisone shot. To be honest I don’t know if it helped with the problem or if it was just part of a whole regimen of things I did to treat it (including custom orthotics) that fixed the problem. Hope you get back to 100% soon.
What other sort of rehab were you doing if you don’t mind me asking?
Thanks Scott!
No problem… My podiatrist gave me “the boot” to wear at night, but I couldn’t sleep in it. The Strassburg Sock helped a little bit. I also rolled it a lot on golf balls, frozen coke bottles and some kind of prickly ball. I also got a pair of those flip flops looking things with wires that shock your feet (got it at a running expo). You might also check out addaday.com as they have some plantar rollers. Hope this helps.
Ugh, injuries are the worst. But I am impressed with your ability to see the big picture and not risk a bigger or longer term injury! I definitely have not always had that self-discipline :/ I had cortisone shots several years ago in my knee and it definitely helped – I’m a believer!
being injured is absolutely no fun! I hope you’re back before you know it!
This post makes me sad and frustrated for you. 🙁 It’s tough, but you’re doing the right thing. Since we’re younger, it’s so important to keep our long-term goals in mind: how will what we do today, tomorrow, next week affect us as athletes in five, 10, 15 years? Better to rest up and recovery completely.
Exactly and thank you for thinking of me Carrie!
I, ugh, “trained” for my first marathon last year by topping out at a half marathon race a couple weeks before. I guess rugby practice doesn’t do much for long distance cardio endurance, lol. As you know, the last 6-7 miles I definitely paid for it, but at least I set the bar low to PR my next one, haha.
What is your next marathon Dylan?
I guess you could count Ironman Lake Placid, it’d be pretty sweet to have that as my PR race. I’m signed up for the Empire Marathon on October 19th as well. It’s the one I bombed last year (even though it’s a pretty easy course) so I’m hoping to exact some revenge.
Happy you know exactly what the problem is, but sucks it’s not better yet. Hopefully it gets better before Aug 1 but I think that’s really smart of you to defer until you can do it healthy. I’ve had one cortisone shot in the ball of my foot about 9 years ago and I still remember how terrible it was. Those things hurt like a mo fo!
I’m so disappointed to read the cortisone hasn’t helped yet. I hate the idea of you deferring but you are smart, no reason to run 20 milers coming right off an injury. That would undoubtable bring on another injury in another area. I’m sorry this has been so frustrating and hard to heal for you!
I had plantar fasciitis in both my feet…the cortisone shot got rid of the left but not the right. I ended up in PT and the ultra sound and combination of night splint got rid of it. I had over a year with pain from it. I switched to Hokas so I could run and they helped a lot. Once it was gone I was able to switch to a different shoe. Mine was also caused by the change in the model of shoe that I wore. Unfortunately, It took me too long to figure it out. Hope it heals quickly for you!
That’s really helpful and thanks for sharing Amy!
Shot in my shoulder helped recovery A LOT. I was worried that it would give me a false sense of okay-ism and I would just swim on the injury, but that hasn’t been the case. For me, it was at least 3 days before I felt the effects of the shot. I’m so glad to see you exercise prudence. Sounds like you will not have as long a recovery period. Not being able to enjoy your sport sucks, but it can ‘encourage’ other beneficial activities that you may have been neglecting.
In your shoulder. OOMPH that sounds painful. Thanks Lance!
You are kicking ass cross training and staying active at the gym. IT WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE with your fitness level, it really will. I know you have a lot going on right now, wish I could help in more ways than just saying “:/” or “I’m sorry”.
I’m bummed that the cortisone isn’t working this time and that you might have to defer, you know yourself best and if you don’t feel comfortable than absolutely best decision.
Sorry about the PF. I was going to recommend the sleeve as it saved me, but saw that didn’t work for you. I was told calf stretches would help too. I also taped my foot for awhile.
I am so impressed by how smart you are being! August 1 is a perfect deciding date, and I hope you do feel better. I think cortisone is amazing. I’ve had it in a few different areas and it always is a MAJOR help.
I hope that you start to feel better soon!
I actually trained for a marathon on 6 weeks of training (I was only off for 3 weeks). My longest run was a 15 miler, I didn’t taper at all, and I actually PR’ed by a little over seven minutes and I got my first BQ! I still have no clue how this happened, other than the magic of the Shamrock.
If you’re looking for a great fall marathon, the Niagara Falls International Marathon on October 26th starts in the historic district of Buffalo NY and ends right at Niagara Falls in Canada. It is almost perfectly flat and runs along the Niagara River for the last 21 miles. Crowds are pretty light for most of the course (which I like, but others don’t). It’s capped at 1500 participants (993 already registered).
“One of few marathons in the world to start in one country and finish in another; the course is considered flat and fast and has hosted two USA men’s Olympic marathon trials, 1980 and 1984, along with the World Veteran’s Games marathon in 1995”.
I’ve had PF BAD and I have totally recovered! So keep your chin up and you will be just fine. Just wondering which shoe you tried that didn’t work??
The new Nike Pegasus!
Thank you for your support. What did you do to recover?
I had problems with the exact same shoe so that is weird. I was wearing a Nike shoe when I had PF too. To heal, I iced, took NSAIDs, elliptical trained like an insane person, and stayed positive. The last part is the most important. You can Google yourself into a black hole of doom and gloom reading other people’s horror stories. I have had multiple cases of severe tendonitis in both feet and I have made a complete recovery every time. I’m sending you lots of positive vibes! Keep cross-training and you will recover and come back stronger for it. The body is truly an amazing thing. 🙂