Incase you missed last week, I was having a little bit of ankle pain.  After several tests including an MRI, the doctors were able to figure out I have a fifth metatarsal fracture.  I haven’t run in close to three weeks, so I’m well on my way to healing.  It’s interesting because I posted I mentally felt like I needed a break about 2 weeks ago, and it could have been my bodies way to signal about my foot. This means I’m no longer training for anything, but I will be working out.  Since I have the whole MRI on my computer, why not attach a photo for blogging right?

This will be a two-part post since I feel like I have two separate thought processes to go along with the injury. The first is this post dedicated to my training which is obviously affected. 

The second part (which I’ll post tomorrow) is my thoughts on how I got this injury.

It was incredibly shocking to both my doctor and myself to discover a minor crack in my fifth metatarsal.  They guessed it was a sprained ankle or something muscular in the peroneal tendon.  It was shocking to me as well considering I have normally been living for the past month.

So how long do I have of no running? 

Right now about three more weeks.  Since I haven’t run for three weeks, I have three more to go. My fracture in my fifth metatarsal takes 4-6 weeks to heal.  To give you the reality of my foot is it doesn’t hurt right now.  I’m walking, moving and being an average person (minus the running).  I do think that’s part of the problem; I don’t feel or even appear to be injured.

Right now I feel as if I could honestly run.  I’m not doing anything stupid to hurt myself more, and I’ll continue to rest.

What do I plan to do for the next few weeks?

I stopped feeling sorry for myself and started to plan my “attack.”

Recovery/Bone Building Plan:

Is that a thing?  #bonebuilding

• I’ve already upped the necessary vitamins to continue bone growth.  While I already take a Vitamin D and Calcium supplement, I’ve increased the amount.  Before my fracture, I took Vitamin D and Calcium supplements.
• Bone Stimulator: I’m lucky my father in law has a bone stimulator in his back pocket.  This isn’t necessary, but it sure is helpful.

Workout Plan: 

As far as a bone break goes, it’s the best case scenario.  I’m not training for anything during the summer; I’m already about halfway healed, and I have a lot of different resources to keep me working out.  It doesn’t feel like I’ve broken anything.  I’ve never been in pain, and I’m already three weeks into healing.

I don’t have a need to complain about my injury because I’m able to do other things.  If everything goes well, I should be running by the end of the month. Running being minimal miles, not in full training mode.  If it hurts, I won’t do it.  So far, the only thing that bothers me is running, but I’m not doing that.

I’ll take some workout classes, elliptical, swim and do core.  I’ll do things I didn’t “have the time” to do while running.  

I’ve already gone to my first spin class which wasn’t too bad. 

Figuring Out Causes…Plan:

I’ll ramble away tomorrow, but I’m prone to metatarsal fractures.  Why is that?  I received a bone density test and (shockingly) everything came back normal.  To be honest, I expected to have low bone density or be deficient on something!  While my last fracture was two years ago, I’ve had a few fractures in the last six years, and it’s a few too many.

So I’ll continue working with my orthopedist and doctor to find the root problem.  Once I can run in again, I’m going to get a full gait analysis.

Questions for you:

How was your week of training?

Have you ever had a gait analysis?