NEW Injury. Sheesh.

I went to see a sports med doc yesterday, and this was the outcome:

Instagram caption: "GOOD NEWS REGARDING MY UPCOMING DUATHLON SEASON!
Oh. Wait. No. The opposite of that."

It's a stress reaction, which is a precursor to a stress fracture. The doc was happy I came in when I did (before things got worse).

I had some pain to the inside of my tibia a few inches above my ankle about 2 weeks ago. It was nothing big, but it made me pay attention. A few days later, I ran the Irish Run 8K with no problem and no pain. I took 3 days of rest, and then did an easy run on Wednesday of last week, and I had some pain. It went away after 1.5 miles, but then it ached the rest of the day. I figured I'd try 1 more run to just make sure it wasn't some fluke before going to the doctor. So 2 days later (last Friday), I went for another easy run. Still pain.

It hurt off-and-on all weekend. It was fine laying in bed, but once I started to put weight on it, it would start to hurt. I went to see a sports medicine doctor yesterday, and I brought my training log and some notes to discuss:

I come prepared.

As I talked with the doc, she smiled more and more, repeatedly saying something like, "Yep, you're doing everything RIGHT." (Like when I talked about taking 4-5 weeks off from running after the TC 10 Mile last Oct, then building back miles slowly by running easy, and by doing leg and PT strengthening work, and by taking time off after races before running again, etc, etc.) This injury was just something that happened. There was no big cause that jumped out where she had to say "yeah, you shouldn't have done THAT."

So we're starting off by being in that walking boot for 2.5 weeks. I can do anything that doesn't bring me pain. She said biking should be fine, but I wasn't as sure, so I told her I'd confine myself to the trainer (at least at first). That way I'm not twisting my leg by clipping in and out, and I can stop at a moment's notice if some pain should appear. (I was on the trainer for 50 mins this morning already, and it went OK.) I also hope to hit the pool for some water running a few times a week. Which is awesome to write because I remember HOW FREAKING FUN THAT IS.

My biggest concern right now is the walking boot itself: it makes me walk funny and throws off my normal stride. (Obviously.) And when I hurt my foot a little back in August/September of 2013, that made me alter my stride a bit as I was doing day-to-day activities, and that lead to my sacrum injury that kept me from running for 3+ months. I've already felt an INKLING of that coming back on after my last run last week. Dang.

p.s. I was amused by the 2nd birth control method on the paperwork I had to fill out before my visit:

The latin term for this is "coitus interrupts." I think.