The Rowe Family Blog

This week I’ve run twice and it has been wonderful!  Sure I’m only running 5 minutes at a time but my leg doesn’t ache when I’m done and it’s fine the next day too.  Just 5 minutes of running feels amazing to me right now.  Best of all I finally know that I’m nearly done with this ordeal.  In the back of my mind I knew I’d get back to running in time but I had doubts.  I had doubts about the time frame.  Now I know that, unless I make major mistakes, I’ll be back to normal mileage in another 5-7 weeks.

I have bad news.  I’m not ready to start running yet.  Yesterday I watched the Musselman Half Iron Triathlon.  It was the first half for two of my close friends.  I ran a little bit as a spectator so I could catch them multiple times at transition and I also ran, briefly, with both of them at the ends of the race (bailing before the finish line of course).  Even this tiny bit of running caused discomfort.  I could feel it while I was running and I could feel it when I stopped.  It felt exactly like it has every single time I’ve tried to run on it since the onset of the injury.

Today the site of the injury is sensitive to the touch again — but just barely.  And it feels more sensitive along the bone than it does on the bone.  Thus it is possible that what I’m feeling is just scar tissue breaking up.  I’m not sure.  I’m not sure what I’m going to do.  I guess I’ll probably wait another week before running on it again.  I’m afraid that it won’t feel any different even then but that’s just my pessimism about this whole situation shining through.  I know that stress fractures take 6-8 weeks before you can run on them.  Even then they aren’t healed.  And 6-8 weeks is generally the minimum time.  I’m probably just not ready yet.  It sucks but crying about it isn’t going to make it heal any faster.

The good news that I have to report is that my 60+ mile ride this weekend was pretty good!  I rode alone from my home to the Musselman Half Iron Triathlon.  The route was hilly but I still managed to average about 15.5.mph.  For most any cyclist that is pretty slow but for me, for my bike, and for the route, it’s not half bad.  Plus I wasn’t trying to go fast.  At the beginning of the ride I avoided putting forth much effort because I didn’t want to suffer in the late miles.  Mentally I treated it just like a long run.

Along the ride I met two guys from Holland that were biking from Boston to LA!  Between those guys and all of the atheltes at the Half Iron I should have been motivated.  Instead I felt sad that I wasn’t participating (neglect for a moment the fact that I can’t swim and I’m horrible on the bike and that I can’t currently run without pain).

Lately I have lost my motivation.  I don’t feel like riding my bike.  I don’t feel like learning to swim.  I don’t even feel like trying to run even though I should be OK to start running again.  I don’t care about breaking 3 hours in a marathon anymore.  I don’t know where my motivation went or how/if I can get it back.  I really don’t feel like doing much of anything at all.

Did the injury sap my motivation?  Probably, at least to some extent.  Maybe I’m just tired from poor sleep patterns lately.

According to my calendar and the way my leg feels I could start running any day I want.  But…I don’t want to.

I’m not seeking sympathy.  I’m not reaching out for help.  I’m just documenting this so that later I can look back and see what was going on as opposed to believe my false and incomplete memories.

ps: The title of this post is dumb because it actually means “Why are you Motivation?”

I’ve logged 540 miles on the bike since May 23.  That was exactly one week from the aborted long run that really was the day the injury set in (May 16th for the mathematically challenged).  That makes today more than 6.5 weeks from the initial injury.  Normally a stress fracture of this type would be OK to start running on by now — and mine might be.  However two weeks into the injury (May 28th) I was instructed by my doctor to try a run.  That was a horrible run that resulted in so much pain in one mile that it took me 20 minutes to limp home.  To be a little conservative I’m giving myself extra resting time by considering that day to be the onset of the injury.  It’s been 5 weeks since that day and I haven’t attempted to run at all.

In 1 week I will try to run again.  If it doesn’t feel right I will take an additional week off.