Some Progress

I finally braved a workout.

I did 15 minutes each on the treadmill (fast walk/light jog), elliptical, and recumbant bike. I also did lunges, some coordination drills and some active stretching. My foot actually felt better when I was done and I'm hoping for an even better workout tomorrow. I wish I would have done this earlier. Half the truth is that I've just been lazy, and the other half is that I was afraid my foot would hurt too much or get worse. We'll see how it feels tomorrow, but have a hunch that the inactivity wasn't doing it any favors.

I'll decide before bed what tomorrow's workout will be so I start Wednesday with a plan. Despite my inactivity I've lost several pounds since Murphy. Although I've been inactive I have been fairly disciplined with eating since Halloween. Unfortunately when I weighed myself after Murphy I was heavier than I thought I would be by several (O.K., at least 8-10) pounds. About 2 months before Wild Duluth I was making progress with weight loss, but decided to quit weighing myself. That wasn't a very good idea. I do better if I weigh-in daily and write down everything I eat. I wont say yet what I weigh as I'm going to be making my 2010 training declaration soon and weight loss plays into the big picture.

The MRI

As I mentioned before, on November 9th I saw the Ortho doc about the ITB issue I experienced during my 2 races. At the time of the appointment, I had no complaints other than the over-taxed ITB. Coincidentally, the next morning on November 10th I woke up and it felt like I had sprained my left ankle in my sleep. I had no idea what was going on but articulating my foot up and down was painful, with moderate swelling. Most of the pain was/is on top off the foot at the ankle and on the outside of the ankle. To me it felt like a connective tissue problem but I was surpised it would start hurting 10 days after my last race. The more I've reflected, I have recalled that my ankle did bother me during the races and even in training, in the same places. But I could always bear weight on it without issue and took it as tightness/strain and just treated it that way. I even started running on it again (twice) on the treadmill before it flared up on the 10th.

Anyway...I could get in with my podiatrist faster than my ortho doc, and on his advice had an MRI due to concern about a stress fracture. On December 1st he called with the results and said I have a "small" spot of arthritis on the Talus, the load-bearing bone below the Tibia (shin bone). HUH?! Arthritis? He said it isn't unusual for a person my age (41), and to see him in 3 weeks. No running until I see him again. The pain did mostly subside for a couple days but returned to varying degrees. I'm trying not to worry, but it's been almost a month of SOME pain on most days since it started. OK...I'm a little worried. I feel like I'm losing my fitness and I'm concerned now about returning to running at all. I might be over reacting and since I can bear weight on it, I'm hoping it's just connective strain that isn't seen in an MRI. However, the doc said there was no tendonitis seen in the MRI and I'm not sure if the MRI could possibly miss anything(can it?). Besides, if there was any connective tissue issue, would it just flare up ten days later? I just can't get past the fact that I'm not feeling pain in weight bearing (only in plantar/dorsiflexion), so is the "A" word really the whole problem? It was likely there for some time and I had done well up until this point. I'm going to get back to the foot doctor and my ortho and I hope I'm pain free in a couple weeks when I go to see them. I'm also going to get back on a bike or elliptical in the gym at work and do some walking on my treadmill at home just to get the wind bags working again. And to take my mind off of this.

Anyone ever experienced this issue? Any insight is welcome. I know I'm not ready to stop running in any way, shape or form . Ugh. I just got started!!!

Comments?