How do you stress out a runner 3 weeks from the Boston Marathon?

Answer: Jack em up, but just for a day. And while you're at it, make it their long run day.

Clearly, I was being punked by the fitness gods. I appreciate my health obsessively. However, I may have been getting a little aggressive with the back to back Half Marathons and the seemingly, but not quite triple digit mileage of late. I have felt unstoppable for so long. I never have any twinges, wonkiness or injuries.

However, I did a few things that tested me last week. One or all of them took me out for 2 days:

*I ran 22 miles of hills in the Adidas Boost. New shoes to me. Probably not the best idea.
*I ran a 1:24 half and then 30 miles in the following 2 days. Way too fast to be considered recovery.
*I ran through exhaustion. I wasn't listening to my body. I wanted the mileage. I was digging a hole.

So, I ended up with some itis in my ankle. Of course I had my ortho and physical therapist on it immediately. I googled my fingers off and figured I inflamed my flexor hallucis longus and or my tibialis posterior tendons.  It may have just been inflammation to my Drs but I needed specificity.

So basically, ice and NSAIDS. Lots of stretching, electrical stim and more ice. I've never had a non bone related injury so I needed answers and I needed them NOW. I needed to do something to help my bum ankle recovery faster.

So I stared at it for two days. I poked at it. I pleaded with it. I talked to it. I put gobs of lotions and potions on it. I bought every homeopathic placebo I could find at Whole Foods. lol. I had to do something! Then the twilight zone hit. I picked up my iphone and see this random photo. It freaked me out so much I screen shot it:

I said to myself, I GET IT!! I LEARNED!! Please fitness gods, let me pass go! I'll never run crazy again! I'll go to church. Whatever you want! My phone refreshed and the image went away. I couldn't find it again. Clearly, this is deep. haha. Eventually, I found it on my BFF's Facebook page but still!!

My PT said I was being a baby. But I wasn't chancing anything. I was out a day and then took a buffer day. Today I ran 10 miles with what seemed like brand new legs. Phew!

My days off were time consuming. I knew if I didn't stay active I'd lose my fitness right away (haha). I could feel the muscle atrophy almost immediately. So I biked 2.5 hours. Swam free style for an hour straight. Lifted every damn weight I could find in NE Raleigh. I tried most of the Nautilus equipment in my gym, twice. Reduced my calories to avoid the inevitable beer belly. I wasn't gonna let my fitness get away!

So now it's back to the grind. A happy grind. A grind I love and missed! I wanted to blog about this because after a bazillion hours googling I noticed that no one has anything good to say about itis. So hopefully some jacked up runner will see this and know it will be okay.

Continued healthy and happy training guys!
Laura