injured.

First of all, welcome to any new readers who might have come over from Women’s Running!  Hopefully you enjoy what you read here and decide to stick around.  I promise to show you really cute pictures of my little girl, like this one…

Funniest. Thing. Ever.  I can’t believe she fell asleep while eating.  I was dying laughing and trying not to wake her up!

But, I digress.  Let’s talk a little about injuries.  I experience aches + pains from running pretty frequently.  A twinge here, some soreness there, but I it’s usually not anything that keeps me from running.  Occasionally, there is something that bothers me a little longer than just a few days and it’s much more noticeable.  Like dealing with plantar fasciitis while training for the Chicago Marathon.  I battled with PF for months, stretching + rolling my arch, icing it every night, and wearing a PF boot to bed.  While it was definitely annoying, it was still something I could run through and not think to much about.

However, there comes a time when injuries become a bigger deal.  Stress fractures are nothing to mess around with.  Been there.  Done that.  I knew I had a stress fracture and still continued to run on it before I gave in and went to the doctor.  Not smart.  It took a good 7 or 8 months for me to fully heal from that, and a lot of tears from not being able to run.

Luckily, what I’m dealing with now is not quite that serious.  Right at the beginning of the school year, I came down with a nasty sinus infection.  My nose was runny, my sinuses ached, and I had quite a cough.  In fact, I coughed so hard, that I felt something pop in my ribs and have been dealing with some serious pain since then.  At one point, I couldn’t even lay down on my back without being in tears.  I feel like I’ve been hit by a car.

With life being as busy as it has been lately, I took advantage of the athletic trainer at the high school I coach at and asked him some questions and had him assess my ribs.  I was certain I broke a rib, but he assured me that there was no way I’d be able to breathe without being in excruciating pain had I actually broken one.  Whew.  Instead, he told me that I had strained my serratus anterior muscles and they were very inflamed and popping around my ribs.  Awesome.  He told me to take it easy, “as easy as a high school volleyball coach can”, but that it was OK to do things that weren’t too painful.

Thank goodness running hasn’t been a problem.  I absolutely need running in my life right now for my sanity.  But, I can’t run fast at all without being in pain.  (If you see my posts on Daily Mile, “fast” is about my easy pace right now… not actually fast.) I also can’t lift anything above my head (more than a few pounds) or push anything heavy.  Which means, Best Body Bootcamp has come to a screeching halt.  I’ve looked at the workouts to see what exercises I could do, but I would only be able to do 2 or 3 exercises in a workout, and that just didn’t seem worth it.  So, I’ve taken a break from BBB – of course, the last 2 weeks of the program – and will hopefully be able to do the workouts once I am completely healed.

Right now, I’m taking it easy.  No speed work.  No pushups, bench press, overhead press.  Possibly no stroller running.  My runs aren’t longer than 4 or 5 miles, and even that is pushing it at times.  I am, fortunately, feeling much, MUCH better than I did even just a few days ago (thanks to NOT doing any push or overhead lifts), but the A.T. told me it could be months before I’m completely healed.  Bummer.  I was really looking forward to Fall racing season too.

How have you dealt with (or are dealing with) injuries?  Is it more of a mental or physical struggle for you?