we are all unique

...yes, another lesson learned; once again, the hard way.

Saturday I had another treatment on my leg, and was with another chiropractor/ART doctor. I've been going to this clinic for a few years now, started out with one doc, who is a friend of ours, and is great. But recently, he's reduced his hours due to other opportunities, so it's been difficult to get in to see him. I trust all the doctors there, so I've been ok seeing any one of them, and in recent weeks, have seen almost every doctor there given mine and their schedules! Jay's been dealing with a grade 2 tear in his hamstring (yes, we're both falling apart -- thankfully the kids have been so helpful!), so we laughed that we feel like the clinic sluts... seeing anyone who happens to have an opening :)

Saturday was my first visit with Dr. L, who is a 4 time marathoner! It's so great having a clinic where all doctors are active in sports -- they "get it."  We chatted a lot about my marathon, her marathons, the injury, how my leg failed me during the marathon, and my training. 

Until now, I've followed a specific training plan, 5 days a week of running, and throwing in some cross-training, fairly inconsistently. Interestingly, Dr. L trained, and successfully completed all 4 of her marathons running 3 days/week! 

Knowing my defective body and my body's limits... quite likely that 5 days/week of running is not for me! Sad, yes, but whatever. Perhaps I need more time to recover between runs, and am causing myself to be more susceptible to injury following this generic "out of the book" plan. Just because the others I run with haven't had nearly the injuries I've had, doesn't mean everyone can do it. I look at some of you pulling 50+ miles a week... could I? Forget it! Not this body... but knowing that, I also wouldn't even try.

Will doing this mean no more injuries. Nope. Will I have the exact same result by following a similar plan to hers? No guarantee, but obviously no plans can provide that... so it's worth a try. 3 days running, 2 days cross-training (cycling, elliptical, etc.)

Yes, yes, of course I need this effin leg to be cut off injury to be healed first. Once I get the ok, I will be switching up my training plan to see if I can end the injury streak.  I've been looking at the FIRST program which has no back to back running days, only 3 days/week. I may also seek out a base-building cycling program of some sort to incorporate into my cross-training days.  But, I have plenty of time to work on this. :(

Speaking of injury, here's an update. Calf is still almost as tight as marathon day, the sucker just won't release, and feels like it's pinching nerves or something in the process. Ugh. During my treatment today, however, she loosened up a spot that we hadn't found before... good news. Bad news, high potential of a stress fracture. :( This time higher up on the tibia, about 2 inches below my knee.  Hard to tell as there is a bit of muscle tissue there, but pain is almost directly on the bone, tender in one specific spot, worse at night. Sigh. X-rays didn't show anything, but rarely do. Could do a bone scan to confirm if it's bone or muscle, but I've already had one done within the last 8 months, and seriously, I've got enough issues without continuously injecting myself with radioactive dye. 

We've agreed that I'd be taking the time off anyway, so no need to do the scan. She's estimating between 4-7 weeks no running. Her hope is that if it is a stress fracture, hopefully its been caught in the early stages, and that it's not as bad as the first round (since it hasn't seemed as painful), so recovery time may be slightly less.  If it's muscular, then hopefully we'll be at the lower end of recovery time. 

One week down, lots of patience to go.