Quick foot update

Good news, it doesn’t look as though I need surgery (no surprise really). The plan is to rest and off-load weight to the area. That means I’ll be wearing an aircast for a while and taking a little break from x-training. To make sure I don’t come back too soon we’re going to take more images (CT scan and X-rays). Unfortunately this doesn’t look like it will be a quick six week recovery and probably take twice that long.

It’s still a bit of a mystery why this particular injury (osteonecrosis and flattening of the metatarsal head) occurred in my 4th metatarsal. We can deduce that overuse had a hand in this but why the 4th metatarsal? My theory is that my toe was jammed in the socket which made it rub the met head and prevented blood flow somehow. The reason I think this is because one day in January I pulled on my toe and it had a big release (different sensation than the other toes when they ‘pop’ upon tugging). Since then when I pull on that toe it feels funny when it comes out of the socket and when I stand up I can feel it pop back in.

After my last blog I was pool running quite a bit and also tried getting out on the bike. The bike ride wasn’t great for my foot. Plus, I ended up taking one crash which was close to being bad and my feet froze into solid blocks.

In the coming weeks I’ll get back to pool running. In the meantime going to the pool looks more like this:

DCIM100GOPRO

DCIM100GOPRO

It’s February now and that means I have already served one month of this injury sentence. Fukuoka Marathon (Dec 4) feels much longer than two months ago! When I’m not running because of injury time goes by at a different pace. It’s hard not to dwell on the missed training and unfortunately Strava reminds me everyday that I’ve only run 10km this year (and it was on Jan 1). If I wasn’t coaching a few people I’d probably avoid Strava instead of checking it daily.

The mental aspect of injuries is complex. You need to learn how to deal with it. It’s much easier when you’re able to cross-train and when you have a solid timeline. Six weeks of cross-training isn’t a big deal for me anymore when I’m able to adjust my race schedule. (Being able to pick another meaningful race is a big difference than training for a fixed race when you’re injured).

Now I’m taking full rest and don’t know for sure when I’ll be back running. To stay sane I tell myself this is a good break for my body and it will allow me to return healthy and rejuvenated. Perhaps extending my competitive career?