On Aches and Pains

It's probably inevitable that an athlete will at some point be injured. It's certainly happened to me several times over my slow running career. I've dodged the ACL and rotator cuff injuries, more or less -- mainly because jogging doesn't involve those.

So, you're on your x-many mile run, and some part of your body begins to complain. There's a decision to make: keep going or stop. Some pains you can run past, like the little stitch in your side that comes and then disappears as you warm up. Some you might try to run through -- the aching knee is not going away, but if it doesn't hurt too badly during the run, and doesn't make you suffer when you're not running, you'll keep on going.

I run past the stitch in my side -- I never experience one anyway when I'm in good aerobic shape. I run through the knee pain, since it settles down as I finish the first mile or so, and doesn't hurt that much on the stairs or getting in and out of cars. Many years ago, QMH was jogging a charity 10 K when she stepped on a pebble and turned her ankle. Not feeling that bad, and not knowing a shortcut back to the car, she let pride tell her to run the rest of the course. That same ankle has been in horseback riding accidents too, and it hurts often.

One risk of running through a pain is that you'll compensate elsewhere in posture or stride, and cause a longer-lasting injury. In a fairly small way, I discovered this a year ago, when I was having trouble with the 10-mile training threshold. Running beyond about 8 miles just seemed labored and awkward. Finally, I realized that I had been looking down at my right toe, where our greyhound Mareo had taken a test bite and left a fraying hole in the nylon upper of the shoe. I was concerned about pebbles getting in, and trying to decide whether the shoe was still serviceable for the full 13.1 mile run. Once I got my chin back up, I stopped having the problem.

Not for the first time, though, I notice this season that my calves, ankles and feet get very fatigued on uphill segments of my fairly hilly neighborhood run. This got so uncomfortable one time a week ago that I walked most of my course rather than run through the pain. Just yesterday I walked the last 25 or 30 yards up my biggest neighborhood hill near the end of a brisk 4 mile training run. No pain or discomfort in between runs, so I've decided to do nothing at all.

I reason that the Tom King course is so flat, that with a tiny adjustment in arm swing, I can get through Saturday's race without suffering. Stay tuned for the post-race wrapup.