Thursday, March 22, 2012

My Miracle Cure - Rest

Like many type A people runners, I don't like taking rest days but after my Achilles tendon started bothering me over the weekend I realized that rest was my only option if I want to make it to the starting line in Boston. Well, loyal readers (hi Mom!), I am happy to report that rest seems to be working.

I've been icing my tendon twice day, taking ibuprofen (though I'm weaning myself off of that that since I started taking it 5 days ago) and taping the tendon using KT Tape (jury's still out on this one, I'll report back when the verdict is in). After an easy test run yesterday morning there was no pain. I can't tell you how ecstatic I was to be able to run 5 miles and feel, well, nothing!

Today I decided to give a long run a try with a run to work. If I run the most direct route it's 9.1 miles but there are plenty of subway stops near my run. I told myself if I felt any pain during the run I would immediately stop and head to the nearest train. Thankfully, there was no pain. In fact, after working a few cobwebs off (after three days of no running and one day of slow miles my legs felt a little unresponsive at first), I felt really good. I managed a few marathon pace (MP) miles midway through the run.

As I got closer to my office I decided to keep going. Since I work in the Financial District where Manhattan comes to a point, I can easily add miles to my run by continuing down and around instead of taking the first turn-off for my office so that's what I did. The result, 12 pain free miles! I could have jumped for joy but I didn't want to push my luck.

Now I'm not naive enough to think I'm completely out of the woods--whatever was wrong with my tendon is not completely healed--so I'll be playing it safe for the next couple of weeks. I may even throw in some extra rest days, but for now I'm just thankful to be able to run!
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Today's Run: 12 miles at 7:30 pace. It was super foggy this morning:

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