It's been a long time, and a lot has happened.
In my last post, I mentioned that pain had crept in on me. I had a hard time getting through the Conference Championships.
I thought a rest week would help. Wrong, I couldn't even walk without pain two weeks after resting. In the third week, an MRI showed a stress reaction in the tibia (shin bone). That is, it is the precursor of a stress fracture.
The cause, in my opinion, is overload from the indoor track. I did 2 weekends of racing with 48 laps each on a banked track; the irritation came gradually. On top of that, conference champs in pain, which aggravated the inflammation. I also noticed that my right foot tends to pronate.
If you put 1 and 1 together, it makes sense. I rule out everything else.
So, keep calm and do what works. Fortunately, I was able to swim, and on the bike, I felt better each week. After a while, I started aqua jogging and eventually got to run on the Alter G. The Alter G is an anti-gravity treadmill that I can run on with reduced body weight.
It has been a slow but steady process.
I was able to walk on it for the first time two weeks ago. It kind of hurts everywhere, but fortunately not in the shin bone - that counts. The rest will surely go away.
Besides an easy run, I did two workouts this week. Slowly it feels like running again :)
So I got to do my first race this week :) We went to the University of North Florida, in Jacksonville.
My goal? 1. get to the start line. 2. get to the finish line.
Race 04/29/2022
My race week was packed with many events. Unfortunately mentally exhausting and physically draining. But well, life often throws a twist in your path (and I'm officially done with Corona now). And that's okay, you just have to get up again and keep going :)
So I still managed, with joy (& awake), to stand at the starting line of my first 5k of the season Friday at 9:10 p.m.
But: the energy drink had to be.
When the starting gun went off, I arranged myself in the midfield and joined a group - just run along easy, was my thought. There were only a handful of girls; who had already broken away from the start.
And it moved; the pace was easy and slow. I felt relaxed and calm.
I could follow what was happening and reacted when a gap opened up. I pushed past and kept moving forward. Time flew by, and I felt good. I even pulled ahead on the last lap and finished my run with a bit of a kick.
17:18 min was my final time. That's solid.
If the race had been faster overall, a much better time could have been the outcome. But that's not important in today's day.
I claim it was the best race I did here. The reason? It was the first time I was active. I have never been so mentally calm and present as I was on this day. That is a big step for me.
I need to anchor that :) If I can do that, then nothing will stand in my way.
The semester is coming to an end. Finals are coming up, and I have my graduation - crazy. I have my Bachelor of Science !!!
The plan was for my parents to come to my graduation. I was happy because sometimes you get pretty lonely here...
Unfortunately, Corona has bad timing; it is literally a bad joke. They tried everything last week, and the hope died last.
That's what got me pretty depressed this past week. You can't change anything. :)
Competition-wise, the only thing left are the Conference Championships. We're heading to Texas in 2 weeks :)
Kommentare