To Infinity and Beyond - Becoming a Better DopeyBadger (Comments Welcome)

[CheapRunnerMike]

Great job Billy, you earned every second of that PR! I love your attitude towards the day, there's just no way to control what the Running Gods throw at us on race day. You just roll with it and give your all. Congrats my friend.

Also love that you were watching my BILLS beat the tar out of those nasty Patriots

 

[cavepig]

Great race despite the leg pain & rain! I felt the pain just reading your recap! Hope your leg heals quickly with your 2 week break. Do you think it is just from running & not something you did outside of running? Your daughter is a doll! The rain probably took out a lot off people from finishing or even starting, rain does scare runners away.

 

[LSUlakes]

Congrats on the race and PR! Hope you recover soon and nothing is seriously wrong with your leg. Nice job on the recap as well.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Sounds like next year you might be in trouble then.

Great job Billy, you earned every second of that PR! I love your attitude towards the day, there's just no way to control what the Running Gods throw at us on race day. You just roll with it and give your all. Congrats my friend.

Also love that you were watching my BILLS beat the tar out of those nasty Patriots

Thanks Mike! And LOL, I was hoping for a good fantasy performance from Blount, but no luck. Nice win by the Bills!

Great race despite the leg pain & rain! I felt the pain just reading your recap! Hope your leg heals quickly with your 2 week break. Do you think it is just from running & not something you did outside of running? Your daughter is a doll! The rain probably took out a lot off people from finishing or even starting, rain does scare runners away.

Thanks! It's hard to say on the leg pain. If it is indeed a stress fracture then it could be from overuse or pushing too hard during training. Not allowing sufficient recovery during a period of the training. But I had a three week taper and 20 week training plan with little to no signs of left bone problems. It could have been a deficiency in calcium or vitamin D, but between my diet and normal outside activities during the summer that's also not likely it. I did fall up the stairs last week, but I don't remember hitting my leg. My best guess is it was something that was building in the background from training and it just decided to finally give on race day. I've been reassessing my training to see if I need to make some adjustments to my training load to help prevent this in the future. I haven't decided what to do just yet, but I've got some ideas.

Gigi is a handful for sure. Such a great little daughter and I am blessed.

Congrats on the race and PR! Hope you recover soon and nothing is seriously wrong with your leg. Nice job on the recap as well.

Thanks! I'm hopeful this will be a small setback, but I'll know more in the next few days/after two weeks.

 

[canglim52]

Do you think the race conditions forced you to alter your stride, maybe the injury is from that? or maybe even the extra weight in your shoes?

Also, I just signed up for a 10K on 11/13! I couldn't find any on the day you had set on my training log(11/20), so I had to bump it up one week. I know it's going to be a PR, now I just have to see by how much! Your training plan has me running way better already

 

[DopeyBadger]

Do you think the race conditions forced you to alter your stride, maybe the injury is from that? or maybe even the extra weight in your shoes?

Also, I just signed up for a 10K on 11/13! I couldn't find any on the day you had set on my training log(11/20), so I had to bump it up one week. I know it's going to be a PR, now I just have to see by how much! Your training plan has me running way better already

It's possible. I did change my stride a little to account for the early jelly legs onset, but nothing out of the ordinary for me. But it's entirely possible that the rain made a difference that I didn't notice. The weight of the shoes is possible, but I raced in my lightweight shoe and do lots of training in much heavier shoes.

Happy to hear you found a 10k! Also glad to hear you're liking the training so far. Keep up the great work!

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

Really enjoyed your race recap. Congrats again on a PR and powering through a tough race. This was my favorite part:

It's how you deal with it that defines the run.

Also the progress on your training chart is INSANE! Seriously, you are just such a great example of turning your body into a running machine!

Lastly, your daughter is freakin' adorable.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Really enjoyed your race recap. Congrats again on a PR and powering through a tough race. This was my favorite part:

Also the progress on your training chart is INSANE! Seriously, you are just such a great example of turning your body into a running machine!

Lastly, your daughter is freakin' adorable.

Thanks! It's true about many things in life: What happens to you isn't what defines you, but how you react to it does.

The training chart is a constant reminder of where I've come from and what can be possible for anyone in a similar situation. Honestly, I'm not sure if I ever believed that I'd be capable of what I am now. But if I had never tried, then I definitely wouldn't be here right now.

LOL, thanks! She means so much to me. Here are some more of my favorite pics.

 

[Keels]

Thanks! It's hard to say on the leg pain. If it is indeed a stress fracture then it could be from overuse or pushing too hard during training. Not allowing sufficient recovery during a period of the training. But I had a three week taper and 20 week training plan with little to no signs of left bone problems. It could have been a deficiency in calcium or vitamin D, but between my diet and normal outside activities during the summer that's also not likely it. I did fall up the stairs last week, but I don't remember hitting my leg. My best guess is it was something that was building in the background from training and it just decided to finally give on race day. I've been reassessing my training to see if I need to make some adjustments to my training load to help prevent this in the future. I haven't decided what to do just yet, but I've got some ideas.

Dang - the first thing I thought when I read your description was "oh man, sounds like a stress fracture", because the tender to the touch is pretty much how my ankle felt after day two of swelling, and when I knew something was wrong short of a sprain or just plain ole California swelling. My stress fracture showed up immediately on the x-ray because it was basically fresh - my poor reconstructed ankle had been bearing the brunt of the weight and strike being displaced from the hip pain I was attempting to train through until it finally just said "Enough!".

I went for an x-ray four days after I first started feeling max pain, and my doctor knew what it was before she sent me back for an x-ray because I basically teared up when she just touched my ankle. And it was confirmed two days later - in NEON - when I had an MRI done to see if I had a stress fracture in my hip.

Go for an x-ray! Pronto!

On the flip side - my doctor has advised me that when I am cleared to start training, every three or four weeks I need to basically cut my max mileage down a minimum of a third of what I've done - in essence, a mini taper to help with "bone remodeling".

We've also talked at length about stride frequency and how possibly me moving from my traditional Higdon plan to the more varied Nike+ plan for Chicago did more harm than good. Granted, you're a far better athlete and much more conditioned than I am, so this probably doesn't really apply - but I thought I'd pass it along!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Dang - the first thing I thought when I read your description was "oh man, sounds like a stress fracture", because the tender to the touch is pretty much how my ankle felt after day two of swelling, and when I knew something was wrong short of a sprain or just plain ole California swelling. My stress fracture showed up immediately on the x-ray because it was basically fresh - my poor reconstructed ankle had been bearing the brunt of the weight and strike being displaced from the hip pain I was attempting to train through until it finally just said "Enough!".

I went for an x-ray four days after I first started feeling max pain, and my doctor knew what it was before she sent me back for an x-ray because I basically teared up when she just touched my ankle. And it was confirmed two days later - in NEON - when I had an MRI done to see if I had a stress fracture in my hip.

Go for an x-ray! Pronto!

On the flip side - my doctor has advised me that when I am cleared to start training, every three or four weeks I need to basically cut my max mileage down a minimum of a third of what I've done - in essence, a mini taper to help with "bone remodeling".

We've also talked at length about stride frequency and how possibly me moving from my traditional Higdon plan to the more varied Nike+ plan for Chicago did more harm than good. Granted, you're a far better athlete and much more conditioned than I am, so this probably doesn't really apply - but I thought I'd pass it along!

I think we're in agreement on all of these.

-Likely a stress fracture
-Need to schedule an x-ray / MRI (will do today)
-And need to pull back even more during training on my 4th week. I do a high-low-high-low model. Thus, I would follow a high-low-high-really low methodology. I likely trained too hard this last cycle and while I made it through the training it was probably just on the cusp of what I am capable of.

Thanks for the input, I appreciate it!

 

[cburnett11]

Totally love following along on this thread... seeing your training, asking questions about my training, reading about your results, encounters with streamer girl, water bottlegate, etc. Your attitude about the Lakefront race is fantastic. I know you wanted more, but you still had a very solid PR with everything that was dealt to you on Sunday. I hope your injury is minor and you can deal with it without it being too much of a setback for you. Given how far you've come, and how persistent you are, I can't imagine anything really being a setback for you... just another chapter in your journal as you continue to move towards BQ and beyond.

 

[DopeyBadger]

X-ray scheduled for 10am today. Wish me luck!

 

[ZellyB]

X-ray scheduled for 10am today. Wish me luck!

Good luck. Whatever the x-ray reveals I know you'll come back stronger than ever and with a new (and highly detailed ) plan.

 

[opusone]

X-ray scheduled for 10am today. Wish me luck!

It's always better once you know... regardless of the diagnosis. Good luck today!

 

[Ariel484]

Ack!!! Good luck!

 

[dis_or_dat]

Oh no good luck!!!

 

[roxymama]

Crossing my toes!

I have to say that picture of your daughter lining up all her toys is hilarious. My kiddo does that too and I have to wonder if her exposure to WDW and waiting for characters is the reason for it.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Totally love following along on this thread... seeing your training, asking questions about my training, reading about your results, encounters with streamer girl, water bottlegate, etc. Your attitude about the Lakefront race is fantastic. I know you wanted more, but you still had a very solid PR with everything that was dealt to you on Sunday. I hope your injury is minor and you can deal with it without it being too much of a setback for you. Given how far you've come, and how persistent you are, I can't imagine anything really being a setback for you... just another chapter in your journal as you continue to move towards BQ and beyond.

Glad to hear you like the journal. It's definitely been fun to write and interact with others. My view is a BQ and sub-3 HR marathon are lifetime goals. Endurance running is typically not an instant gratification sport. It takes years of consistent hard work and eventually you'll get where you want to be. So if this is a setback in the grand scheme of a lifetime it will be small.

Good luck. Whatever the x-ray reveals I know you'll come back stronger than ever and with a new (and highly detailed ) plan.

Thanks!

It's always better once you know... regardless of the diagnosis. Good luck today!

Agreed, thanks!

Ack!!! Good luck!

Thanks!

Oh no good luck!!!

Thanks!

Crossing my toes!

I have to say that picture of your daughter lining up all her toys is hilarious. My kiddo does that too and I have to wonder if her exposure to WDW and waiting for characters is the reason for it.

Thanks!

G is always lining up things and putting them in a certain order. No idea where she got those personality tendencies...

Well it's unconfirmed. They couldn't see a fracture, but they aren't willing to rule out that it exists. They did see some cloudiness suggesting a prior healed injury in the same area but I'm personally unaware of any other injuries there. The doctor gave me no timeframe for recovery only to say that I could start running when it was pain free and if it became painful to stop running and continue to rest. So a waiting game.

 

[canglim52]

Glad to hear you like the journal. It's definitely been fun to write and interact with others. My view is a BQ and sub-3 HR marathon are lifetime goals. Endurance running is typically not an instant gratification sport. It takes years of consistent hard work and eventually you'll get where you want to be. So if this is a setback in the grand scheme of a lifetime it will be small.



Thanks!



Agreed, thanks!



Thanks!



Thanks!



Thanks!

G is always lining up things and putting them in a certain order. No idea where she got those personality tendencies...

Well it's unconfirmed. They couldn't see a fracture, but they aren't willing to rule out that it exists. They did see some cloudiness suggesting a prior healed injury in the same area but I'm personally unaware of any other injuries there. The doctor gave me no timeframe for recovery only to say that I could start running when it was pain free and if it became painful to stop running and continue to rest. So a waiting game.

Haha your kid is too cute!! You did say healing was your specialty, so I know you'll come back stronger! Also, if your going to get injured you picked the perfect time

 

[cavepig]

Well, that's good news a fracture didn't show up. Does it feel any better today? I would think if it was a fracture it would still hurt bad today but personally don't have a clue as never had fractures just muscle shin problems. And what kind of dog is in the picture above, cairn terrier?