To the injured runners out there, encouragement please

[Boobyslims]

i was at the end of a half marathon training block, to be my first half and was enjoying it all. I had goals, Plans, I was eyeing up the possibility of the full marathon in my city in the latter half of the year…

And then i got foot pain on a longer run. It was very mild but slightly worse next run (a sensation like you’ve done your laces up just a bit too tight, just enough to make you aware). This developed rapidly and now I’ve not ran in five weeks. My MRI is this Friday. It hurts any time I weight bear.

I saw a GP, a physio, an urgent care small fracture doctor and a private sports consultant. I was given different advice and because of how the system works here, I had to get X-ray done first to rule out a big obvious fracture. Just system delays all round with admin errors - wrong phone number, wrong foot marked on the first mri request so it was rejected etc

my frustration is, this is taking forever to get a diagnosis, nevermind even begin rehab. My foot is not getting better with time. Improvement has stagnated.

Honestly I’m so despondent. I’m 51 and running gave me such a buzz and an outlet and a sense of achievement. I find myself eating crisps now and not caring (and not enjoying them either!)

I work full time and have two under 12, I am a single parent. Life is busy and this has affected my life outlook more than I would ever have expected. My drive for life is in the toilet.

I decided to do upper body workouts instead and I pulled something so badly I couldn’t move correctly for eight days while the spasm released itself. Lesson learned and physio has said just leave the hiit classes alone for now and chase the diagnosis.

feel so silly… it’s not like I was heading for the Olympics but my friends are not into running/sport in general so I am venting here I suppose. Sorry this has been so long. Also, I hate admitting I’m broken!!!!

I would love to hear post-injury happy stories of getting back into sport… please!

Oh I feel you! I run around 35-45 miles a week and I get so low when I'm injured. My most recent one was an ankle tendon, and I was crap at resting it when it first twinged and did the classic rest a few days, then test run, make it worse, rest again. I was out for about a month. However, I've added in a load more strength exercises and use my resistance bands in front of the TV and I'm nearly back to fitness now, including steep gradients and uneven surfaces. So don't lose hope. It's beyond frustrating, but hopefully you'll get there.

Ooooh thank you @Muckypig!!! So you are back, running again? 🙌

I did the initial “rest and then see” and it blew up too, what was when I stopped altogether. You are doing some serious mileage there!!! Amazing!

I think once I know what I can do - even as the rehab plan - I’ll feel I’m moving towards recovery I guess! I think I’ve exposed a weakness in me and I really need to incorporate strength work into my approach!

I've no real experience of injuries, can I ask how did your tendon injury get diagnosed? Are they tricky to get back to normal?

Oh, I hear you @Boobyslims !! There is a great Josh Lynott quote “I like who I am when I run. I want to look after that person.” I completely understand how hard it is not to be able to get out there.

I’ve had 3 major “downtimes” in my running history (I started doing longer distances in my early 50s and am now late 50s) - a hamstring issue, a back issue and 4 months off completely for major surgery last year.

For the two injuries (both of which came about because I pushed myself too hard too soon), I found great physios who worked with me on my recovery. It needs a bit of patience, but it can be done, so all hope is not lost!

Hi @Onewildandpreciouslife that is very encouraging about the injuries and I suspect I am guilty of increasing distance and weekly mileage too fast - and it’s really brilliant too to hear you got so into distance running in your 50s!!! I love hearing that - I’m 51 and I would love to do a marathon. This was never even a one-cell notion in my head five years ago!

That quote is gold. I can relate to that!

I feel ya!! I run about 35 miles a week. More when marathon training.

I got injured back in November (my own fault a ran a fast half marathon when already a bit injured) and was out completely for 4 weeks. Then another 4 weeks of taking in steady and the straight into a marathon training block, starting at nowhere near the place of fitness I was supposed to.

the weeks of no running killed me. Really I came back too soon as there was a race I wanted to do. I taped up and hobbled round and then as I managed I started to ease myself back in slowly.

now, nearly 5 months on I can still feel the injury. I can do most things now but still have to use tape if I’m going far or fast or I end up sore. Physio says it’s been long enough and I can continue as I am, but because I keep aggravating it it’ll take a while to feel right. I haven’t reinjured as such but I probably should take a few weeks off and let it all settle. But 5.5 weeks out from a marathon I don’t want to do it. I am ok as long as I remember to tape and it is still improving. Just not as fast as I had hoped.

someone recommended peptides to me and I have been taking them for about 6 weeks. I don’t know if it’s a placebo affect but they do seem to be helping and I seem to be making progress with healing again when when I started it had appeared to stagnate and I was worried whether or not I’d be able to run the marathon. I’ve managed 18 miles now so think I’ll be ok.

fingers crossed for a speedy recovery for you.

Not a runner but I do lots of other exercising, also in early 50s. I started as part of weight loss last year and added more and more and now it's a central part of my life. I injured my back a month ago and tried to push on for a bit which didn't work then have rested for a bit which helped until I did any exercise which flared it up again. I've started physio this week which I'm hopeful will get on top of it but it's likely to be another month I reckon before I can go back to exercising anywhere near the level I want to. It's so frustrating, just when I'd transformed my life, my health and my fitness! But I have to remind myself in the grand scheme of things it's going to be a short blip.

So mine was a classic presentation of posterior tibularis irritation so easy to spot. My BIL is a physio. The issue is is that tendon blood supply is poor compared to muscle and skin, and they are slow to heal and easy to annoy. Top tip was to "rest and respect it". If it's hurting, leave it alone. Ice helps when it's aggravated and has been used, but heat can be more comfortable in the morning when it's stiff. I exacerbated mine by whacking up the mileage one week - try to stick to the 10% increase rule. I'm now back up to about 40 miles running a week plus about five miles a day walking. And then strength and mobility stuff on top of that (in front of the telly for these 😂).

Ahhh my people!!! (My injured people 😂) my MRI is tomorrow, then waiting on the report.

Oh you are so close to your marathon!!! Not that I’ve ever been close to running a marathon but I can imagine how hard it would be to stop as a precaution at this point! Hopefully your taper window doubles up as a rest for your injury.

god these things do like to linger on, they are persistent!!! Best of luck for your marathon! Is life to know how you get on!

Yes injured here too, should be doing a 50k race this weekend but am very reluctantly thinking I'll have to pull out. I'm 60 and been running ultras for a decade or so. Being injured is really frustrating. Good luck with the MRI!

Yes. Yes yes yes!!! I also lost weight last year and the exercise, weight loss, some hiit stuff, is all part of our “masterplan” and doing what we hear we should be doing, and then it injures us 😂 it’s total insult to injury isn’t it!

I got my kettlebell and mat out after my foot went, and I did myself so much injury I had to sit on work calls sideways and turn to the left to face the screen. I was like a piece of twisted piping…

I really really hope your back heals soon. Back pain is so exhausting.

Thank you @Boobyslims, it really is exhausting! I feel so drained every day and I'm not doing anything whereas a few weeks ago I was doing 6-7 hours exercise a week and felt great 😢 at least I'm very motivated to do the physio exercises 3 times a day!

50k!!! Honestly I’m really inspired by what you are all doing on here. I hope you come right soon! Are you a lifelong runner?

Also a runner out of action due to tendonitis. My physio mentioned that Menopause be a factor as drops in estrogen often cause tendon issues. Might be worth looking into

I suffered a tendon injury in my leg... didn't rest it so it got worse. Eventually I listened to my physio and cut down on my distance dramatically and took up swimming to keep some level of fitness.

Years later, it still niggles but l have regained my running fitness.... as you will too!

Ohhhh I hate being injured too and my last few years have just been plagued with injury. Hip pain, foot pain, two weeks ago I started getting a nippy little Achilles pain. The only thing I have ever managed to do really is rest it. Properly rest it. Then once you can run again, build up the strength. For me most of my injuries come from overtraining, being lopsided, and being weak on one side. Eg had a hamstring injury, which left me weak on one side, which led to hip flexor tendon pain etc etc

I'm 56 and just co.ing back from a period of injury.

I think they key is to keep up some sort of exercise so you don't loose all you fitness. For me it was yoga, walking and spinning classes. I can't abide swimming 🤣 It will vary according to your injury.

And, whilst it took me too long to accept it, I do think you need to recognise things change as you bet older. I'm still strong and fit, still run decent times, but short hard workout, like HIIT or sprinting lead to more injury than fitness for me these days.

A friend who broke her ankle in her late 50s carried on with lower body weights on the gym machines and kept her cardio up with a hand bike (what's that really called?) and came back stronger and faster than ever.

Hope that’s not a metatarsal stress fracture, OP.

Sadly, i’m permanently injured out of running. I djd the London Marathon in October 2021. Had a total break feom all exercise except for Pilates and a bit of swimming. 3 weeks later, I went for a 1.5 mile jog. I nearly collapsed due to dizziness - which I now know was ME/CFS. That has made me stop all sport. I do a little yoga at home at is all.

i ran for many years was actually fairly injury free, except for 1 serious injury, which was a stress fracture at the front to my tibia (shin). That resulted in 9 months in one of those boots plus another 9 months of resting before I was allowed to start going on walks and then slowly build up to jogging and then running.

if you do have a fracture, get your vitamin D checked- it is essential for bone repair.

Ahhh it turns out mine is also tendinitis I and sino-something. It is my tibialis anterior. It feels like I’ve been off for months… I’ve been told not to cycle, or if I do, to not clip in. That’s not easy on a road bike, and I don’t have other pedals. Walking is also restricted.

I’m still on daily anti-inflammatories, and I think maybe just maybe the issue is starting to turn a corner and it hurts slightly less… I’ve had two rounds of injections into/beside the tendon to bring down the swelling. But my god it’s taking its time to go.

im going to have to get much better trainers and when I’d o get to go back, build up very carefully.

I had a frozen shoulder for four years, it’s about 80% effective now, and almost no pain (just occasional). The consultant said that was probably some form of auto immune issue attacking my shoulder as made the usual noises about it being so common in women and also my age making me a candidate, but beyond that, he had zilch interest in the why part of it all. Frustrating.

God it is SO frustrating. I know how you feel - I damaged my knee last year. However it isn’t the end, just a pause! I think I’d be investigating swimming pools if I were you!!

I am so so sorry to hear that. ME sounds so brutal and unforgiving.

turns out I’ve no stress fracture which I initially was delighted about - but instead have a tendon problem, which is proving slow to repair. From everything I hear, I must get it to a full recovery before pushing it. It’s tempting now to go for a little run and “just see”. It’s still sore! - but it’s less sore!

I’m envious you have done a marathon. How on earth you did that with undiagnosed ME. WOW. Our coach is always telling us, if anyone is on the fence about a race, or going to training or whatever the event is, to do it because you ‘can’, because we have no idea if that option will still be there next year, next month, next week. It’s so true.

My Osteopath suggested too many anti imflamirties are a bad idea (stomach issues?) and to try aTurmeric capsules instead. I confess I was very skeptical, but desperate enough to try anythjng. The issue I'd been taking the tablets for for months cleared up within a week!

Good news about not having a fracture! You probably need to ice and elevate your foot.

My ME started after I did the marathon. It would be impossible to train for a marathon with even the mildest ME. And incidentally I picked up the stress fracture training for another marathon.

I’m also a member of this club nobody wants to be a part of 🙁 Been running well and sign up for a backyard trail run ( 4 mile laps) with the secret intention of using it to run my first marathon. Except my back puts me out of action for a couple of weeks and now I have a nasty chest infection. At this rate I’ll be walking one lap and just eating the snacks! It’s so annoying isn’t it, especially as I run mainly for my mental health.

No I've only been running about 13 years, got into ultras relatively recently. My longest was 100k but that was a couple of years ago. I went ahead and did half of the 50k ultra that I mentioned in my previous post but my IT band went poof so I'm back on the bench. It definitely takes longer to recover at my age, I get so frustrated!