Ben Hauck's Marathon Training Tracker Archives

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Sep 27: Injury Status!
--So, I recently began running again, gradually building my mileage up, going for 3.6-mile runs, then working my way up to 5.4-mile runs, then 6.3-mile runs. Last week I reached the 6.3-mile level, and this past Monday I even felt ready for an 8.0-mile run (which I completed a day after a 6.3-miler).

The reasoning for the back-to-back longish runs was because Monday afternoon, I had an MRI scheduled and I wanted to make sure "I was all inflamed enough" for the MRI. Probably stupid, but whatever.

The results of the MRI were positive for an injury! It revealed that I have a stress fracture of the inferior ramus of the pubis. It also revealed there was some callus formation, meaning that there is healing in the area. I saw my doctor yesterday for him to confirm the MRI results. He's ordered me to stay away from running for now (which looks like at least two weeks, but is ultimately gauged by how I feel). He's recommended biking if it doesn't hurt, so I'm going to see what I can do toward biking--I'm not sure if it will affect my injured area. In a couple weeks I'm to get another X-ray and see my doctor, and next week I (fingers crossed) start physical therapy with a new physical therapist.

Apart from running, I've recently been trying something called core fusion at Exhale Spa. A friend of mine teaches it, and it's incredible and very difficult. I will potentially up that from one time a week to two times a week very soon, esp. in light of my cessation of running for a while. I hope biking is tolerable; it should help keep my cardio up.

Despite being injured, I function at nearly 100%. I run at a nice pace, usually passing everyone I come up behind in Central Park (the main exception being superunners). Post-run I will limp for a bit and have sensitivity descending stairs, but the pain and limp goes away by the end of the day. I hope the injury isn't with me much longer, now that we have a good sense of what happened to me. The stress fracture likely came from all of the abuse I put on my body in June, running more than 50 miles a week, not to mention carrying a heavy backpack and beatboxing equipment up and down stairs in the summer heat and humidity.