Just trying to survive

After acquiring a second knee strap (which I am also allergic to, but I've decided I'd rather put up with the skin irritation than the IT pain until I get through Saturday) and a compression sock, my legs started feeling somewhat better. The compression sock was for that odd leg pain I alluded to last week -- I finally concluded that it was a posterior shin splint (as opposed to an anterior shin splint, the normal kind that you feel in the front of the shin, this is more behind the bone to the inside of the leg) and it needed shoring up. As long as I'm wearing the sock (which I do, 24 hours a day, except in the shower) I don't notice the discomfort. When I'm not wearing it, I don't really feel it, either, except that it seems a tiny bit tender; I don't plan to push my luck, though, so I'm wearing it until Saturday is done, at least.

Anyway. I went for a run this past Saturday, just over 6 miles, in the hopes that I could at least complete my last week of training. I stuck to flat roads and it seemed OK -- I got bored and tired but I had no problem getting through it. My IT-bands were fine (at least by my current standards). But afterwards my quads were sore -- the next day even worse, as expected (so much for maintaining my conditioning!!). On Monday they were a bit better so I attempted the 30 minute run on the schedule by running on the nice, flat, springy track at the gym. By last night, though, my left leg was aching terribly, and today it is in atrocious shape. To the point that I even tested it to see if I had a stress fracture (I don't seem to). ARGH! So I am NOT going to try tomorrow's run. At this point I am officially abandoning any pretense at training and am merely trying to let what remains of my non-shredded muscle tissue heal, and as of Sunday I am not going to run for six weeks, period. I may go back to swimming and bicycling and other non-weight-bearing exercise for a while, because if I skip exercise entirely I'll gain 20 pounds again, especially since Halloween and Thanksgiving are in my non-running period.

My weight today was 143 again. I haven't been dieting. In fact, I spent four days in Alabama, and given how I always eat there (there is CANDY all over the house, and meals tend to be very good but low on whole grains and high on fat and salt) it's remarkable that I didn't gain five pounds.

I can diet when the marathon is over. I am dreading Saturday.