Training week 20: recovery and healing

I can't believe it is week 20 and the marathon is less than a month away!!!!!  It hasn't been easy since my bike accident.  I was really down Friday, felt better Saturday, and then hit another low on Sunday.  Nick tried to put things into perspective for me by saying things like "you just crashed 3 days ago, you should be tired" and "it is impressive that you crashed, broke your wrist, and then ran 10 miles 3 days later."  All I could focus on was that I didn't run 20 miles when I was supposed to.  I was also worried that doctor was going to tell me that I wasn't allowed to run the marathon and that really isn't an option for me.  All this worry and there was nothing I could do about it.  In the great words of Frozen, I needed to take all my stress and doubt and just let it go.  Instead of posting a video of the song, let's watch a video of my favorite snowman and reindeer.

Nick took me to my appointment on Monday afternoon.  At first the PA student and doctor told me that they didn't think my wrist was broken but it turned out they were looking at the wrong spot on my radiographs.  Most people break their scaphoid bone but I broke my pisiform.

Sexy!

So the break was confirmed, but the doctor said he was going to give me a removable, waterproof cast and that I could still run the marathon.  My follow-up appointment would be in 3 weeks.  This is all good news.  I am definitely thankful that something worse didn't happen (broken legs, head, or both wrists) and that I can still run.

Waterproof and it shoots lasers out the knob!

Although the broken wrist is annoying, the road rash is far more painful and gets more and more painful as it heals.  A couple of times I have accidentally hit my elbow rash on something and it is excruciating.  Nick has also hit some of my injuries on accident and a few times on purpose.  He is currently sleeping in the chicken coop.

Honestly, I have a new found respect for cyclists that crash, get back on their bikes and keep going.  Sometimes the guys crash again after already having road rash.  I cannot even imagine how painful that would be.  I would probably vomit, pass out, and then cry when I woke up.  Even worse than road rash is what happened to Johnny Hoogerland in the 2011 Tour de France:

He got back on the bike, finished the stage, won the Polka Dot jersey, and continued the next day after getting 33 stitches.  Impressive.  So I didn't fly into a barbed wire fence, but I am still proud of my dedication to this marathon.  I decided to stick to the training schedule for this week and do 8 miles on Tuesday and Thursday and then a 10k on Saturday.  The 8 mile runs went well.  I didn't get chased by any animals, I enjoyed the run, and I ran most of the time (although at a slow pace).  My legs felt pretty worked the last few miles and afterwards.  This healing business is tiring.

Endo is such a thoughtful dog!

As much as I really wanted to increase my mileage on Saturday to make up for the previous weeks fail, I need to give my body a rest.  When I got home from work on Friday night there was evidence that Endo had tried to help me carb load before my Saturday run, but had some issues because the no opposable thumbs problem.  Saturday morning was amazing.  I didn't have to wake up until 6:30 and I only had to run 6.2 miles!!!  I struggled some but could tell my body was getting better.

Besides continuing my running I need to get back to my PT exercises and come up with a new cross training plan since I cannot bike to work or climb anymore.   Luckily we have a bike trainer in the basement so Nick put my bike on it so I could still ride.  There is no way I can climb so I will just stick to sit-ups to work on my core.

The marathon is less than a month away and next week is my last hard week: 10 miles Tuesday, a 60 minute tempo run Thursday, and then 20 miles on Saturday and then two easy weeks.  Hopefully my body is ready, but even if I have to cut back a little I can still do the marathon!

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