RUNNERS - What would you do?

Ideally, you’d listen to your doctor as you are (probably) damaging your body if you continue to run.

If you want to do a marathon at the beginnings of May, you need to be healthy ASAP so you can train. Marathon training is already a lot of miles - never mind trying to do it if you’re injured or half injured.

So-if the marathon is a real goal, stop running now. If you must finish the challenge (which I understand), walk (unless you’ve been told not to do that as well).

If the marathon really isn’t a goal and you’ll be happy limping along with a chronic injury for months on end - go run your 33km.

"Count walking towards your goal? I've only logged running kms but also walk quite a lot so I could count that, but it feels like cheating." - CAN you walk without pain and further injury? If so, then I'd say walk and log those miles! They count and they aren't cheating.

If it still causes you pain then I agree with the advice to listen to your doctor so that you can heal properly.

We're talking TOES? I would ignore the doctor, after buying different shoes at a specialist foot care store which probably knows more about toes than a non-running podiatrist. But you shouldn't listen to me, I'm a very irresponsible person. What exactly is the matter with your toes? There's a big difference between "my toenails are all black and ow it hurts," and "I'm at risk of needing surgery."

If you feel confidant you are not doing damage while walking, it's definitely not cheating to walk. Walking is allowed in the challenge. The main thing is, you don't want to do further damage. Pain and damage are not always the same thing - I had a ruptured Baker's cyst which was acutely painful during recovery, but which the doctor told me wasn't going to get any worse from running on it, so I ran on it, and it's now fine, as the doctor said it would be. Since we're talking about being responsible, the responsible thing to do is to ask the doctor about walking. Instead of irresponsibily pretending that since he didn't specifically forbid it, it must be okay.

This is why I never do challenges (and if I do sign up I pay little attention to them). If I need time off, I take it.

Now having said that, I have been known to run through injuries. For me it comes down to knowing myself. I've (mostly ) learned to get my cues and act accordingly. I don't know what your issue is so I can't comment directly on it, but in general if it wasn't too bad (and little risk of getting worse) I would run. But (and here's my main point), I'd only run if I was training for something important. A challenge or unimportant race is not a good reason to run with an injury.

Good luck.

Only you can make that decision, as you know the extent of your injury.

I will say that I would think about the impact the continued running would have vs laying off and not running. As you mentioned above, you'd be able to properly train once your foot has been attended to. In addition to what others have mentioned, while wanting to continue to run in the immediate seems like a good idea, being able to continue the joys of running years down the road is more important I would think.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

Health always comes before the challenge. This way you'd have a chance next year too

louiseg13 wrote: »

Hi,

This year I signed up to the 1018 challenge - to run 1018 kms in 2018, combined with another challenge to run 80kms in December. So far I have run 985kms and have just 33kms to go by the end of December.

BUT my doctor has just told me to stop running until I've been referred to a podiatrist which will be after Christmas!!! He is totally right as continuing to run will only damage my already pretty gnarly toes further, but I am so close to finishing the challenge!

What would you do? Ignore the doctor and mash your feet up more, causing considerable pain but beating the challenges and getting a medal OR

Listen to the doctor and (hopefully) be able to train properly for your next race (currently 20 miles at the beginning of April, and probably a half sometime before then, all leading to a marathon at the beginning of May) OR

Count walking towards your goal? I've only logged running kms but also walk quite a lot so I could count that, but it feels like cheating.

Opinions/experiences welcome!

Personally I DNSd a marathon as I was unwell, which meant I missed it on completion of a marathon series as well.

It's only a bit of bling.

Is there a compromise? Maybe you can walk or swim the extra distance without additional risk of injury?

Well, of course, as rational, objective individuals, we're all going to tell you: Stop running.
Wait for the appointment.
If you continue to injure yourself further, your recovery will take longer. You have a race in April.
What do you miss out on if you stop? A medal and a hearty hand-shake! Big deal. That and $3 will get your cup of coffee.
You already accumulated the benefits of your challenge by getting so far. You're not going to accrue any appreciably better conditioning by finishing the 33. You are not going to miraculously become faster.
All that said ....
We're runners. We're not rational. We run through pain -- that's like the definition of being a long-distance runner. A marathon hurts. A 5k hurts, if you are trying to catch and pass that guy just in front of you. We all get shin splints. We all get a runners knee, or a tennis-players calf, at some time; it does not cause us to shift to golf or billiards. We keep going.
I ran almost 15 years with pretty severe plantar fasciitis. Lately, I've been running through a torn meniscus. Was that stubbornness dumb? Probably. Did my recovery take longer because I ignored my injuries and abused them? Perhaps. But, I'm still running -- perhaps because I haven't let a physical challenge knock me off from training, which might have been worse, if it started a downhill spiral.
I'm better now. Both knee and feet. I'm strong for my age. Perhaps because I fought through.
Doctors are ninny-nannies. They're advice is always to stop. It is always to not do. Why? Because they don't care about down the road health and fitness. They only care that you don't come back in two weeks, with worse pain, and ask: "Why did you tell me I could push on?" So, they play it safe. Their goal is not to get you back out there as soon as possible, their objections to the contrary. Their aim is to not be sued for malpractice or to be called a quack if someone gets a worse injury.
I think those doctors err too far on the side of caution.
The question really is: Are you willing to take the chance of continuing, knowing that you might exacerbate your injury and that, if you do, your recovery might take 3-4 months instead of 1 month? For example.