Is this thing on?
Cracks open a beer
It’s been quite a bit since I’ve put anything out. I’ve thought about using Instagram again for some short form content but content on that site exhausts me. The majority of what I see there is peacocking and doing outlandish things for the sake of bringing an audience. Can’t running just be about running again?
In the almost three months since Boston (fuck, it’s already almost been three months…) a bunch has happened. I salvaged any sort of fitness I had and pieced my body together to help pace a marathon a month later in Michigan and then I took a much needed break. With 18 months since the last race I was happy with, I decided to start looking for some answers to the three main issues I’ve been battling.
- Energy? General apathy?
- My ankle.
- Glute/hamstring
For the last year at least I’ve had issues with just feeling tired all the time. I couldn’t get through a regular day without having to take a nap. I’d feel like I was in a fog most of my days and felt incredibly apathetic about most things. I thought it was a depression spell as I’ve been through bouts of this here and there. Never this long though. I was having issues forgetting things and just felt as I was going through the motions. 2024 as a whole felt like I went through the motions. I was there but I wasn’t there. Training didn’t feel hard. So what the hell was it.
I got blood work done. Ferritin and Iron levels normal. I’m not sure how many runners have been disappointed to hear those levels were normal. I just wanted an answer…
So I decided to take advantage of the amazing insurance my job has and got a nutritionist. I did something I haven’t done in my life, I started tracking my meals. For most of my life I have focused on one thing when it came to food, eat often and eat a little bit more cause you’re running.
Well… It turns out that I may have vibes based eating myself into possibly REDs. To keep it short, I wasn’t taking enough calories. My target was 3000 calories. I was taking in 2000 on a normal day, at most. I basically was taking just enough to cover the mileage I was running and probably was in a deficit most days. Cool. Cool.
Tracking has been eye opening. I’m still not at 3000 calories consistently but I’m within striking distance most days and I’m feeling a ton better than I have been in the last couple months. Now the focus is on intaking the right things. It’s a massive step forward.
The foot? Well I finally got an MRI on it. I’ve rolled it no less than a dozen times since the original injury in early 2023. I can run on it. But I can’t run on grass or trail without risking another roll. It’s laughable just what little off movement will trigger a flare up bad enough where I can’t put pressure on it for a few days. Then it subsides. I wanted to get answers on this. Whether the running I was continuing to do on it was making it worse. Was I running on a tear or a fracture?
No and no. No breaks, no fractures, no tears. Two sprained ligaments in my ankle. A low ankle sprain. Nothing out of the ordinary expect for the fact that I keep reinjuring it. The thought it that the ligaments may be too stretched out which has led to this vulnerability/instability at the ankle. Doctor recommended some heavy rehab from a specialist. If that doesn’t work after a couple months, surgery may help tighten those ligaments. Seeing as I can’t afford surgery if I want to try and qualify for the trials, this is what I need to do. So we start rehab next week. Even if I don’t ever qualify to the trials this will hopefully make running an enjoyable endeavor again. I’m tired of having to be hyper-fixated on every single step my left foot takes. I miss running on trails. I miss cross country. I can’t do these things if I’m like this.
If my foot improves I can get back to doing consistent strength training again. Hard to do lunge matrix and other stuff I had on a bad foot. And well. I’ve been lazy. If I actually want to run well I have to do the extra stuff. I have energy again to do things, I’m taking steps to rehab a lingering issue, and well, maybe we can steer this ship in the right direction.
That’s all I got for now. It’s time to eat dinner.
Till next time.
Beers and Miles 