Absolutely Gutted

I had a bit of a crappy weekend.

Bear with me here through another moan, I know I’ve done a lot of it lately.

It started on Saturday morning after I picked the kids up from Karl’s mum’s. Within minutes of getting home both of them had whined at me at least once that they wanted to be back with Daddy. This continued all day, and what with that and Isabel’s constant questioning of “how many sleeps” did she was back with her Dad my patience was wearing a little thin. After a disastrous bedtime which left me in floods of tears (I can do natural childbirth without shedding a tear, but apparently my 2 year old sobbing that he misses his Dad hurts a shitload) I opted for an early night.

Sunday morning I woke feeling like absolute death — probably dehydration given the state I was in on Saturday — I dropped the kids off back with Karl as they were off to the Shrewsbury Steam Rally and set about trying to cheer myself up. I went back to bed (yes!), did an awesome 10.6k run in a decent time (YES!) and then cleared up the house (oddly satisfying, too). Mostly cheered up, I buggered off to see Gaz and consumed my weight in carvery meat & veg goodness (apparently running 10k on an empty stomach makes one quite hungry…)

Anyway. I woke on Monday morning with a sore right foot which I put down to a funny landing on it at about 3k into my run, but as I could bear weight on it fine I ignored it, and went for a wander around Powis Castle and Gardens with Gaz. Unfortunately by that afternoon, my foot had swollen right up and was bloody painful so I ended up in A&E having a few x-rays taken for good measure. There was nothing visible on the x-rays but the nurse said that apparently stress fractures don’t always show up straight away, and so I need to rest it and if it’s still painful in 2 weeks to go back for more x-rays.

As I’ve only just started to noticeably lose fat, and I’m really getting into my bodyweight + running routine, I’m absolutely bloody gutted that this could sabotage me now. I just have this image in my head of me in 6 weeks time, foot still giving me gip, all of my new muscle definition gone and a big fat belly. How fucking depressing is that :(

13 Comments

  1. Aargh. No advice I’m afraid, hope it’s a sprain rather than a fracture.

  2. you’ll just have to sit on the sofa lifting weights instead ;)

    seriously though – rest! It’s a minor set back in a long term plan. Plus sugar free September should mean you’re not pigging out on sweets and crap so I reckon you’re safe from fatbelly

    • Jem

      27 Aug at 4:35 pm

      I don’t sit on the sofa pigging out on sweets and crap.

      Much.

      ;D

  3. Better to rest now and let it heal than bork it up worse by trying to power through – you’d have to be out for even LONGER trying to heal it then.

    (And 10.6K? Woo-hoo!)

  4. Maybe it’s time to learn to swim? Getting injured sucks but I’ve come to realise that it’s all part of the running experience. It helps to have other forms of exercise to fall back on.
    The other thing I would suggest is looking at your footwear. Regardless of all the hype, our bodies aren’t used to running in minimalist footwear and it can take a long time for our legs, ankles and feet to get used to it.

    • Jem

      27 Aug at 10:32 am

      Problem with learning to swim is the time + cost factor.

      I’ve been wearing barefoot shoes for >5 years. Ironically, the day I ran I wore my shoes with a thicker sole, so if anything that tells me I should stick with my minimalist footwear :P

  5. Taking a rest won’t break you unless you don’t start up running once you are healed. I’ve injured my foot once I started losing weight as well. Apparently as you start to lose weight the way you hold yourself upright starts to change (My hips don’t rest as wide as they did before) and this can change your stance over time and if you aren’t careful you will land on your feet wrong. :(

  6. Is the pain located in your heel? I came down bad on my right foot one day and gave myself plantar fasciitis, and the biggest symptom is horrible heel pain, especially when first standing up or getting out of bed. I hope things get better for you though.

  7. Hi,

    On Run: I don’t know what you call it but when I wear the wrong trainers (ie where lights designed for 10k and then get carried away and go running for 3 hours) I get this terrible pain the next day on the outside of my foot whenever I take a step. If similar to what you’re feeling it goes away after a few days but try & avoid running for a week – it’s basically the muscles being messed up as the trainers your wearing don’t have enough padding and your foot is being crushed.

    On Kids: Absolutely, 100%, no useful advise. My daughter does something similair when I come home after working away. It really hurts my wife. Just remember it’s not that they hate you, it’s the novelty of seeing dad.

    Kelly

    • You’re so right about the novelty factor, I just wish that coming home to me had the same novelty! :(

  8. I know only too well how frustrating it is wanting to lose weight but my stuffed up body letting me down, hopefully this is just a sprain and you can get back to running again. You should get some trainers with arch support. With regards to the kids playing you up sadly this happens when one parent applies the rules and the other constantly playing ‘nice fun let’s throw caution to the winds and play nice and have no rules’. Short of asking the other parent to help support and maintain a routine and follow the rules with you there isn’t much you can do other than constantly gently sticking to normal rules and praying they eventually come round to seeing things differently. You could maybe get the message across to them that although they may enjoy stirring things up to sabotage you but it has the knock on effort of causing the kiddies way extra stress and makes them suffer far more in the end.

  9. Oh giant poop. :(

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