Little Things

It's funny (or not so much in this case) how the little things can affect the big things.

It started about a week ago. A slight pain in my right big toe while running. A blister. I haven't had toe blisters since I stopped running on treadmills. Yet another thing to add to my "Why I Hate Treadmills" list. Ok, just a blister so no biggie. I lanced and drained it and then forgot about it. At the time I didn't associate it with my strange ankle pull later in the week.

It bugged me a bit during my long run on Sunday. More of an annoyance than anything else. I had a look after the run and sure enough the blister had reformed. A little bigger this time. Ok, just a blister. Lance, drain, forget.

Yesterday I felt the pain again while spinning and then on the treadmill. That's when I messed up. I was determined to get my hour run in. The pain from the blister was enough this time to cause me to shift my stride slightly - to roll a bit more on the outside edge of my right foot. I broke one of my cardinal rules of training - if an injury causes you to break form then stop.

By the end of the run I could feel a nasty shin splint developing. Work through it I thought. My gait changed a bit to accommodate the pain. Another violation of the rule. My ankle was stiff and sore by the time the run ended. By mid morning I had a full blown shin splints. It was so bad that I couldn't drive because I couldn't pull my foot back to operate the brake.

This of course torpedoed my planned workouts for yesterday afternoon (Tuesdays are my 2-a-day days) as well as my mid-range run for today. This was supposed to be a 19 hour week and instead will probably be more like 2. All because I didn't pay enough attention to a wee little blister.

Lesson learned. A single missed workout or two is better than trashing the whole week. Sometimes I hate being type A.