Marathon Training Diaries: Week 7

It started out perfect. Hitting the paces, getting in the workouts. It was glorious. The stuff training plan dreams are made of. This week was the week I finally thought I had it all figured out.

And then the air quality alert hits on Saturday. Family in town on Sunday meant I missed the time of day it was cool enough to run, and frankly, I was super tired and napped a lot of the day.

And then...I woke up this morning, ready to run six miles, and it was absolutely not happening.

During the training for my second marathon, I sprained my left ankle. I was wearing platform shoes on an uneven sidewalk. It took me out for weeks. I went to a physical therapist. And while it gradually got better, and I’ve run two marathons since then, it is an injury that won’t fully go away for nearly two years now. On tough runs, I can feel the ankle getting weaker, and I panic that I’ll re-injure it. I’ve re-sprained it walking.

But, at least on paper, I’ve been doing everything right. My mileage last week, in no small part due to the air quality, wasn’t actually that high. I have been doing regular strength workouts. I am taking rest days. I am fueling before, during, and after runs.

Still, this morning, I woke up barely able to put weight on my ankle.

It has somewhat improved throughout the day, with elevation, ice, and heat, but I’m honestly not sure what to expect tomorrow, or three weeks from now, or on marathon day. I cannot point to a single reason for the flare up to be happening (and let me tell you, runners are obsessed with finding reasons for injuries so they can “bullet-proof” their legs/hips/knees etc. and “prevent” injury. Spoiler alert: this is just not possible). So to have no answers, in the middle of a marathon training block, is honestly kind of terrifying.

I don’t know if it’s true for all, or most, runners, but when I say I am a Type A-perfectionist-control freak, I am not exaggerating. And that personality “quirk” certainly carries over into running. I think it’s part of the reason I keep signing up for marathons. What’s better for a Type A than a color-coded, daily schedule of things to do to hit my goals? But at the end of the day, life cannot be controlled, and neither can the marathon.

Training will never go according to plan. You can do everything “right” and still have niggles and pains you can’t diagnose and fix immediately (or ever). You can run every single long run, and still have a terrible race day. Life happens.

And so while I try not to focus on all the terrible outcomes that could come from this unexplained injury flare-up, I just want to share a reminder that there is no perfect training plan, no matter if you are a coach, how many marathons you’ve run, or even if you’re a professional athlete. There is only the training plan you can complete around life, and health, and safety.

Please give yourself grace as you train this summer, and above all else, please, for the love of whatever higher power you believe in, do not Google your running injury.