Once A Runner…

I Am So Blasted Stubborn

When I get on a streak of any kind, I stubbornly stick to it. This can be good and bad. The good is obvious: I keep on trucking and consistency is almost always a good thing. The bad? I don’t get enough rest and recovery. I tend to bull my way on through minor injuries when I should instead take a step back and let things stabilize.

Well, I did a bad thing yesterday and today. I stepped off a curb wrong yesterday and my right ankle twisted funny. It hurt a bit, but I could tolerate the pain. There was a little swelling, but not much. Yeah, pop an aspirin and take it easy the rest of the day.

Then I stubbornly went ahead with my walk last evening. It was a slog. And that’s being rather generous. I was slow(er than usual) and I had to adjust my gait to accommodate the ankle. Never one to be smart when I should, I then got up and walked again this morning, too. I was even slower, but by design — I slowed down a whole lot and paid close attention to how my ankle felt. Some pain, but not as bad as last night. Then the knees — yeah, both of them — started aching, though. Not very badly, but enough to get my attention.

I’m too stubborn to take a whole day off when my program is already at such a low intensity as it is. Just doesn’t feel right to me to back off at every little twinge when I’ve gone this far at this very slow rate of progress and I’m still not even really running yet.

Of course, part of me acknowledges the wisdom of backing off, taking full rest days to recover, especially after a stupid misstep like that. But part of me bristles at taking off for such a minor thing so early, especially when I know the intensity is so ridiculously low right now. I mean, if I back off from this what am I going to do when the heat is on later? I know me, and I don’t think this is something I should coddle myself over at all. I’ll just try to keep monitoring the minor injury and take steps (ice, slowing down a bit, etc.), but I just can’t in good conscience come to a full stop for this.

There are so many little, niggling aches and pains to deal with in getting back into shape — a death of a thousand cuts — that it’s easy to forget which ones are important enough to step back and really focus upon and which ones you just have to force yourself to work through. I’ve often gotten the two confused in the past, but I really think I’ve too often taken the easy way out and permitted myself to slack off when I should’ve worked through things.

I’m working through this one. I need to work through it. I’m going to suffer much worse in the months and years ahead.