Patience has never been my thing

So I ran three ultramarathons in the first two months of 2011.  For many runners this is no big deal but for me this was a tough schedule.  I accomplished this while only averaging about twenty miles of running a week for the last four months.  In terms of training for ultra racing this is well below recommended mileage to prepare.  With a two year old daughter and a seven month old son my training time is tough to come by.  Training for a 5K is one thing but training to run 30-40 mile races is incredibly demanding.  I entered all three ultras this year injured, undertrained, or both.

The outcome to all of this is a tibial stress fracture that brought all training to a halt the day after I completed Mount Mitchell Challenge.  Within 24-48 hours of the injury I could not put weight on my left leg and could not walk without the boot I received from Ortho Carolina.  I suffered greatly for the first week and wore the boot as much as possible.  I healed enough  at the close of week one that I could function enough to go without the boot while at work.  I'm sure my doctor would not recommend this but life goes on and in my line of work injuries bring question to your "fitness for duty".

I'm not known as a patient person and this injury has really tested me.  I have not run for three weeks now and have no plans to for at least another three.  At the beginning of week three I started back cycling which my doctor agreed would be okay so long as I was not pedaling through pain.  I'm hoping this injury will force me to become active once again cycling.  I could definately reap the benefits from the cross-training cycling would bring to my running.