Forced break from running is probably something we all need.  The last 2 times I took more than a week off was when I had to travel to India, and the month I was there, I ran like 10 miles a week, and when I came back, found a new spring in my step and was a bit faster as well.

Could have been cooler weather here, and not sucking for oxygen in all that dust and smoke, but also could have been that I needed that break.  I ran my HM in Nov about 4 minutes faster than my PR on a 7 mile long run in the preceding 3 months, and then beat that by another 3 minutes a month later.  Sure my miles before  were probably what helped me get stronger, but I doubt without the forced off time I'd have gotten that much faster.

 

Serious runner like elite or serious runner like work-a-day hobby jogger such as myself?  Because I don't know anybody in my category that goes to the doc within 5 days of thinking they may have an injury...unless their spouse is a sports med doc, or they work in some fairy-tale utopia like a college campus or something.

 

 

How did all that time you spent with top sports orthopedists work out for you?

 

 

Serious runners like elite (Peter Snell, Michael Johnson, Jeff Wells etc) AND local/regional winners.

 

The time I spent with good orthos and PTs dealing with injuries has worked pretty well, since I'm still running after 35 years.    But I think Skootr should listen to mikey, because mikey knows everything.      If you pull your hamstring, you don't go running to the doctor within 5 days.  If it doesn't get better and you can't walk without pain, you might go to the doctor to make sure it isn't coming from something else that needs some PT or other treatment.   If you think you have a stress fracture, you want to find that out and know to what degree you need to rest it.

 

Sadly, ice and beer will do nothing for a stress fracture.

Uh....don't you need ice to go ice fishing?

 

 

I know everyone's been waiting for my input.

 

I'm for ice and beer too. Like Candice, I have any number of places on my legs/feet that hurt if I touch them. So, I don't touch them. Hello. 

 

I had a stress fracture once, and it was WAY different, in terms of the pain, than the normal ongoing tedious garbage. It was sharp and scary and I was absolutely unable to run or even walk well on it. I went to a doctor for that. Otherwise, I haven't been to a sports doc in over 20 years. Rest, ice/heat, stretching, and massage usually work things out. And beer.

 

 

 

Serious runners like elite (Peter Snell, Michael Johnson, Jeff Wells etc) AND local/regional winners.

 

 

Gotcha.  So a couple of multiple Olypmic gold medalists, a former runner up in the Boston Marathon and some other local elites.  People just like me and Skootr, in other words.

 

I mean I get it, when you're injured you're injured and you should figure it out.  But I'm always surprised at how quickly people jump to stress fracture and doctors and expensive testing.  Maybe I'm just lucky or not training hard enough but my last running injury that actually kept me from running anymore than a few days was in 2002 (Achilles tendinitis) and I've run about 20,000 miles since then.

 

In my expert experience ice and beer will cure most things.

So if you are an average age group runner who trains hard you shouldn't get medical attention if you feel you need it?

 

It sounds to me like you've been lucky.  I can't think of many runners that have not had an injury that sidelined them for weeks or months at some point in their running career.     I guess you are just very special.