During my first college cross season I ran through a stress fracture in my right foot. I was afraid that I would lose out on a year if I didn't run through it. It hurt like hell but I didn't care. I ended up PRing on it in the 4 mile.
I had to have foot surgery after the season and missed track.
Depends on how you define "run through." I've had things that have bugged me, and I'll keep training, but I'll attend to it.
Taking the "hardass" approach and ignoring pain (and doing nothing about it) sets you up for failure and long-term damage. However, if you have an overuse injury, you don't have to grab your floatie belt and head for the pool right away. Ice, NSAIDS, heat, and all that good stuff can help you "work through" injuries --mostly soft-tissue stuff. The "big" injuries tend to get worse when you try to hardass it.
wondering... wrote:
Running through everything other than Achilles Tendinitis has worked for me. Don't mess with AT.
I ran through that too. It was actually a pretty interesting and sort of dramatic experience, but it's kind of a long story.
Nope...
I tried running through shin problems that turned out to be a stress fracture and made it reallly severe and wound up missing the summer and half my xc season trying to let it heal and i'm still feeeling the effects of having to take that much time off since track was my first full high school season and it killed me and burned me out since i wasn't used to running that much.
Wow, i think that was the world's longest sentence. Moral of the story, don't try to run through stress fractures.
HRE wrote:
wondering... wrote:Running through everything other than Achilles Tendinitis has worked for me. Don't mess with AT.
I ran through that too. It was actually a pretty interesting and sort of dramatic experience, but it's kind of a long story.
Do tell......
I've also run through several injuries except for AT. It hurt so bad I was limping horribly.
I ran through knee pain until I couldn't run anymore for 15 years (tendonitis). but knowing the right exercises to do now, I just do the exercises when I get the pain, continue running, and the pain goes away.
Ok. The tendon had swollen so that I couldn't evenput a shoe on without it hurting like crazy. I had cut the heel off of a couple old pairs of shoes and was shuffling along for a couple of miles eachd ay.
After about two weeks I just got sick of being injured so I decided I was just going to run normally no matter what. I got a normal pair of shoes and crammed them on. It hurt like crazy. Then I forced myself to run. At first I was shuffling and hobbling but reminded myself that I was going to run normally no matter how badly it hurt. For about two minutes I saw God. It felt like someone was holding a blow torch to the heel. Then the pain went away and at the end of the run the selling was gone.
I worked with a terrific podiatrist who would let me know honestly when an injury needed a lay-off and when not. If I ran against his advice, I inevitably paid for it. And as a runner himself (and a darn good runner, actually), he understood that runners don't want to stop for just everything--so you could trust him when he said to rest/cross-train.
What a load of bullshit. Sorry, everybody, really. But you CAN NOT work 'through' injuries doing the same exact training that caused it in the first place (you can do other things, but that's referred to as working 'around' it). I happen to have quite some experience with sports injuries, especially those of the lower leg. If something hurts (i'm not talking about small acheys), doesn't feel right or if you're just not sure, stop the training, examine in at home and take the rest of the day off. Maybe the next day too. No biggie. Then, try doing the activity again. If you're ok, it might have just been a minor strain/sprain. Just don't be stupid. You got you're whole life to get in shape/get strong/be faster/...
Jack; Lots of guys responded with actual stories of run ning through an injury. Probably none were too severe, but nevertheless they were run through. Off the top of my head I recall a story in a Steve Cram book about him being frustrated with an injury and saying"f..it" and sprinting on it and it resolved.
Obviously the answer is that every situation is slightly different, but neither approach is absolutely right.
It depends on the injury. I ran through a strange foot problem for months. I found a way to keep it from getting any worse, and it wasn't they type of injury that goes away after a week off, so I just did what I could to keep it at bay and it eventually went away.
I've run through hamstring strains a few times, but they were minor. I just ran real slow and shortened my running gait.
Some injuries cannot be run through though.
For most non fracture injuries, I would simply cut the mileage and intensity back so as to maintain fitness while the injury heals. I have switched to a much lighter training shoe, the Asics Piranna SP, in hopes of strengthening my foot muscles. It weighs 4.8 ounces and has very little "support" or "cushioning". I am also doing much more walking with light shoes or even sandals. Kenyans walk 3 hours at a time and think nothing of it. We do an absurd amount of sitting in the country. Think about your average day. If all you do is sit and run with little or no walking, you are probably asking for an injury. Three hours sounds a little extreme to me but some walking is a lot better than none. No hills, and no speed work.
I ran through ITBS last track season--hurt like %^&*! I started by taking a week off, and then tried running, and it was no better. I then said eff it, it's my senior season, slapped on a knee brace (as little as it helped), doped up on ibuprofen (up to 16/day), and just ran. Hurt like absolute hell at first, and I'd gimp around for much of the day afterward, but then it sloooowly subsided over the course of the next five weeks till the pain was all gone.
I've been running through achilles tendonitis since the middle of August. It still hasn't gone away, but hasn't gotten any worse.
Running through ITBS right now and I'm feeling awesome. It all depends on the injury. Ironically, PF took me out twice and that's minor compared to the crap I've run through before. Listen to the body and run till you can't run anymore. Either you'll voluntarily take time off to wait out the injury or the injury will make you take the time off. I'm game for waiting for the injury to make it happen. Otherwise, keep going.
yes.
I've run through the achilles tendonitis as well, but in general if you have an injury where exercises will help to heal it and will keep it stable in the meantime, and rest doesn't resolve the underlying cause, then you can probably run through it. if the achilles tendonitis is far advanced, then you're going to have to rest and ice before starting the eccentric calf raises that will heal it if it's not torn or ruptured. if the achilles is just sore to the touch, then you can probably run through it and get gradually better from the exercises (also getting new shoes immediately). but this is obviously one of those injuries where it's potentially a serious problem. with shin splints I couldn't run at all until the exercises had strengthened the muscles enough so that the shin didn't hurt anymore. Foot soreness would be one of those symptoms to take very seriously and to adjust what you're doing immediately--e.g. wear an extra pair of socks and get totally off the pavement.
I recall hearing a story about Sam Bair Jr. running through an injury. He was doing some crazy mileage back in the 70s (like 150+) and had some pesky knee pain. It was becoming frustrating so he just took off sprinting downhill one time. He heard a pop and stopped running immediately to make sure he didn't hurt something but it seemed OK so he just started up again. The knee never bothered him again and he was fine. It was a fluke thing. He never knew what was wrong or what fixed it. Needless to say, he didn't recommend that method.
i trained for and ran a marathon with a spring ligament tear. however, i needed surgery after the marathon.