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10 weeks to Chatty and injured
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So I am 10 weeks to Chattanooga and I can't run. I am 7 days into an injury, how long can I go before I pull the pin on the race? Swimming and cycling are fine but I can't even run 500 metres at this point.
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Re: 10 weeks to Chatty and injured [Skipp80] [ In reply to ]
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Skipp80 wrote:
So I am 10 weeks to Chattanooga and I can't run. I am 7 days into an injury, how long can I go before I pull the pin on the race? Swimming and cycling are fine but I can't even run 500 metres at this point.

You aren't being rational here. Just as anecdote to hopefully give you some confidence. I developed a knee issue 2 years out at Ironman Mont Tremblant. I am sure I could have gotten a cortisone shot to make it thru, but masking the pain is never a good idea in my opinion. My training was spotty leading up the race, it was mostly an issue biking but was also a problem running so I was swimming a lot. I lasted about 40 mins at Mont Tremblant on the bike but was too stubborn to pull the pin until after the first lap.

After the race, which was about 4 weeks till Ironman Wisconsin (which I wasn't planning on racing and wasn't registered for), I decided to take a break and let the injury heal. The injury was a weird sort of inflammation injury where it would start to hurt after a specific period of time on the bike. After it got to be highly-inflamed it required a certain amount of downtime before I could even walk without a limp again. The time to that inflammation point had been shortening and shortening into IMMT climaxing with the 40 minutes at IMMT. I had lots and lots of downtime after the IMMT, no riding and after a bit I incorporated some swimming. Did a run or two and had a short bike or two that was painfree with no inflammation. I had a commitment to a small local race (labor day) to do a 70.3 but they had an Olympic distance as well so I dropped down to the Olympic. It was NOT pretty I ran something 42+ 10K which was my slowest time even when I was an age-grouper. Important thing is I had no pain for an hour ride. The next day I decided to bike to family picnic (90 minutes) again no pain. I ran 16 miles that Tuesday with no pain. I hadn't plan on racing Ironman Wisconsin, but I needed a longer ride to see if the inflammation would stay do and maybe some glimmer of hope I could still race Chattanooga. Thru myself into Ironman Wisconsin as the race starts a block from where I live in Madison. Ended up winning the dang thing. Longest ride was 90 mins over 40 weeks. Two weeks later I was able to do Chattanooga. Went about ~8:20

Moral of the story is to relax, let your body rest and heal. We are never as unfit as we think we are.


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Re: 10 weeks to Chatty and injured [Thomas Gerlach] [ In reply to ]
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Thomas Gerlach wrote:
Skipp80 wrote:
So I am 10 weeks to Chattanooga and I can't run. I am 7 days into an injury, how long can I go before I pull the pin on the race? Swimming and cycling are fine but I can't even run 500 metres at this point.


You aren't being rational here. Just as anecdote to hopefully give you some confidence. I developed a knee issue 2 years out at Ironman Mont Tremblant. I am sure I could have gotten a cortisone shot to make it thru, but masking the pain is never a good idea in my opinion. My training was spotty leading up the race, it was mostly an issue biking but was also a problem running so I was swimming a lot. I lasted about 40 mins at Mont Tremblant on the bike but was too stubborn to pull the pin until after the first lap.

After the race, which was about 4 weeks till Ironman Wisconsin (which I wasn't planning on racing and wasn't registered for), I decided to take a break and let the injury heal. The injury was a weird sort of inflammation injury where it would start to hurt after a specific period of time on the bike. After it got to be highly-inflamed it required a certain amount of downtime before I could even walk without a limp again. The time to that inflammation point had been shortening and shortening into IMMT climaxing with the 40 minutes at IMMT. I had lots and lots of downtime after the IMMT, no riding and after a bit I incorporated some swimming. Did a run or two and had a short bike or two that was painfree with no inflammation. I had a commitment to a small local race (labor day) to do a 70.3 but they had an Olympic distance as well so I dropped down to the Olympic. It was NOT pretty I ran something 42+ 10K which was my slowest time even when I was an age-grouper. Important thing is I had no pain for an hour ride. The next day I decided to bike to family picnic (90 minutes) again no pain. I ran 16 miles that Tuesday with no pain. I hadn't plan on racing Ironman Wisconsin, but I needed a longer ride to see if the inflammation would stay do and maybe some glimmer of hope I could still race Chattanooga. Thru myself into Ironman Wisconsin as the race starts a block from where I live in Madison. Ended up winning the dang thing. Longest ride was 90 mins over 40 weeks. Two weeks later I was able to do Chattanooga. Went about ~8:20

Moral of the story is to relax, let your body rest and heal. We are never as unfit as we think we are.


Thanks. I think you nailed it "we are never as unfit as we think we are". I will take an Ativan and spend some time watching TV. Cheers
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Re: 10 weeks to Chatty and injured [Skipp80] [ In reply to ]
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Skipp80 wrote:
So I am 10 weeks to Chattanooga and I can't run. I am 7 days into an injury, how long can I go before I pull the pin on the race? Swimming and cycling are fine but I can't even run 500 metres at this point.

I think it depends on you. You have options, but they aren't what you probably want.

For reference, 3 months before IM Muskoka I hurt my back for the 2nd time in my life (and the first time in about 25 years). I couldn't do anything for weeks. Before IM all I could do was a few test bikes and runs, all very short. I lost a ton of fitness.

What do you do? Do you cancel because you can't perform at the level that you want?

For me, I couldn't get a refund so I went ahead ready to pull the pin if it started to hurt. I had performance goals, but quickly abandoned them (ok, not quickly, only 1/3 of the way through the 2nd lap of the bike). After that I high fived all the people at aid stations and spectators. Thanked all the volunteers. Just had fun with it.

If you can't get a refund and the race isn't so far away you're looking at multiple nights in a hotel just go for it. Swim. Bike. Try to run. Suck it up and walk. It hurt to swallow my pride (and my goal of not walking on the run) and my time was horrible but I had fun. It comes down to what you want to do and if you can let go of performance/time/etc goals.
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