Picked up a stress fracture in my fibula. Had to defer my fall half and full, but I have just enough time to still run Chicago marathon. But, it won’t be great and thats fine. An argument can be made to not do it, but I am going to.
I had built up to 15 miles when it happened. I’ll have about 6 weeks until race day once out of the boot. Some of that time will have to be running easy/short to test it. Some of it is supposed to be taper. Am biking and swimming now and will limit running to 3 days per week (maybe 4) supplementing with bike/swim.
Whats the longest run i should build up to? Should i do a shorter taper? Any other guidance anyone can provide (besides dont do it).
What grade of stress fracture. With the boot, I’m assuming grade IV?
I had a stress fracture (grade 1…medial tibia). You shouldn’t train for a marry. Thats just a bad idea. I know that’s not what you want to hear, but it’s still the truth.
15 mile long run? Total miles per week, and number of days? Total miles for the year? How long in the boot? How old are you? How long have you been running? Average annual run miles? What were your dr instructions?
I spent 3 months building back to my normal regular routine (6x runs per week)…and 6 months getting back to my old volume (80 mpw)
So, I had this same injury four years ago in my other leg. I agre with you in a lot of ways, but I guees my ortho is more aggressive than others/standadrd practice? I was in boot 6 weeks last time and had 2 weeks to run prep for a 70.3. I realize thats a lot less running and i was fine after.
My ortho essentially said “we are not that worried about the fibula” He said pain will be my guide and that as long as I dont jump right into 50 miles per week I should be fine for Chicago.
Miles I run per week or year has fluctauted based based on race calendar. I ran a spring marry this year and maxed out at 35 miles per week supplementing with bike and swim. I’m 49.
I had a stress reaction in the fibula that thankfully did not become a full-on fracture. The good news about that bone (probably what your doc meant when he said “we’re not that worried about the fibula”) is that it’s generally considered non-weight bearing. It’s more of a stabilizer - so something like playing soccer would be an absolute no-no for a while, but your Ortho knows the details of your specific injury and if you trust his guidance, than I wouldn’t have any qualms about easing into running, with the caveat that if there’s any pain you’re going to want to DNS the marathon and you also have to be fine with coming out of that Mary with a re-injured leg and restarting the process all over again afterwards.
When I first started running, I was in Art School. I didn’t have a proper pair of running shoes, so I ran in what I had … White Chuck Hi-Tops which I had decorated with paint & Sharpies. Three or so miles a day, on the sidewalk - eventually going as far as seven miles a day - caused the heels to separate. The brown rubber sole and a couple layers of padding came cleanly away from the rubber strip that encircled the bottom of the shoe. The pounding also managed to cause a stress fracture in my left leg … very near a weak area in my tibia (?) where I had broken my ankle 4 years earlier
Every time I’ve had a suspected or diagnosed stress fracture (now 3x) my sports medicine doc waves a finger at me and says ‘this is a 12 week recovery’. He knows that I can’t wait 12 weeks, so we are always developing a mitigation plan. The only stress fracture when I wore the boot and did not run for 12 weeks was a fibula fracture that was easily identified even without any radiology training… Currently nursing a suspected metatarsal stress reaction/fracture.
I have had a few stress fractures in my career - in the tibia and one in the SI joint. I didnt have to use a boot, but I did lay off anything that caused any pain at all. I did swim mostly for the first couple weeks with a pull bouy - then introduced kicking and pushing lightly off the wall - did lots of pool running, and when no pain - started riding. After about 7 weeks could start walking without any pain - gradually increased the walks over a week or so - then started with 4 -5k runs and then with no pain - over the next 6 weeks got back to pre injury fitness. You will come back stronger. I would think you can do the marathon - but only if you are pain free during your long run a couple weeks out - no point in setting yourself back to ground zero to do a race without proper prep.
For some balance - this sounds like an exceptionally poor idea. There are always more races - recover properly, build up gradually and turn up properly fit, not half baked, risking longer term injury.
