So I’m seeing a doctor in a few days to find out if I actually have a stress fracture, but all the signs are there and Im starting to freak out.
To turn my story into a quick sob story, Im probably one of the worst runners on the forum. In the past 2 months Ive been really focused on my running, Ive tripled my mileage (5-6 a week to 20-ish), and its made an enormous difference. And just as I figured I was turning into a decent runner, I got a dull pain and swelling around my third toe. So now Ive got a few questions:
Will I be able to walk and function (non-athletic) normally, etc. during recovery and still recover at the same pace, or should I plan on kicking back, working from home, and keeping my leg above my heart at all times?
Can I still bike? Am I confined to my trainer/rollers?
Will swimming with fins aggravate things?
If I want to do the first two legs of Sentinel in a few weeks, will the 1/4-mile long beach run into transition do me in, or can I squeeze it into the race?
Tribear, I had a stress fracture in my left femur a couple of years ago. I would not be surprised if the doc says to stay off for at least 6-8 weeks. You may or may not have an air cast, boot or some such contraption…depends on the doc. You may be able to swim, and maybe ride but if you are putting direct pressure on the fracture site because of it you will be sorry.
Be patient…when it heals, you’ll be fine but you put yourself in world of trouble if you fracture it again by pushing. Just my 2 cents. Hope you’re ok!
I feel your pain, trust me. Search for my post about 6 weeks ago called “possible stress fracture.”
It was, indeed, a stress fracture in my 3rd metatarsal (sounds like where yours is). While I’m trying to blame it on a bad pair of shoes, I realize it may have been from speed training.
What I learned from my thread was: don’t rush it. Accept that you won’t run again for a long time. I don’t want to be that guy who’s foot snapped during a race.
I asked the same question about doing the 1st two legs of a race two weeks after my Drs. appointment. When I got the crutches and was told to stay off it completely for 2-3 weeks, I knew it was out. But that was the right decision, because run/walking from the swim to the bike could have set me back the whole two weeks I had spent not walking on it.
I keep having little relapses, but am mostly in the re-strengthening phase of my recovery and hope to be able to walk without a limp in 2 weeks. I did a 40-mi ride after three weeks and think I should have waited longer.
Swimming w/o kicking and flip-turning with 1 foot was fine. Actually made the foot feel better.
Yes, you can walk around relatively normally in either a surgical shoe or CAM boot/pneumatic walker (what I use for patients). I do not usually have metatarsal incomplete stress fractures using crutches. NO running at all. Biking (spinning) in a stiff soled shoe is usually not a problem about 4 weeks out. You can swim to your heart’s content (but I would do open turns) - so now is the time for swim drills … Once a lot of external bone callus is noted on X-ray (at least 6 weeks out), you can go without the CAM boot, but probably won’t be running comfortably for at least 8 weeks, and then slowly.