Quote:
Originally Posted by icreateidestroy
@UpDownAround
Wow! completing a half-marathon in 2:08 can be a high in itself, but understand the frustration where there is an injury that comes with it because you are pushing yourself too soon.
When I first took up running on a treadmill, I was also experiencing what people call as a runner's high and overdid it that I had hairline fractures on both my shins ( called shin-splints) which led to 6 weeks absolute rest for healing.
And in that 6 weeks I couldn't run or cycle, only swimming was allowed and I was never a swimmer or comfortable in a swimming pool, so it was a downward spiral from stopping working out to back to bad habits and gaining weight and going back to depression.
Later on, I learned to pace myself and not over-do the running and then got to doing running outdoors and the best I have done so far is a 5K at 25.27 minutes. During that run, I had to once stop to tie my shoelaces, else I am convinced I would have been sub 25 minutes 
But from there I have now completely quit running and I see others who have built up to 10k and half-marathons.
It's also extremely frustrating because it feels like I can't be consistent at one thing, any good behavior I exhibit appears only like a phase to me because eventually something will happen and I will go back into depression and nothingness phase. |
I always paced myself. I was always about a 10 minute miler; I would actually do it just a few seconds under 10. I didn't slow down when I ran 10+ miles and I didn't speed up if I ran just 1. The frustrating thing is that's not fast. It was more the pushing endurance that got me. I have degenerative arthritis in pretty much all joints and I hastened the demise of some connective tissue. The doc suggested I either give up running or put him on retainer.
I recently removed the walking/running/cycling trackers I had on my phone so that I wouldn't get back into the numbers game (how far did I walk? how fast? how did my hill climb time on the bike compare to previous ones? etc). If I go for a walk for exercise, I need it to just be leisurely exercise and nothing more or I will hurt myself again like last winter (started Nordic walking and ended up using a cane for a couple of months).