All right… so I went to the doctor today and now I have guilt… He’s probably about my age or a little younger but he scolded me with all the gentle brutality that my dad used to when I did something stupid.
We talked about the definition of pain. We talked about the difference between a clean break in a bone and a stress fracture. We talked about recovery times. We talked about getting older. It was all good. But I hate it when I know people are right…
His suggestion was to start riding (in the middle of winter? and he’s a sports doc?) my bike (on the trail only, no hills, etc.) for a two weeks. Then if (and ONLY if) I was pain free at that point (this is where the “define pain” discussion happened) I could start walking again. No more than 20 minutes at a time. Then, if this doesn’t hurt, I can begin to add 30 second jogging bursts in and slowly convert from walking to running. In his estimation, probably about 2 more months. He totally understands my frustration and concern about gaining weight. And I totally understand his concern about the bone healing properly.
The problem comes in the method. He gave me the green light to start doing core work (cool, got it), swim (nope), stationary bike (nope), and even stretch (kewl), etc. It took a second for it to sink in that I don’t have the money to join a gym and don’t have access to a place to swim.
In the end, I’m just not sure what to do. If I had a stationary bike, that would be a good answer. But if I don’t have the money for a gym membership, I certainly don’t have the money for a bike or a trainer. Doing nothing is not an option. Running or walking is still a bad option… so what do I do? Probably keep running… with guilt…
Posted by dabigleap 
