14 days before my first half marathon

[April G]

Hello everybody!  This may need to go in the running injuries discussion but I'm not sure.  Anyways I am two weeks away from my first half-marathon and have come down with a sudden round of peroneal tendonitis in my right ankle.  I had it in my left ankle a few months ago and it put me out for about 10 days.  This time around it is not as severe, as I am able to run on a treadmill without limping but cannot run overground.  My question is, do I continue running through some pain on the treadmill, or should I cross-train like mad, or should I take days off?  This close to the half-marathon I am not sure how much fitness I will lose in two weeks if I don't run at all.  I do not have access to a pool and am stuck with either a rickety elliptical or a decent treadmill.  I would also love to have feedback on my training regimen, aside from the injury, so I know what to improve on as I will be running another half-marathon in April. Thanks!

[Jeff Linger]

April, 8 days before my first marathon I had some ankle issues of a similar sort. Shooting pain and numbness struck in the middle of the run. I took the next 6 days totally and completely off and tested it out the day before. No problems, so I ran and had a great race, qualifying for Boston. I wouldn't worry so much about how much you'll lose. I don't think you'll lose that much. Give it 3 days off or so and test it lightly. If you feel any pains, get off it and repeat the 3 day cycle. I wouldn't go crazy on the cross-training, but you may want to get a 45 minute aroebic workout in each day if you can. Good luck.

[Sasha Pachev]

I would back out of the half marathon, cross-train until you are healthy enough to run without severe pain, then gradually ease into running.

One of the biggest mistakes a novice runner can make is training for a specific race on a particular date, especially a long one . Problems with that:

a) The training is often forced to try to match some kind of a prescribed schedule with no regard to the feedback from the body.
b) As a consequence of a) there is often an injury
c) The goal makes the runner race regardless of the injury and aggravate it.
d) The injury causes a long break from running.
e) Later on once the injury heals, when there is no race to train for the runner does not train.
f) Another race comes into the radar screen and we go back to a)

I suggest an alternative to the above - train to be fit, race when you are ready. Spread your ambition over a period of a year or two, in some cases three or four might be necessary. Overtime you get to the point where you are ready to race all year round, and not just that, but at a much higher level.

[April G]

The half is already a no go.  My ankle hurts too much.  When you suggest that I run base mileage only--I take it that you mean easy pace without tempo runs or speedwork?  No long runs for a while, clearly.  So...shorter races every now and then for the rest of year would be okay--as long as the body is holding up?  I do not want to trash my body training for a longer race than I am not ready for.  I really like to race though--there is something about running hard and competition that I enjoy.

[Sasha Pachev]

April:

I left a comment about racing on your blog at

http://april.fastrunningblog.com/blog-01-01-2009.html