I have finally come to terms with the fact that I am probably injured. The last time I had an injury was probably in May-June 2010, but I only backed off because I was between training cycles anyway. I really could have pushed through it, and ended up doing so as my next cycle started with that lingering injury. It eventually just went away. I had a lot of soreness in my left groin/quad, but it never affected my stride and never hurt all that much running.
Before that, in July of 2009 I had some knee issues which back then, were enough to make me stop. 19 months without true stopping due to injury is pretty damn good though.
This ankle problem is different, it makes me limp even while running. Even during my regular day it will bother me. In fact, right now it's throbbing a bit.
I've run 2 miles since my 5K race. On Monday and Tuesday my ankle felt bad, and it only felt moderately better today. My 2 mile run was not good, so it is clear to me something is wrong. There is no way I should feel like this after a 5K. If healthy, by now I'd already have 25-30 miles in for the week and one workout. 5Ks barely cost anything.
I'm already looking into cross training methods to keep my base strong. Once upon a time, I would have just done nothing until I was healthy again. But now, I've put in too much work not just for Boston, but for my 11th place on Sunday, for my 14th place at the RRCA challenge, and for me to be able to confidently start up front at any local race. I'm not going to throw that away wallowing in sorrow because I can't run. By Friday, I will have a plan in that regard. I also have a doctor's appointment with a sports medicine/orthopedic doctor for Monday (good thing PPOs exist, something health insurance actually gets right) to see if he can shed any light on what's wrong with my ankle.
I know exactly what led me to where I am today. I probably needed at least one more step back week thrown into the January, February mix. I first started feeling pain after my last run before my step back for the Club Challenge. Though a 97 mile week with a half marathon at the end accelerated my downfall, I'm convinced that had I been 100% going into that week that I would have survived. I've done high mileage and racing before, and I've raced on back-to-back weekends before (including longer races). Even if I only ran 70-75 miles with that half marathon, I think sooner or later, my ankle would have gotten worse as soon as I pushed into the 90s because it certainly was not getting better in the days leading up to the Club Challenge (even if I pretended it was).
I think I bit off just a little more than I can chew. Too much, too fast, too soon (in this case too much), the bane of all runners. 70-75 miles per week was probably my sustainable sweet spot. High 80s week in and week out was probably just a little too much.
Going forward, I'm pulling the plug on the HAT 50K, there is just no reason for me to do that race now. Cherry Blossom is expendable, but it won't get the axe yet. Everything I do from here on out is to get myself to Boston healthy with at least my base endurance in one piece. I can still manage a decent showing without ideal training, though I don't know about sub-2:40 at this point. I'm not counting anything out yet though. If things go well enough that I can get back to training in early April, I'll train through Boston at higher than taper but much lower than peak mileage and just run the race with nothing to lose. I've got a couple of other races lined up afterward where I can go for it as well.
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