Jogging withdrawal’s my Achilles’ heel.

If you’re a jogging junkie like I am…

…you might wake up some days feeling like that scene from Hostel:

Ah, the cantankerous calcaneus tendon.

It wasn’t until I started working again in the P.T. field that I realized how bad I’ve let it get. Or how deep in denial I’ve been about it. Why? Because I’m a running fiend. And, like most forms of fiendery, when you’re in love with your drug of choice – entertaining the thought that its excess might be causing a given issue just isn’t an option. You row right on through the Egyptian De-Nial river, and straight to a sanity bereft sarcophagus – running all the way there, of course, if you’re anything like this chick. Because why wouldn’t you turn to your drug of choice for comfort when something as upsetting as the fact that you’ve an inability to moderate that drug of choice has come to light? Why wouldn’t you be the one horror flick style dicing your own heel cord for another dose of feel good?

Yes. My proverbial Achilles’ heel is the dreaded rest day from running.

And that might be alright if I were moderating better. I used to run an hour or more, once, every day. Then I split that into two half hour jogs. Then I started fitting in a third workout at the gym. Then I started increasing my morning run’s time. Calories and weight loss concerns are a thing of the past. I’m officially in it, every time, for that full body ubermensch feeling high that permeates your essence and makes you wonder where your cape is by the time you cross that sweaty finish line. While in a state of sprint, I’m Spiderman. Within moments back in my parked car, I’m Peter Parker sans the wrist silk. And I check that wrist for my watch, ignoring the ache in my ankles.

“How soon can I go again?”

Recently, I read about a fellow addict – a famous person – who’d gone through nearly the same.

Eminem (You might know of him. From rap. And being Caucasian.) went to rehab circa 2007. Emerging on the verge of obese albeit clean, he took to the gym and rat-wheeled himself straight into hip flexor hell (surprising we’ve never met, since I own a summer home there). Granted, he ran a bit more than I did (17 miles a day), did so on the treadmill (versus trail like I do), and probably listened to gangster rap (while I reveled in being a hilly tierra trotting hippie) – but our stories are still the same: that endorphin seeking addict within each of us leads us to our own detriment if we indulge it. And since it’s not in a shot glass or getting shot up it seemed fair game. Right? (Wait… can you rail a jogging trail?)

That’s all rhetorical, judging by where it’s landed us each. But what’s the fix?

If the only fix were to quit running – even for a while – it’d be inconceivable. I’d be right back in my Egyptian reality refusal pontoon, sailing off into my own body demise. But, I suppose – what I could ask myself is – could I at least drop down to two runs instead of three? Could I decrease the time I’m doing? Part of why I’m not willing to rest is because my body gets stiff when I’m non-aerobic for too long. So, could I at least try – in between my shorter runs – to find other forms of exercise I don’t hate?

That’s what Marshal did.

Much like I have, he saw that his new means of staying Slim was Shadies of his past habits of the chemical variety.

Just… healthier:

“It’s easy to understand how people replace addiction with exercise. One addiction for another but one that’s good for them. I got an addict’s brain, and when it came to running, I think I got a little carried away. I became a fucking hamster.”

And, also much like myself, that self-awareness moment wasn’t enough to hamper his hamstery tendencies.

It actually wasn’t till his body began rebelling that he gave it another thought:

“I ran to the point where I started to get injured. All the constant pounding from the running began to tear up my hip flexors.”

And what’d he do?

“So when I was starting to dial back on the treadmill, I tried out some of those workout DVDs you do at home. One of the first ones was Shaun T’s Insanity workout. I know a lot of these DVD guys are wacky, but I’m alone in my gym; I need someone on the TV yelling to motivate me. Besides, some of this shit is entertaining. When I first started the Insanity workout, I alternated my routine, running one day and doing the Insanity the other. Then I stopped running altogether because it was too much to do them both. The Insanity won. After a while I started plateauing on that, so I mixed it up. I did the P90X for a little while (and I still do that ab workout because it’s the most challenging), but then I moved on to the Beast.”

Now, this is normally where lazy me would say “But I like being in nature – not listening to some person’s recorded image yell through a screen while I’m stuck between four walls and glancing wistfully outside like a third grader wishing she could go out and play instead of learning fractions”. And, who knows, maybe you are too. That’s where we put on our creativity beanies and brainstorm up a custom fit plan. For me, I know I’m not giving up trail jogging – I’m just going try and taper down the amount. But when I do, I don’t wanna go through withdrawal from outdoorsy aerobics, so I could I supplement that?

And… how?

(Read on here for part 2)