Subject: RE: 1st Ironman Help! What are your race goals? Have you seen a doctor, or are you self-diagnosing the stress fractures? IF you're really shooting for an aggressive finish time, keep running, get lots of rest, and hope that the stress fracture issues subside (not likely). Expect to hurt a lot and maybe injure yourself so much you can't even start the race. IF your goal is more to finish the race, back off the running to get your legs healed. Accept that you won't be "running" 26.2 miles at anything resembling a "fast" pace, but you should find yourself healthy enough to finish and enjoy the day. You'll sacrifice a fast finish time for the greater possibility to start/finish the race. Either way, your "big volume" training months are still ahead of you. You'll have lots of opportunity to aggravate the overuse injuries, wear yourself out to the point of sickness, etc. Nutrition can help, but it won't overcome poor training strategies. You can train on an elliptical, aqua-jog, or simply walk several hours instead of "running" to give your bones a chance to heal. None of these are a great substitute for "running," they'll give you a cardio workout, but the low-impact won't set you up for the impact of "running" a marathon. As others have asked, are you following a specific plan? Edited by McFuzz 2009-08-28 9:50 AM
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