Walking Distance: Three Days of Syllamo and Injury

Well, a week and a half ago I completed the Three Days of Syllamo stage race. I completed all three stages within the cutoffs, 93.5 miles in 25:10:27. The course was tough, LOTS of climbing (the RD estimated there was 12,000 - 15,000 of elevation in the 50 miler), lots of tough terrain, some creek crossings, etc. But it's a wonderful race, some of the best times I've ever had on the trails. Here are my final times:

Day 1 (50k): 8:39:34 (course was a little long, about two miles longer)
Day 2 (50 miles): 12:51:33 (course was a little short, maybe three miles)
Day 3 (20k): 3:39:20

In my last hard training two weeks before Syllamo I had some weird pain in my right ankle and shin, along with a raised soft bump on my shin. After about five days the pain and bump were gone so I decided to go ahead to Syllamo and see what happened. My ankle hurt some on day 2 and hurt a lot on day 3, and after the races my ankle and foot swelled up a lot. Yesterday I went to the doctor and everything looked normal, so he said it might have been signs of an impending stress fracture. He said I should take it easy for a couple of weeks (cycling next week, then elliptical trainer, then easy walking) and it would probably be fine. I had hoped to do a half marathon this weekend with my family, then a 50 miler in two weeks, but I will skip those two races and give myself time to recover.

I might try a 100k in Kansas at the end of April, the Free State Trail Ultra, but I'm not going to count on it. I'd rather recover fully than do something that causes the injury to linger. So for now I'll take it easy.

Here are pictures from the race. This will give you a good idea of the course.

You can't search by bib number, so if you want pictures of me you'll have to click on the links below:

http://www.printroom.com/ViewGalleryPhoto.asp?userid=philipwalrod&gallery_id=634031&image_id=51