The search to figure out what is wrong with my leg has led to an interesting discovery: I am asymptomatic on flat surfaces. Before my EMG on Wednesday, I ran for almost 40 minutes on a treadmill with little trouble. Today, I ran a flat mile on an indoor track in under 8 minutes, with no pain and no symptoms, followed by another asymptomatic 3 on the treadmill. What good is this information? In some ways, not much. It complicates things because it corroborates Dr. Slauterbeck's thought that something is going on with my gastroc head, a finding ruled out, at least neurologically, by the EMG.
What this discovery does allow me to do, however, is continue to rebuild my fitness. One of the other complications I am currently dealing with is the fact that being out of shape means that I am just not as efficient as usual. Because of this, it's possible that some of my discomfort while running is a result of compensating for my lack of cardiovascular fitness. Indeed, it's hard to remember cranking out 7 minute miles for 26 miles when a 9 minute mile is a "fast day."
I'm getting more aggressive with my running and general fitness this week, aiming for about 20 miles of running (I did 17 miles last week) plus another 2 hours of cardio, 3 sessions of weight lifting and a nightly core routine. I'm hopeful that by continuing to improve my fitness, we can suss out what is related to the nerve issue and what is a side effect of my loss of conditioning.
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