u/Far_Diamond_7589

Hi all, runner and swimmer (pool and open water) who’s been thinking about finally doing a triathlon and trying to figure out if my timing is doable for a goal race :) would love any insight!

I was recently diagnosed with a tibial bone stress injury (no fracture line but inflammation on MRI). I’m off running for another month at least. Before my BSI, I was in “can run a half marathon any day but not PR it” shape. I took over a week off all cardio, and my doctor has okayed me for cycling and swimming.

There’s a triathlon I’ve been eyeballing at the end of August, and I’m hopeful I could keep up the swimming and bike training and then some from here on out. But i won’t be able to do run training as ideal (return to run in a month for 4 weeks before getting back to base building in July). On the other hand, im used to running distances a lot further than a 10k, and 6ish weeks to go from 2ish-6ish mile longest runs seems plausible? My PT said she “doesn’t hate this idea for me” (lol).

So - is this race a possibility for me? If not the Olympic, does the sprint seem plausible? Experiences cross training with a BSI? I will ofc also be discussing with my doctor soon, but interested in others who e been down this road. TIA!

Like the title 🥲 CW some body image/ED mention. Advice and commiseration very welcome.

I’m absolutely crushed right now. I’ve been running for several years and it has changed my life in such a massive positive way. For context, I spent years suffering with an eating disorder. I went through treatment and took over 18 months off from any and all forms of exercise to heal and reset my neural pathways. I spent another year rebuilding my fitness excruciatingly slowly, trying lots of activities and being extremely careful with my mental health. When I inadvertently lost weight during a busy training block, I started working with a dietitian and got back on track instead of taking advantage of it and falling into old habits. I have been running consistently for two years now. I’ve been diligent about physical therapy, cross training, rest, strength, carefully adjusting mileage, getting in lots of carbs and working on my nutrition with years of consistently 2400+ cal/day…and after all of that, here I am getting assessed for a potential tibial stress fracture. I’ve been told I’ll probably miss a race next month that I’ve been excited for no matter what my dx is, and worse yet, if I do have a sf, my hometown marathon dreams are gone for this year too. I’ve already told so many people about the marathon because I was SO excited to hit this milestone and now, like a fucking idiot, I’ll be telling them to pack it up because my dreams of being skinny as a 12 year old left me incapable of being the adult I want to be now.

I know people say it’s important to have an identity outside of being a runner, and I do. I have a career I love, I’m someone’s partner and daughter and friend. But what that entire point misses is that getting to have the identity of a runner is such a massive joy for me. It was something inaccessible for a very long time, and the thought of losing it now is killing me. I’m well aware there are far worse struggles - realistically this isn’t high on the list for my life, even. But I am just so sad and so worried that I won’t ever be able to be the runner I desperately want to be