glidergirl

**injury recovery**

• 1 hour cycling class, heart rate 162-186
• 30 minutes strength training

I love me a good cycling class.  The instructor was excellent today.

• 1 hour aerobics/strength training class using barbells and dumbells.

Worked out muscles I will never use again once I start running, but hey, it works.  The soreness makes me feel like I'm doing something. :)

Recovered from the night shift and spent the rest of the day feeling sorry for myself and thinking "what's the use of excersing if I can't run?"  So heart-breaking, I know.

Really struggled in the am about everything because my achilles was feeling especially tight and sore even after not running for a WHOLE week.  Felt so much better after a good doctors appointment.  We're getting somewhere! :)

• 1 hour cycling class, heart rate 160-182
• 10 minutes row machine, heart rate 125-130
• 30 minutes elliptical, heart rate 145-157

Feeling much better about everything today! :)  Dug myself out of the cloud of self-pity I have been in the last couple of days and had a good workout at the gym.  I also had a complete shift in perception about cross-training today!  I used to think nothing was as good as a run, but I was proven wrong!  I am very motivated by numbers, so as long as something can keep my heart rate up as high as a run does, I'll do it anyday until I can start running again.  I also needed a reference point to know how my time and effort translates into mileage.  I know it's not the same, but I just need some kind of reference to compare, you know?  So I took the calories my Garmin said I burned today and found out the average # of calories I burn on my runs using the same Garmin calculation, and it turns out based on the # of calories burned today, I would have ran about 10 miles!  I am SOLD!!  It took a little longer than a run would, but I will never gripe about going to the gym to get on the bike or elliptical ever again. :) 

Not too shabby for only 3 hours of sleep this morning after the night shift in order to make it to the 12pm cycling class via the bus if I do say so myself!

(I haven't figured out how to add the cross-training mileage tracker to my blog yet, so for now I'm just going to put them in the easy mileage.  Hopefully that's OK with everyone!)

• 1 hour elliptical!!! heart rate 167-182
• 30 min swim, heart rate would be fairly low I'm sure because swimming is hard (for me) and I needed a few breaks! 

Thoughts during my workout this morning:

• I love my new Nike Free shoes that don't squish my achilles!
• I miss my running friends terribly (and they're just gonna have to deal with the fact that I may get sappy)
• My foot is feeling exponentially better; can't wait to start running again. :)
• My whole 28 years I truly thought swimming caps kept your hair dry...you can imagine my surprise and disappointment when I pulled my cap off this morning.

• 1 hour elliptical, heart rate 153-159
• 1 hour cycling class, heart rate 175-183

Thoughts during the workout...

• Trying to mimic the effort I would normally do during my runs through cross-training is hard and inconvenient, but I'll admit it's fun.  If given the choice I'd rather run, but I'm very grateful I can still put in a decent workout!
• (I just hope I don't lose too much...should I be doing anything more to keep up as much fitness/muscle strength as possible?)
• I got excited about school starting today and the class I had soon after this morning's workout. I have 2 semesters left and these are definitely my favorites as far as content goes.

• Easy day, 55 minunte swim (1 mile)

Today's thoughts...

• I'm on my way to go see the podiatrist that will help me with some orthodics.  Hope it goes well. Luckily my insurance covers them!  (Thanks for your help Teena) I've been told by 3 professionals now (one of which has been practicing orthopaedic medicine for 25 years) that they have never seen a landing pattern like mine.  Let's get this taken care of and start the running thing again! :)

• 1 hour cycling class, heart rate 163-175 (a little tired today, tried to do what it took to keep it above 170 for the last 30 mins, it took some guts)

Thoughts today...

• Almost didn't make it to the class! I had made up my mind to just chill tonight, but decided last minute to just buck up and go since I had to leave the house anyway to take James to class. And as always, I'm glad I went.
• I have my custom orthodics! The time for running is near! My intuition is saying to wait till next week after my first PT appointment on Friday the 21st. It is mostly healed up, just acts up a little bit with certain instances, so another week and half should be just right. :)  I'll see what the PT says as well.

• 45 min swim, 64 laps = 1 mile, heart rate 130-140 (am)
• 60 min elliptical, heart rate 150-162 (pm) (tried to keep it above 155 during the last 30 minutes) 

Thoughts...

• I'm getting better at swimming!  It took me 55 minutes on Tuesday to do one mile, so I shaved 10 minutes off this morning. 
• I really enjoy it and woke up excited to go for a swim.  I hated it just two weeks ago; I'm glad I gave it a chance!
• I learned how to take a breath from the other side as well, so now I alternate sides each lap to give the other side a rest...Northbound lap = right side breath, Southbound lap = left side breath. :0)

• 50 minute elliptical, heart rate 145-157 (considered this my slow run day) 

Only 7 days until my first PT appointment when I'll hopefully get the go-ahead to run again...can't wait...really, I can't...but I will!!  C'mon Friday, hurry up and come!!

So.......I woke up this morning with more energy than I knew what to do with.  My muscles were yelling "take us for a run!"  I went to the gym and did an hour elliptical.  Still tons of energy.  Did 30 mins of strength training using more weight than normal to try and use it up.  Still lots of energy!  I just felt really good!  Then I had to leave to be somewhere or I would have stayed.  Anyway, later this afternoon I decided my body was telling me it's ready, so why not take my achilles and my orthodics for a test drive.  So I did!  It felt great!  I stopped about 4 times to stretch it and do some eccentric lifts on the curb to see how it felt.  I only did 5 very slow miles; wanted to do more, but I don't want to ruin it the first day.

My plan is to run 5-7 miles everyday next week (slowly) and supplement with cross training until my PT appointment on Friday.  I've called a few times since I made the apt to check on cancelations to get in quicker, but no luck.  I'll be careful though. :)

• 1 hr elliptical, heart rate 155-164
• 5.12 mile run, avg pace 9:23, avg heart rate 148

• 10.5 very easy, slow miles...still just easing in carefully, but it's good so far

Very enjoyable run today with the nice weather and fresh air!  I took my bus pass just in case my achilles acted up, but it's doing great.

• 5 miles, still very slow
• 2 miles walking the rest of the way home

Another gorgeous day to enjoy being outside!  Figured I'd probably feel it today since I did 10 mi yesterday after 2.5 weeks off.  My achilles got a little tight after 4 miles, especially when the inclines started on my route.  There isn't pain, though, and it's fine now that I'm home and have stretched and I haven't had to use any NSAID's.  I'm not too worried about it, although I had to catch myself several times during the run to remind myself that it won't always be this way and I'll be back to normal eventually!  I think I will need to take tomorrow off and just cross train to be safe. 

Forced rest day against my will!!  I will run tomorrow though, can't wait! :)

• A quick one mile swim in the morning (50 minutes)
• 10 miles, still slow (avg pace 9:49, avg heart rate 149)

Achilles feels great, but still need to hold off on speed work for awhile.  Hopefully I'll be back to where I was before with pacing and weekly mileage here in a few weeks.  What a beautiful day! 

• 1 hour elliptical class this morning, heart rate 155-160

Physical Therapy Report...

I finally had my first physical therapy appointment this afternoon at the University Orthopaedic Center on Wakara (great place, I was impressed).  Lucky for them my achilles was nicely inflammed, swollen and had some yummy crepitus for the PT intern to feel!  (It hasn't been like that for 3 weeks, but of course I did too much with my 10 miler yesterday; that made it angry).  Here's what they said:

• 3-4 weeks of strictly no running (cross training OK)
• 180 eccentric/concentric leg lifts every day (broken up into 2 sessions/day) 
• 3 x 30 seconds each straight and bent knee stretches twice a day
• one PT apt each week with Graston Technique, steroid application, exercises
• After 3-4 weeks, start with 20 minutes of VERY slow running each day, supplemented by cross training
• Increase by 10% each week and watch to see if it flares up again

He said I would most likely be OK to run Ogden in May, but we'll see.  I'll be quite behind from where I would want to be at that point, so maybe I'll just need to treat it as a long run for Utah Valley if I'm built up enough by May. 

I'm not as frustrated as I thought, mostly because it flared up last night/today after my 10 miler yesterday...I knew at that point I would need to take more time off, so them telling me 3-4 weeks today wasn't too much of a surprise.  Plus, I have my gym membership all set up now and I have my cross training regime already going, so that helps.  AND I know how to lap swim now!  So I'm not as depressed as when it first became an acute injury on Dec 29th.  I have some answers now, I have some tools and I have motivation to really focus on getting it healed up completely before I start running again, however long it takes. 

I have also had time to basically redefine my identity so to speak while I wait for the time when I can get back to running normal.  It has been quite the painstaking process to accept this whole thing, especially since it was caused by my own stupidity (I stopped wearing inserts I had been wearing for 2 years - new ones I bought with each new shoe purchase - thinking they didn't do anything...boy was I wrong!  I also ran more days in a row than normal over a two week period during the holidays to get my mileage in before Christmas, etc. and so on.)

Here's a video of the Graston Technique they used today, although they used a different tool and he did a longer sweeping motion from my achilles up into my calf.  The tool has a smooth edge, yet it felt extremely serated as he went over my achilles and calves because my fascia is knotted up EVERYWHERE.  Because I run forefront, my calves are chronically tight and knotted if I'm not vigilant about stretching and rolling them.  It looks like I've got some work cut out for me to get those things loose and healthy, which will help with my tendon issues.  I'm going to have to start paying James for the rolling sessions he does on my calves with our bakers rolling pin so that he'll be OK with doing it more often. :)   

Strength training and swimming (*note to self: don't swim after weight lifting..it leads to a very unproductive session!)

• Walked all morning/early afternoon at clinical
• Went to work, walked all during my shift
• (does this count? LOL  I know it doesn't but I've got to put something so I don't lose my blog friends)

• Continued from Monday to walk all during my night shift
• 3 hours sleep
• Walked all over during my clinical

As I've said before...NICU nurse assistant by night, NICU student nurse by day.  (AND I LOVE IT!)

Now to find motivation to do all that homework...

P.S. Would all you "non-injured runners" hate me if I admitted that I was happy that you didn't get to run outside in beautiful weather today because of the snow??

• 60 minutes cycling class, heart rate 165-175
• strength training, achilles exercises/stretches

Somebody, anybody, please tell me....how can so many people not exercise?  Like ever?  Really, how do they do it?  That takes a lot of work!  I haven't been able to formally exercise for 3 days now (although I probably would have eeked in a run or two if I wasn't injured, but that's another story) and it was THE BEST feeling in the world to take all my bundled up stress, spin it through my pounding heart and sweat or breathe it out f-o-r-e-v-e-r.  Aaaaahhhhhh.... :)

• Physical therapy apt #2, Gastron (A-stim) therapy - see pic below, steroid application, electrical stim, massage/rolling
• 25 minutes easy elliptical, heart rate 130-140
• Achilles stretching, eccentric leg lifts
• 1 mile swim in 42 minutes!  (I'm comin' for you Teena)

I was worried going into the PT apt today because my achilles became inflamed last night/this morning after my cycling class...was it never going to heal?  He scolded me a bit for getting out of the saddle for too long during the cycling class, but then told me I need to be stressing it to just before the point of inflammation.  So all I need to do is back off a bit.  What a relief!  I thought I would need to give up cycling and elliptical for 1-2 weeks so it could heal.  But he said it will heal faster with some weight bearing exercising, some tug and pull.  It's OK to be a little inflamed for 2 hours afterwards.  If it's any longer than 2 hours, that is my sign I did too much and need to back it off a little the next time.

He also wants me to get a little more aggressive with the lifts and with the stretching.  I guess I've been protecting it quite a bit (except for the saddle issue), thinking that's what I needed to do to help it heal.  He also said that I need to be more patient *surprise* and give it a few more weeks and it will heal.  Afterwards I went to the gym and did what he said and it feels stronger already!  I'm feeling much more hopeful tonight. 

Anybody got some patience I can borrow?  I promise I'll give it back in 4-6 weeks.

Oh, and here's a picture of my poor bruised leg 10 minutes after I got home from my PT apt...they abuse me there!!  Save me!!  Last week the bruises were larger so it's getting better. :)

• 60 minute cycling class, heart rate 155-170 (mostly 160's)
• 15 minutes elliptical, heart rate 165-170
• achilles exercises/stretches

I'm definitely starting to notice a difference now that I've tweaked my rehab program, I'm hoping it continues to progress at this rate.  It's funny because I asked a million questions at the first appointment and went away with the impression that I should be more on the gentle side, but really what they wanted was consistent and aggressive (but careful) loading of the achilles each day (see yesterday's post).  So now I stretch much deeper and drop/lift faster on the exercises and use more resistance on the elliptical and bike (without standing up - that loads my achilles too much right now).  

Operation Rehab continues! 

• 50 minutes elliptical, heart rate 155-160
• 60 minute cycling class, heart rate 155-177 :)
• Strength training, achilles exercises/stretches

Whether by running or by cross training, continuing in the crusade against heart disease with the rest of you fools. :)

• 70 minutes elliptical, heart rate 135-155 (mostly 130's and 140's)
• strength training, achilles exercises/stretches

Tired today!  It took a lot to get my heart rate even to just the 140's...pathetic.  I found my groove after 50 minutes and kept it at 155-160's, but then lost it when a slower song came on Pandora...dang it.  Today was definitely an "easy run" day. Hope you're all doing well. :)