glidergirl

• 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!)