Believe to Achieve

NO running DAY 2 (okay day one really, I don't run Sundays but I am counting it :D)  Left hamstring and lower left back VERY tight and NOT happy.    Looking back at my MRI from 4 years ago-- I had a mild central disk protursion (herniation) in two places L3-4 and L5-S1 with dessication (drying of one of my discs) and narrowing....my hunch is it BACK with a vengeance.  (no pun intended ; D)   If it was a torn hamstring with this amount of pain I would see bruising/bleeding at the surface and I don't which tells me IT IS the NERVE (sciatic) being pinched.  My left big toe goes in and out of numbness and the arch of my foot has nerve-like pains (not where I had plantar fascitis).   Got up however at 6:20am to drive Courtney and Ashton (neighbor's son) to swim team.  Got the kids up and going as we are off to 7 peaks in Provo today at 930am before the mad rush.  We are meeting my sister and her kids for a few hours of fun!! 

Day three NO running.  Yup sticking to my plan.  I am even thinking of NO exercise for a week.  My hamstring is so very tight and tender.  blah blah blah.  Worked 12.5 hours in the NICU-- very busy day.  Stood almost the entire shift and only a 15 minute lunch!!  Work again tomorrow so temptation to get up and run plus really this hamstring feels worse than my PF ever did as far as trying to "run" through the pain.    I am sure weight gain will ensue.  Oh well.  Summer lovin' had me a blast!! :D

No running DAY 4.  Yup can't run even if  I tried to disobey my orders.  Left leg going in and out of conciousness.   Numb, burning, tingling, mostly burning from lower back to hamstring to ankle to foot.  Herniated disc is most likely diagnoisis.  Chiro appt tomorrow and regular dr. in afternoon then pain specialist for shot in the back a different day.  feel so out of touch with NORMAL running.  pain is wearing on me. 

Woke at 520 am but went back to bed until 620am to take Courtney to swim team.   In the 10 minutes before getting in my car I decided to put on my bathing suit (not a racing suit-- a cute two piece, not bikini, with a tie at the neck and waist) and brought my goggles in case I got the incling to swim laps.  Well I got there and two larger woman were swimming laps, older mother and daughter.   I watched my daughter's swim team for a bit and then got in the water.  I did one lap as the two women finished a 1/2 lap.  This was my first lap in a long time and since the women told me it was 36 laps to a mile I of course decided to swim a mile.  First time since summer of 2009.  Not sure how I got out of the habit back then other than TOO much running!!  After the first few laps of freestyle I decided I would break for 30 seconds every 12 laps.  The first lap going easy took 49 seconds with going around the two women.  After that my swimming endurance (lack thereof) showed and I averaged 55 to 59 seconds per lap.  Basically it took me 36:10 to swim a mile INCLUDING two 30 second rest periods.  NO FLIP turns as there were built in stairs on one side and the water was only three feet high. They only leave one lane open for nonswim team swimmers and it is on the shallow end.  The swim team was swimming in all the lanes beside me at times causing quite the wave action.  I can tell my breathing is off for the mile right now but I am pretty pleased with my debut mile.  I will have to go back three years on the blog and see what I was swimming then.  I couldn't kick too hard as my lower back needs LOTS of TLC.  My ARMS were TIRED!!    Off to the chiro in one hour.

another impromtu EXERCISE moment :D.   Got up at 6am.  Took Courtney to swim team at 630am.  BACK TRACK--- yesterday went to chiro.....ah!!!!!!!!  he is sooo good--  heat, ultrasound, massage, adjustment, decline table (strestch the lumbar region).  He worked my tight hamstring, psoas muscle, and lower back for a while.  Almost an hour!!!  I had hope coming out of the office but then a few hours later even with icing my back was throbbing.  I had another appointment with my regular doctor (his PA actually which I wasn't sure was the right decision but it turned out great since he has had three back surgeries and has had very similar troubles for a while).  Well he of course is starting conservative (the way I like to be....I just want the pain to go away and the NUMB ankle really WORRIES me!!).  He said I most likely have two herniated discs based on previous MRI four years ago that showed central disk protrusion in two places (L3-L4 and L5 -S1)and that they were obviously clamping down on my sciatic nerve causing the hamstring, calf and foot/ankle pain/numbness.  He told me most people read that on their report and think "see I am disabled" and look for claiming disability at 30).   NOT me of course, having run at least 10 marathons since then :D) He put me on ORAL prednisone taper for 13 days!! YIKES.  Steroids always worry me.  When I was on solumedrol that was one I would NEVER take again--- it gave me the most intense back and leg pain (severe MUSCLE cramps spasm, takes your breath away and you can't move).  The pharmacist told me that although prednisone and solumedrol are both corticosteroids, solumedrol has an extra molecule at the end (chemical makeup) that was probably the cause but that I should be very careful that if it happens again to call my doctor.  It is a high alert med for this problem being serious.  YIKES.  I have taken prednisone before and the only problem I have had was some cushing's syndrome symptoms for being on it for over a month and if you don't taper off it ---- IMPENDING doom symptoms.  So of course drs. always taper you off them.   One dr. didn't and it was the scariest thing ever!!  Anyway enough about prednisone the necessary evil drug!    HI KATE!! :D  7 peaks today?

As I was driving my daughter I saw my neighbor Cristi on her road bike taking off on a ride.  She was nice enough to ride back to my house and wait for me to get back from taking the kids to swim team.  It took 10 minutes.  I hopped on my bike and we were off on a 20 mile hilly adventure to the mouth of the canyon--- taking all the PG, Lindon, and Orem hills along the way.  It was scenic (a bit smokey smelling air however, but started to clear with the wind on the way back).  Loved the workout.  I was on my mountain bike.   We averaged 4:18 pace I guess--- she had an odometer and I had my stopwatch-- 1:26:18.  This was a great exercise day.  I feel great!!  Endorphin high or prednision ???? who knows.  Loving the biking thing!!   Oh yah when I got back I dropped off my "on its last leg" Honda Accord with 212,000 miles on it at the shop.  IT burns thru oil like no tomorrow!!  Apparently that is normal for an old car the repair man said.  I go to him a lot.  He knows a lot about cars.  He said he doesn't see too many cars (with original parts, ie motors) go more than 250,000 miles and lucky if over 200,000.  So I guess we are doing better than we thought!!  Rode my bike home 1.5 miles.  Legs feel great!! :DDDDDDD Century rides here I come!!

Worked all day in the admit nursery : D.  Fun times with the newest additions to the world!!  Love my job!!  Babies rule!!   DAY 7 NO running.   Oh I did do a 30 second or so jaunt on the grass at a soccer fielf barefoot.  Felt lovely.  Ankle and PF-like symptoms (probably really my back referred numbness pain) coming and going all day. Left foot does not seem right anymore.  It inverts when it used to have an arch.  When I make a wet footprint I have NO arch on my left foot (way flat footed) and my right foot has a normal arch.  I have done this test many times with my feet (you know when you read an article "what foot type are you?" when searching for running shoes in the RW guide) and have always had an arch in both feet.  Not sure how I lost the strength in my left foot tendons/nerves???  hope I didn't do permanent damage ignoring my back all along.  At least the pain in my hamstring which really was a NERVE not my muscle (sciatica) has completely subsided.  That was intense.  Hip is also better and lower back does not hurt.  My foot and ankle go numb.  Day three on steroids.  Crossing fingers.