Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

No running. Rode bike to gym in morning and did 25 minutes on elliptical; also stretch some stretching, core strength, and light lifting.

My back is just killing me today. It tend to go through cycles, so hopefully this is just a trough. I went to my PT today, and my joint and muscle flexibility is generally good, although need improvement in some areas. I got some ultrasound at the end too. I think the PT has done about all he can do with me and has taught me a lot of good exercises, stretches, and habits, so it will definitely be beneficial in the long run as long as I keep up on it. However, I feel that I need something "more" to compliment the PT. I've seen a chiropractor before, and it really helped short-term, but I was turned off about having to go back all the time. But maybe since my core strength and flexibility has improved, it may be worth revisiting. Something else that intrigues me is massage therapy. I've never tried it, but some people swear by it. At this point I'm open-minded to about anything. I have an appointment set up through my PT for tomorrow with an IHC massage therapist, which my insurance will cover. I'm not looking forward to the pain of deep massage, but I'm eager to see if there's any results.

Ailment ratings:

SI joint: 5 -- quite painful as the day went on

lower back: 3 -- bad

knee: 8.5 -- no pain, but still needs strength

plantar fasciitis: 7 -- not much change over weekend, maybe slight improvement; it's been pretty stable and I don't have much limp

Ran 1 mile in 9 minutes on grass loop around Logan High sports fields. I did this to test my foot a little and also to measure the grass loop with a gps, since I'll be doing a lot of running on it in the future. My foot felt okay, but not great (probably won't do this again anytime soon). The loop measured out to be almost exactly 0.5 miles and I did two loops to get a better reading. This will be great because it will be a good soft surface for my PF recovery, and also an even distance so I can just count laps and even do interval workouts on it in a few months when I get to that point. And it's one block from my house. The Cache fairgrounds are a few blocks away as well, so I may GPS the grassy perimeter of that as well.

In went in for a short massage therapy today. The therapist didn't really get very deep at all, since I had never had it before. I was impressed at first, but then realized as the day wore on that my back was remarkably looser, and even my SI joint was less stiff. So there seems to be some benefits. I've made an appointment with a chiropractor as well who specializes in sports med and treats runners.

Did stretches and core strength in evening.

Ailment ratings:

SI Joint: 7 -- still stiff in morning, but very loose by evening after massage and stretching

Lower back: 5 -- stiff and painful in morning, better after massage, but still had lots of issues

Knee: 9 -- pain free and feeling stronger

Plantar Fasc: 7 -- not much change

No running. My foot was quite sore when I woke up, first time in quite a while were it hasn't either progressed or stayed the same. Apparently 1 mile at 9 min pace on grass was too much yesterday. Predictably, it was feeling pretty good by afternoon. My wife and I took half the day off and went down to Ogden to get the Suburu serviced (half the population of Logan owns a Suburu -- why no dealer in Logan??), and we did a hike up Ogden Canyon while we were waiting. My foot felt great for that, and it was good to be outside on such a beautiful day and get any sort of exercise.

Did hour worth of stretches and core exercises at night.

Ailment ratings:

SI Joint: 8 -- better

lower back: 5 -- very stiff in morning; isolated to left side later in day

knee: 7.5 -- no pain during normal activity, but feels weaker

Plantar Fasciitis: 5 -- worst it's felt in over a week during morning; not limping by evening

No running. Did stretches and core strength in evening. I got my new night splint today (the previous one was irritating my toe and achilles), so hopefully that will help the PF.

Ailment ratings:

SI Joint: 8 -- no change

Lower back: 5 - left side still quite sore; it will be interesting to see what the adjustment I have scheduled on Monday does for it.

Knee: 8 -- no pain, but general weakness

Plantar Fasciitis: 6 -- sore in morning, but less so that yesterday

Ran 1/2 mile with dog, then 20 minutes on elliptical. Also did core strength and stretching.

Ailment ratings:

SI Joint: 8 -- fine, no change

Lower back: 5 -- start day so-so, but really broke down by late afternoon and evening. I think I need to set a timer and force myself to get up and walk around every 30 minutes, since I sit at work all day long.

Knee: 8.5 -- improved a little over yesterday, still weak tough

Plantar fasc: 6 -- better in morning than previous day, pretty loose in evening.

2.5 running: 2 on grass Logan High fields at 8:00/mile pace and 0.5 on road in transit. Felt decent; I could feel my heel on every stride, but still fairly comfortable with no affect on my form, which is the important thing. I also spent several hours today doing yard work, pulling weeds, etc., and my back seemed to hold up well. In fact, it's feeling the best it has in the last week right now. The key words are "right now". Yes, it's loose now, we'll see how it feels tomorrow. Same thing with my foot and knee. If everything feels better, or even the same, tomorrow and Monday, then it would seem that this level of activity is sustainable and beneficial. I hope it is. I would like to start running a couple miles a day, at least several days next week, and start working up from there as my body allows. My new night brace allows me to sleep through the night without me waking up at 3AM and tearing the thing off, so I hope to get PF improvement with the better compliance as I start running again.