I'm running, sortof

I'm a blog slacker but I'm ok with that. Been busy with Christmas and all. Lots of cleaning, celebrating and more cleaning, ughhh! Tomorrow night we're going to First Night in Bethlehem. I'm hoping to get Avery to take a nice long nap so she can see the midnight fireworks instead of the 5:45. Instead of the ball dropping they have a giant yellow peep.

Yesterday was my first run since Oct. 8th and the sprain. I ran 1.5 miles and it wasn't too bad. The ankle was tight and achy but not horrible and my lungs were great. I felt like I could have kept going but I didn't want to push it. I felt great, of course it could have just been adrenaline and excitement from being out there. I came home and immediately iced the ankle.

Went to the sports medicine doctor and she says if there is bone bruising it could take up to 12 or more weeks to heal. Just to be on the safe side and make sure its just a really bad sprain we're getting an MRI done on Friday. I'm still having lots of pain and clicking and tightness and I am happy I can run, even if just a couple of miles but I'd hate to keep this up to find out there's a loose bone fragment floating or something. If that's the case I'd need surgery and since I'm not really running right now I could deal but if I start running again and had to stop for another 3 months (and in the spring no less) I think I'd hurt someone. I now know that running is really an addiction because I had major withdrawal. Just ask my husband, I've been a nasty moody depressed pain in the ass lately. I need my endorphines and Vitamin DDDDD!

Planning another short run tomorrow morning. Probably just another 1.5, this way I'm close to home and not overdoing it.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas, Hanukkah, etc. And if I don't get on here in the next day or so a very happy New Years!

Let it Snow!

We had a nice little snow storm here last night. It made rush hour a mess but was very pretty. This morning it was all white with icy tree branches and beautiful. Luckily I work from home so I didn't have to drive in. They had the roads cleared pretty quickly and the snow has melted a bit from last night. The snow almost put me in the mood for Christmas (but not quite).

My ankle is feeling better, I'm finally noticing real progress. My PT wants me to get an MRI since my progress has been slow. It's been 10 weeks today since I sprained it. I go to the doctor's on Monday and I have to present her with the findings and recommendation from PT for the MRI. I don't think I could run on it yet but I don't have any pain on the elliptical anymore so its my new best friend.

I miss running a lot. I miss it when I am driving down my running routes and seeing the seasons change. I miss it when I see anyone else running, I'm totally jealous. Most of all I miss it when I'm having a particularly bad day. The other day was one of those and I had PT after work. I warm up w/ 10 min on the elliptical before all the other stuff and I was so happy on there working up a good sweat. By the time PT was done I felt much better. I need those endorphins I guess!

Hopefully I'll be running by the new year. I plan to take it easy. I'm starting with my new boss mid-January and with my additional responsibilities it will make getting in longer runs more difficult so maybe its good I'll be starting from scratch.

My non-running chubby autumn

OK, its hard to drink lots of wine and beer when you aren't running. It just helps make my untoned flabby body acquire more flab. I'm not gaining wait as much as some of my male running friends did while not running but I'm seriously flabby. I'm just starting to use the eliptical at physical therapy and while my ankle hurts a little I love being able to work up a good sweat again. Next week I'll be tackling the eliptical at the gym with a vengence! My therapist wants me to get an MRI since its been 8 weeks and I'm still having pain. I have a doctors appt in 2 weeks. Will this ever end!

What else have I been up to? Well we went to my SIL's for Thanksgiving in Virginia Beach. We had a really good time. This weekend Avery has house guests. Our neighbor was going to be away for the weekend at a conference and her husband is a Chef so he's gone nights. We're watching their girls (age 5 and 9) from last night until tonight. We're also doing home improvement and painting. First off is the foyer.

Right now I am playing Julia's Gameboy Advanced. As you can see I'm accomplishing so much on my Saturday mornings now that I am not doing my long run, haha!

HydroTrack

Today was my first day on the Hydro Track. It was interesting. The water was to my ribs and when I first walked it felt like walking on the moon. Walking causes more splashing than running which seemed wrong. I did intervals on it, 5 min walking, 5 min running x 2.

It felt to great to be running again even if it was harder due to the resistance of the water. After the first 5 min run the front of my ankle was really sore but by the end of the 5 min walk it felt better and the next 5 minutes of running were pain free. By the time I got home the front was sore again so I iced it good. I will be going on the hydro track once a week for the next two weeks. They think I need at least 3 more weeks of PT before I can get discharged.

Here's a picture of the Hydro Track:






In other news I registered Avery for Kindergarten this morning. I can't believe she'll be starting next fall. Time flies!

Physical Therapy

First day of Physical Therapy. Mostly talked about what exactly happened, when it hurts and on what scale. Then she took some measurements of my good and bad ankle and did some flexibility exercises to see how bad it was.

I have 0 flexibility pulling my toe up to my shin and only 40% flexibility in pointing my toe down and right or left. She said that's not too good. She also said that there is still a good amount of swelling on the ankle which indicates how severe the sprain was. She will recommend an MRI if she doesn't see improvement soon since she worries that with the bad swelling I had during the xray could have hidden a fracture.

It will be four weeks Wednesday and I'm still having pain. Now that she was poking and prodding it today its really sore right now.

The cool thing is that she said one of the other PT facilities has an underwater treadmill and she's going to try and get me in it at least once a week for now. I have PT 3 times a week for the next month. Hopefully I'll be back running by the end of it.

Autumn

I am loving the fall weather. Too bad I can't run in it. This weekend we had the fire going all weekend and had such a nice time hanging at home. My girlfriend, Amy, and her daughter, Sarah, came for a camp out on Friday night. It was cold so we camped out in the family room, roasted marshmallows from the fireplace for s'mores and did gave ourselves pedicures. I had a little too much wine and had a nasty headache on Saturday morning.

I need to get motivated to do exercise. It's so easy to throw on running clothes and head out the door without thinking but doing my dvd's and stuff at home isn't happening as easily. When I'm at work I have no problem going to the gym but that's only 3 days a week so I have to get motivated at home!

I am getting quite a bit done around the house now and lots of reading done as well. Things that I put aside to go out for a run or was too tired to do when I got back from my long runs on the weekend.

The ankle is feeling a lot better but is still achy. I can walk without limping and the stairs don't hurt as much. However, if I move it the wrong way it hurts like hell. It's a nice reminder that I really am not back to normal even though I can walk ok.

Dr. Visit #2

So I went to the doctor this morning. I was supposed to go this coming Monday but the swelling had gone down significantly and since she hadn't ruled out a break I thought the sooner I see her the better.

She was much happier with the appearance and said it looked like more like a typical sprain now rather than a balloon! She did some resistance exercises against her hand and then felt all along the foot. She said I tore the tendons marked in orange in the picture below and further aggravated the injuries I had to the Peroneal tendons which are marked in green (she didn't say whether or not that was a tear or not). She also said that I had bad bruising of the ankle bone which would make my recovery slower. I need to wear the brace for the next 10 - 14 days all day and then after that I will need to wear it only when I exercise for at least a month. Because of the edema swelling I had she doesn't want me doing any cardio (so no bike) for the next 10-14 days and because of the bone bruising she doesn't think I will be able to even try running for a month after that (so 6 weeks until I can even think about running). I go back to her in 2 weeks.

RICE

Well, I don't have to do the I part anymore but I'm getting plenty of rest this weekend. Avery and I are watching movies, playing video games (OK, I was while she watched Hello Kitty, Holly Hobbie and stuff like that), colored and read. To be honest, its been awesome to not be able to go anywhere, as long as I don't step outside and feel how nice it is out. Than I want to take a walk or run.

I did miss the chance to see a ton of friends from High School this weekend. The class above mine had their 20th reunion this weekend and everyone was around so I'm bummed about that but next year is my 20th so I'll see them then!

I'm so proud of my buddy Tim for completing his first marathon yesterday!!! Go Tim!

I've started looking at basebuilding plans to do once I can run again. I don't have a goal race in mind yet but figure a really really long base building will be great, I love basebuilding, just running lots of miles with no worries to speed (I have to admit though, I have come to love intervals, maybe I'll have to throw one track day in every once in a awhile).

Dr's visit #1

So I went to the Sports Medicine Doctor today. I have such severe swelling she said she can't rule out a fracture yet. She saw a shadow on the x-ray on my ankle that she didn't like as well. She prescribed lymphedema therapy to reduce the swelling and gave me a brace to wear to stabilize the ankle. Right after the visit the therapist had a cancellation so I got right in. Basically its massage of the leg to get the fluid moving around in the right direction. She told me that she didn't want me wearing the brace but to wrap it for a week. She handed me instructions on how to do it myself and then wrapped the leg (see above picture). Basically its 3 layers of bandages over a compression sock. The bandages aren't like ace bandages because they aren't flexible so its more like a cast. My toes were swollen as well so she wrapped them up too.

I wear the wraps for a week and I have to pump my foot and do air ABC's a few times a day. I go back to her next Monday and then right after another massage I'm off to the sports medicine doctor again. Hopefully the swelling will be down and we can figure out the damage. The doctor said if its a fracture I won't be allowed to run for 4 to 6 weeks at least but if its a sprain she'd try to get me back to running as soon as possible. I won't have time to catch up on mileage for the marathon but at least I would be able to run.

Oh and I'm allowed to do the recumbent bike so I will be doing that all next week along with weights and Pilate's so I can stay in shape.

And that's a wrap

I think the gods were against me running this marathon. First the inflamed tendon now this.

Ok, I got out to do 5 miles. I'm at about mile 2 on a beautiful run. All of a sudden my ankle rolls on and edge of pavement on the side of the road and I go flying. I am screaming it hurts so bad. I think I broke my ankle. I pull myself over to the grass and just yell. My knees and hands are in so much pain along with my ankle. I'm laying on my back with my knees pulled up to my chest and a car just drives on by. I must have screamed for about 3 minutes.

Thank goodness I decided to bring my cell phone with me (in case the tendon started hurting again and I need a ride home). I call my house and ask my aunt to come get me that I fell and am hurt bad. While I wait for her I watch the blood rolling down from my knee to my foot. I'm a mess and shaking like crazy.

I decide to test out the ankle. I can walk on it but it does hurt in various places. My aunt and Avery arrive. I get home and take my shoes off. My ankle is swelling by the second. It's huge. I was hoping I had just twisted it really bad but based on the swelling its a sprain. The blood on my hands and knee clotted so it was a pain in the ass to clean the cuts out. They are all pretty deep.

I wrapped my ankle in an ace bandage and have it elevated with ice on it. I took my prescription antibiotic and am sitting on the bed stewing. WTF. Why? Really?

Editted to add: Here are some pictures after I cleaned the cuts up. I have to get the one's off my phone from when I first fell. They actually look worse now, several hours later as the redness from the burning is becoming apparent.

Lots of good stuff

I had a great 2 days! I took a half day from work on Friday and headed down to Delaware to Alexis' and then to DC for a Flyer's Pre-season game. This was my first live hockey game and it was great. Not so great for the Flyer's, they lost but its pre-season so its ok. We even had our first Chipotle after the game (PacerChris was so proud). We got home pretty late and had to get up early to volunteer at a local 5k so needless to say I'm exhausted right now.

So we get up and head to the 5k. Alexis had just finished saying, wouldn't it be funny if Matt (Scratch from kickrunners) showed up and then I see her eyes go big and her jaw drop and she starts laughing, I turn around and there he is walking over to register. We ended up being water girls which is pretty difficult. Almost as difficult as being on the other end, being the runner and trying to grab and drink the stuff. It was actually a lot of fun and the weather was great for a race.

After the race we headed to the running store so Alexis could get new shoes and then headed back to her place, got changed and headed out for a short run. We ended up doing 3 miles in 29 minutes. Since she has a 15k tomorrow she was supposed to take it easy, so I kept her slow and she made me speed up. We were perfect for each other! Now my 5k PR is 29:20 so I was really pleased with this run. It felt fine the first mile and then was comfortably hard the next 2 but never felt like a race pace for me which means I'm pretty confident I could easily kill that PR next time I do a 5k (especially since I've only run once, a week ago, in two weeks).

We got back to her house and stretched (and in my case, iced the foot) and then showered and went out to lunch. Afterwards it was time for me to head home. I pulled in the driveway and hear Mommy!!!!! and see Avery, Bella and Boots running towards me. I was only gone a day and they made me feel like it was a month! Mike had a fire going and Avery and I roasted some marshmallows and had a great time.

Even though the weekends not over yet I can already tell you that it was a great one!

Peroneal Tendon injury

So I've been doing research. It could be a strain or a tear. If its a tear I'm screwed. Either way it looks like the recovery is a few weeks. Looks like I'll be hitting the bike and elliptical for a while. I have an appointment with the doctor for Monday to see what's up. I'm going to try and run again on Sunday and see how it feels but I have aches and pains in it off and on during the day.

Foot Update

So Monday I drove to the parkway to do my LR. I started out and felt great. My body was very happy to be hitting the trail again. I was even thinking to myself that I will never be able to stop running, it would drive me insane, I'd miss it so.

I got to around 4 miles area where the injured tendon is started to feel tight and uncomfortable. I stopped and stretched a little, shook it out so to speak. When I started to run again same thing and then it started to hurt. I got scared and ended up walking the last mile of the loop to my truck. I didn't even get to finish one of the 3 loops I had planned.

I found a rock by the river and stuck my feet in to ice them and sulked. How frustrating. Alexis asked me later if I'd consider switching to the half and I said not yet. I'm not giving up hope yet but its not looking good.

I'll give it a little bit more time. If its still jacked up next week I guess I'll go to the doctor. I didn't run yesterday because Avery was home sick but I will try to get in a couple of miles today and see how it feels.

Overslept

I was up late last night. I overslept, which is probably a good thing. I awoke to a torrential downpour! It's raining harder than I can remember in a long time. Guess that's the Nor'easter we were getting.

I was going to do my run today. The foot was feeling better yesterday and for the first time I didn't limp. Today it feels almost 100%.

I'm going to log on to work early tomorrow morning so I can get off early and head out for my long run.

Avery and I are spending the day in her room watching movies and then if the rain lets up we'll be heading to my mom's for Eggplant Parm tonight. Mike had to go into work today so he won't be home until tonight. After yesterday's birthday party that Avery and I went to and dinner party later that night, we can use a day of doing nothing!

Stressing

I don't know what to do. My foot feels ok when I jog around a bit but hurts like hell when I'm walking. I know its because I run midfoot to toe and I walk heal to toe on the outside of my feet (the tendon is on the outside of the back of the foot).

Should I run and risk the injury lasting longer or getting worse (even if it feels ok while I'm running) or should I not run and loose my fitness! It's not like I can go on the bike or elliptical or anything to keep up my cardio. I can't use the foot so that just leaves low impact stuff.

I have an 18 miler planned for Sunday. I wouldn't mind giving it up for a shorter distance and running my long run another day during the week as long as I could run!

This is totally why I was scared to RACE the PDR instead of running it. I'll be so ticked if this F's up me being able to run the marathon.

Feet

I went to the podiatrist last night for a second opinion on my Morton's Neuroma since the cortisone shot from my orthopedic doctor didn't do squat.

He felt the neuroma on the left foot right away (between the 3rd and 4th toes). He was surprised I said the second and third toe for my right foot since usually they are in the same spot on both feet. Sure enough, he didn't feel anything there but did on the 3rd and 4th (I felt it too). Perhaps the cortisone shot didn't work because there was no neuroma between the 2nd and 3rd which is where I got the shot. He said the pain could have radiated to the second toe.

He doesn't recommend the alcohol schlerosing shots. From what he's seen there isn't a high success rate. One of the reasons I was considering them is because a side effect of the surgery is permanent numbness in the toes. He said this will occur with the shots as well since its essentially killing the nerve. Another reason I was considering it was I was under the impression (from others who have had them) that I could get them now and continue with my marathon training. He said that was doubtful. He knows someone who is having them currently and there is no way she could run. GRRRRR.

He wants and MRI and another appt in two weeks. He wrote a script for an anti-inflammatory to take daily. I will most likely get another set of cortisone shots at my 2 week appt.

I've decided that I will get the surgery after the marathon (most likely January '09). Since the surgery is performed on the top of my feet I won't have too many days off my feet. I forget what I read about how long before I could run, I hope not too long!!!

Benched

I've been benched for an injury and I didn't even get it on the field...

Monday night I was standing on a chair trying to reach something and when I stepped down I must have over extended my leg and I felt this horrible cramping/ripping sensation in my right quad.

Right after it got ridiculously tight (again, almost like a cramped muscle where its contracted). I iced it all night and then in the morning I thought it felt better until I bent down to help Avery get dressed and had the same sensation. After that it bothered me when I walked all day long.

From everything I read about muscle tears I need to stay off of it for 72 hours so I am not going to run until Friday, then I'm just going to do a couple of miles to see how it feels and if its good I'll do my long run on Saturday.

What stinks is I had the best 9 miler on Sunday, with pace times I haven't had since I ran Broad Street w/ Lori in 2007! Plus my left hip is feeling 100% better, no pain, no limping...

Hopefully the rest will do me good and I'll only need these few days to fix the muscle! Let the cabin fever begin...

New Shoes

So 3 miles into my long run on Saturday my Morton's Neuroma started acting up. It got so bad at around mile 7 that I had to stop. Severe shooting pains in my toe. Not good. So I walked a few steps and was fine after that, it still bothered me off and on for the rest of the 16 miles but I dealt with it. What I realized was that it wasn't the distance of the run that was irritating it. I have only had pain on my Saturday runs but not when I hit the higher miles, its always around 3 or 4 miles that it kicks in. It's also not the course. I ran the parkway on Thursday for my tempo and had no issues. What I realized was that I only wear my Brooks GTS7's on Saturdays now. I wear my Adidas Supernova on Tues/Thurs at work and I wear my relatively new Mizuno Wave Alchemy 7's on Monday and Wednesday for my quality workouts. So I'm thinking its the shoes.

I was going to switch days with the Mizuno's to see if the Brooks were bothering me during the week. I think I only had about 250 miles on them so I knew they were at the end of their life but thought since I was only using them once a week that they would last until around 300 or 350. Mike wanted to get new sneakers that day so I took him to my LRS and decided I would get another pair as well. I got the Mizuno Wave Alchemy 8's this time. My first pair of kicks that weren't blue since I started running! Let's hope this ends my discomfort and pain.

Ouch

Last nights track workout didn't go exactly as planned. Avery and I drove over to the high school and they were having football practice on the field so I decided to go the extra 2 miles to Lehigh University's track. It wasn't too busy. I got Avery all setup on her blanket and started my warmup. I did 1.25 miles. I was supposed to do 4x1200.

I ran the first one and by the end of the 800 I was feeling pain in my right hip flexor, quad and hamstrings. Bad pain. I finished the 1200 w/ plenty of lung but not enough leg. I did it in 5:42 which is 7:42 pace. I did a recovery walk with Avery and got ready to go again. All I got was a 400 at 1:53 (8:13 pace). I was really hurting and pretty discouraged. Oh and I had to go to the bathroom (just #1) and there weren't any around. This just added to my frustration.

I figured I would switch the workout to 400's so at least I could get the speedwork in. I started for the next 400 and it became a very painful 200 at 1:05 (8:12 pace). There goes that plan!

I did a 200 meter cooldown and called it a day after some hardcore stretching with Miss Avery.

From that point on my hip flexor has acted up every time I get up from a seated position and I feel the need to limp for a few steps.

Guess its time to invest in a foam roller!

I did 3 recovery today. I was supposed to do 4-5 but I do these at work and they are paving the road I run on so I couldn't go all the way out (it was closed) and had to just do a couple developments to even get in 3. I stayed very slow the first 1.5 miles and found that I naturally sped up quite a bit at the end again.

Hopefully my tempo run tomorrow will be better than the last two days!