Every time I update my blog, I always try to say that I'll blog more...and I have good intentions, but just have other things that "get in the way." Such as teaching, or grading, or working out, or leading the Life Time Run group, or writing training plans, or coaching....or physical therapy :( Most of the items on the list are things that I absolutely do not mind putting off blogging for, but that last one? As much as I like the physical therapists I work with, I would be a-okay if I never had to see either of them again!
I have been keeping a little "diary" of my foot so I can gauge the difference in "pain" as I progress with my hopeful/eventual return to running. My last blog detailed my first run back.
Warning ahead: Super long update. Kind of boring, but more of a diary for me as I go through this whole plantar/heel/when-will-I-ever-be-back-again process.
SHORT STORY:
I have been running back-to-back days or every other day for the past two weeks, anywhere from 3-5miles. I have only experienced pain during the run once (likely due to cold temps and my foot actually going numb). BUT, the reality is that my foot still bothers me and isn't fully healed. I have a follow-up appointment with my podiatrist, Dr. Chin, tomorrow to hopefully gain some insight as to what the heck is going on with my stubborn foot.
So, if you're on Spring Break like me or just have a few minutes to kill, feel free to read all that's been happening!
End of February/Beginning of March
I continued a walk/run plan for two weeks (every other day), but started to get some really bad pain in my knees. My final straw was when I was doing a 2min walk/3min run x6 and I had to STOP at 1.5min into my last 3min run segment because my knees just hurt so bad. I wasn't willing to risk getting another injury for being stubborn.
My PTs were able to figure out that the pain was actually at the insertion point of the hamstring. I could barely walk around. The best way to describe how I felt was that "Post-Ironman (or marathon) stiffness," where it's like you just can't bend your knees. It got so bad that anytime a student raised their hand, I actually cringed as I just could not fathom continuously walking around. (for all you non-teachers out there, just sitting at your desk and expecting students to learn isn't really effective....so that wasn't even an option)
While the hamstrings obviously do some sort of work while swimming and biking, it is nothing compared to the work they do while running. Turns out after a few sessions of some PT stretches and A.R.T, my hamstrings worked themselves out. This was during the first week of March, when I knew I'd have somewhat of a day off (dismissal at 11am due to parent/teacher conferences!!)
March 11th:
I decided to go see my PT friend Earl, who had nursed me back to health last spring when I had my patella tendinitis. Earl had developed a strength training program specifically for my weaknesses/imbalances a few years back that we have tweaked over the years, so I wanted to touch base with him and see if anything should be added based on my latest developments.
To my surprise, Earl actually wanted me to RUN 2miles that afternoon. And then 2 miles the next day. I was floored, but of course pretty happy. I wanted to badly to just head out and run, but had some other things to tackle first.
I met Bob from Wheel Werks to see if my bike position could be hurting my chances of recovering from this darn plantar issue (or really, the hamstring issue at this point as Ryan and I were both thinking my seat was too low). Sure enough, Bob not only lengthened my body on the bike, but he raised my seat another 3-4cm (which is a LOT!). He also adjusted my cleats in hopes that the minor tweak could help. I haven't had ANY issues with my plantar due to riding the bike, but I wasn't about to start getting other issues because of poor positioning, so seeing Bob was just one step closer to coming back STRONGER.
Just before I was able to finally get my crazy 2-mile run in, I met my friends Megan and Jess to do a hard swim workout. It is honestly so amazing what swimming with others can do as they pushed me to my 5 fastest 100s to date. I could just tell that today was going to be MY day.
After our swim, Megan and Jess decided they wanted to support my first run back and ran 1mile out from the health club and one mile back with me, all the while listening to my "OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M RUNNING PAIN FREE" chatter. I definitely felt like a fish out of water, but I was PAIN FREE and that was the important part.
March 12th
As prescribed, I ran another 2miles. I woke up with some stiffness/soreness in my knees, but knew that it was just my hamstrings questioning what the heck I was doing. The 2 miles felt great, and I even pushed the pace a tad to get my usual stride back. I was shocked to wake up the next morning with even less stiffness/soreness, and was beginning to think that my body was almost fully healed.
March 14th (Pi Day!!)
I woke up like a little kid on Christmas--Earl had told me to run 3-5 miles, running 5 if things felt amazing, but 3 if I was just feeling okay. I ended up running the full 5 and was shocked at how good I felt during and after, since I had woken up per usual with some foot pain (like a 3/10 on a pain scale). And then I drove my 45minute commute and got out of the car. Luckily, continuously stretching my calves and hamstrings and rolling my foot out on the lacrosse ball seemed to help some of that pain decrease. I saw Ben for PT that night and had the ASTYM done and actually had one of my best sessions yet, so was pretty encouraged to attempt the next planned run. Ben thought my pain might have originated from the where the Achilles attaches to the calcaneus (heel bone) and didn't think it was my plantar, which was all good news in my book.
March 15th
Ran 3 miles on the crushed limestone path by Life Time. Knees were a little achy after, but that was likely due to the fact that it was uneven footing so my body wasn't landing how it normally would. I did all of my stretches and PT, led the Life Time Run group, and then drove the 45minutes home. Getting out of the car was really painful, and made me question what the heck I was even doing by running in the first place. Luckily, my Wednesday (3/16) appointment with Ben helped, and we were back on track to run 3miles on Thursday.
March 17th
A 3-mile run with Ryan again felt pretty good, and neither of us thought I was striding funny or hitting my feet hard on the ground (something Ben/Angie had asked about). I did hot Vinyasa Yoga after (something Earl told me to incorporate at least once per week to really help my chronically tight calves/hamstrings), and then felt my foot as a 5/10 pain scale. Crap. Luckily, Friday was a little better so the planned run for Saturday would go on.
March 19th
Ryan was racing the Lakefront 10mile, so I figured I'd just do my run while he was racing since I only had 5 miles. I woke up sore (3/10) and used the lacrosse ball. It was almost 30degrees when I started, but I had been standing around socializing. I did my standard dynamic warmup (leg swings, downward dog calf stretch, butt kicks) and felt pretty good in the beginning. I felt like my feet were slapping due to being frozen, but no pain so no concern. Then my left foot fell asleep. I don't know if it was that I tied my laces too tight (post-run examination didn't appear so) or if my foot just has really bad circulation like I've been saying for YEARS now. At about 2.4miles, I felt like the perimeter of my heel was being annoying--like 3/10 when I had never had anything besides a 0/10 on my runs. It didn't hurt like it did in Kona, but it was the first time any run had been even slightly uncomfortable (minus my whole hamstring knee insertion issue). The outside plantar muscle (by the pinky toe) was sore from 2.4miles through 5.2miles, but massaged it out with the ball after just fine. The rest of the day, my foot was a 5-6/10, and extremely sensitive when not wearing shoes. At this point, I decided to make an appointment with Dr. Chin.
March 20th
Spectating at March Madness: I knew this would be a hard day for me as I had run this race every year since 2008 (it's my dad's running club's race) and it would not be the same not running it. I woke up with my foot feeling like 6/10 on the pain scale, so rolled out and felt a little better (5/10). Once I put shoes on, went down to a 3/10. Before the race, I could feel my foot but tried to focus on getting my friends ready for their races. As a spectator who also lives in the area, I devised a plan to be able to see our friends out on the course. To make it to see them in time, we ran down Cary Jr High hill to make it to see our first friend go by and my foot felt a little tenderness but nothing like the pain in Kona (at like 9:30am). My foot later hurt pretty bad in church (11am). The pain continued to subside while standing, but the prolonged sitting then standing caused feeling of 4/10 again. Per usual, it felt good after 3.5 hour bike though. It is good to know that exercising (bike/swim) seems to help, rather than hurt.
March 21st
An easy 4 mile run before PT reminded me that Saturday's pain was likely a fluke. I saw Ben and we were able to sort some of the pain out, but I still left wishing my appointment with Dr. Chin was coming sooner!
March 23rd
Since Monday and Tuesday didn't provide a TON of pain, I ran 5miles with 5x:90 pickups and felt tiny soreness (1-2/10). Stretched and rolled foot after, drove 45min home, and felt only 2-3/10 when I got out of the car which is HUGE. At PT, Ben massaged tight calves, did ASTYM but no real relief. He had me stretch my calves off of bench (since using the Pro Stretch actually really hurt my heel) and felt a little better. Did the SPORING (running 3x:30) and drills, and discussed that Dr. Chin would hopefully be able to provide us with some direction for our next appointment.
This leads me to today. If you've read all of this, thank you as I really just wanted to use this as a way to track my timeline of this crazy injury.
I am hopeful that tomorrow's appointment with Dr. Chin will provide me with some answers. Tears have welled up in my eyes quite a few times over the past few weeks, primarily out of fear of the unknown. Not knowing when the pain will come on strong or when it will subside is beyond frustrating, so hopefully my next blog (which will be soon since I'm finally on Spring Break!) will share good news. But, if I'm not running, maybe it'll be time to have that whole "Family" conversation soon... ;)