Day three in recovery mode and with my new Vibram 5 Fingers
Run attempt #3: 4 Easy
Location: Treadmill (kill me now)
Mileage: 4 Mile
Incline: Cross Country Road (aka holy hills!)
Shoe: Vibram 5-finger classics
Pace: 9:20 avg min/mile
Report: If you missed yesterdays post, I opted for the device of torture instead of the road so I wouldn't look like some sort of purple-footed hitch hiking freak if I had to stop and walk. I psyched myself up, convinced myself that the treadmill is just like the road and I could be safe and warm inside! This is going to be just great, really....
Mile 1: Ok, not so bad... it's nice to be warm inside, and we're on a flat ground. My ankle feels pretty good. I do my usual half mile, then stop to rub the tendon/ligament/w.e and most of the tightness goes away and I continue my merry little jaunt...
Mile 2-3: OMG! Have I mentioned that I HATE treadmills??? It was all fun and games until this stupid machine decides to incline at a level I never knew humans were capable of walking, let along running, at! Cross country my butt-- I ran cross country and I never thought I was scaling a building! The good news? My ankle isn't bothering me on the hills-- which combine both actions that usually give me pain: kicking back in my stride and walking up stairs.
Mile 4: Please oh please let it be over soon... Legs, just hold out a little longer-- I promise it will be over soon and I won't do this to you again. You've done nothing to deserve this!!!! Usually when the hill starts decending, it drops by about half the incline-- but not in the last mile!!! They give you a surprise and only drop it by like half a degree, just to feel that extra burn! Gee what fun.
Post Run: Thank god that's over! Ankle survived pretty well and I made it thorugh my first full treadmill workout. That is the longest I've ever run on the torture chamber and I'm glad to be done. My ankle? Not too bad... again, I noticed if I lost form and pronated (as much as you can in VFFs) it would get very tight. Other than that it seems ok... Going to see the Dr. this morning.
Vibrams: I'm definitely getting used to them. I'm currently trying to contact Vibram to hear what they have for a suggested weekly milage & long runs to get acclimated with the shoe. I've read a lot about people's ventures into vibrams... they all seem to get really sore at first from the VFFs. Either my legs are so used to the torture I put them through with marathons, or I haven't gone a far enough distance to feel them yet. I do know (depending on what the Dr. says) I need to decide this week if I'm going to be ready to use the VFFs in 2.5 weeks for my next marathon. If I'm not I need to get back into shoes. One of the most agreed upon suggestions is NOT to switch between shoes and your VFFs regularly. But this is looking days ahead, today the focus is what the Dr. says.
No embarrassing vibram moments to report today!!!!
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Showing posts with label Ankle Injury. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ankle Injury. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
A run a day keeps the Dr. away???
Since I did so well the past 2 days of running, I'm going to try to sneak in just 1 more before going back to the Dr. tomorrow morning. I'm going to try for a 4 mile run on the, UGHHHH treadmill. I don't feel confident enough in my ankle to run out in the streets. Just picture it...
I'm 2 miles from home, wearing my vibrams and I have to stop running. I'm going to look like some sort of purple-footed hitch hiking freak!!!! No spanks!!!!
IR: My ankle feels better when I run, but I haven't tried to push too hard. When I press on the tendon/bone/area thing -- it still hurts to the touch. Hopefully its more of a deep bruise and I can run through it.
*If you think you know whats wrong with me I'm taking guesses!!! If I ever find out and you guessed right, you get a prize!!!*
Clue #1: The pain is coming from the inside of my right ankle.
Clue #2: The pain hurt most when I would kick back in my stride (running only, not walking), as well as when I walked up the stairs
Clue #3: There are 2 "hot spots" of pain... the first is on the inside, top of the heel-- if you are looking at your foot, its right to the left of where the achilles meets the heel bone-- there is some sort of tendon or ligament there. The other spot is just above the ankle bone, again on the inside, with about 2 inches of an area that is in pain. I can't tell if its actually on the small leg bone or on a tendon/muscle/w.e that runs along the bone.
Good luck!!!
I'm 2 miles from home, wearing my vibrams and I have to stop running. I'm going to look like some sort of purple-footed hitch hiking freak!!!! No spanks!!!!
IR: My ankle feels better when I run, but I haven't tried to push too hard. When I press on the tendon/bone/area thing -- it still hurts to the touch. Hopefully its more of a deep bruise and I can run through it.
*If you think you know whats wrong with me I'm taking guesses!!! If I ever find out and you guessed right, you get a prize!!!*
Clue #1: The pain is coming from the inside of my right ankle.
Clue #2: The pain hurt most when I would kick back in my stride (running only, not walking), as well as when I walked up the stairs
Clue #3: There are 2 "hot spots" of pain... the first is on the inside, top of the heel-- if you are looking at your foot, its right to the left of where the achilles meets the heel bone-- there is some sort of tendon or ligament there. The other spot is just above the ankle bone, again on the inside, with about 2 inches of an area that is in pain. I can't tell if its actually on the small leg bone or on a tendon/muscle/w.e that runs along the bone.
Good luck!!!
Monday, January 18, 2010
I DON'T have purple feet!!!! (RE-Learning to Run... Day #2)
Day two in recovery mode and with my new Vibram 5 Fingers
Run attempt #2: 3 Easy
Location: Road
Mileage: 3 Mile
Incline: Varry
Shoe: Vibram 5-finger classics
Pace: 9:00 avg min/mile
Report: I decided to test my ankle/tendon/injured thing out on the road today. I found and easy mile that circles my apartment so if anything happened I wasn't too far.
Mile 1: I started with an easy pace, getting my ankle warmed up. The loop is flat, followed by a long graded downhill, then a long graded uphill back home. Half way through my ankle got a little tight on the long downhill, so I stopped for 10 seconds to rub it a little. After that it started to warm up.
Mile 2-3: I was still feeling good going into my second loop, so I extended the loop a bit, which gave my ankle a good test... the BIG hill near my apartment! Still felt a little tight, but not painful. By the end of the run, after getting more and more warmed up, I wasn't even that tight.
Post Run: After the run I stretched a bit and I could feel my ankle was a little sore, but nothing too bad. The funny thing is, when I press on the tedon/bone area it still hurts as much as it did early last week, but when I use the ankle (running/walking/etc) it doesn't hurt like it did. Not sure what that means, but hopefully the Dr. will tell me its ok and give me the go ahead on running Myrtle Beach in 3 weeks. :)
Vibrams: This was my second running attempt in my vibrams, my first time outside and they felt great. I've always wanted to run on the front of my feet with good running form, but -- let's face it!-- when we get tired our form is the first thing that goes, and we fall back on my heels. Well, the vibrams give you no choice. Try running in your bare feet... you'll notice it's very awkward if you do land on your heel-- much more natural to fall on the front of your foot with very even footing (no overpronation). I also found running on uneven surfaces (the right edge of the road), my shoes tended to wear out on the inside of my right foot... so when I run on flat surfaces, my shoe forces me to overpronate as well. The vibrams don't wear that way, and allow you to run naturally on the uneven surfaces.
Vibram embarrassing moment #2: I know people make comments about my vibrams (or what they usually think are "socks")-- in the gym, at work, walking around the grocery store... but I thought when I ran, nobody could notice!! Wrong... they noticed! I had a few people stare at my feet in stopped cars at a red light. Then I was running by a woman who was getting her groceries out of her car and she came to a dead stop when I was about 10 feet away, followed me with her eyes on my feet, until I was out of sight.
Sigh... I know it must look like I'm running in either socks or my feet are purple, but seriously, when did staring become ok??? I need a shirt that says "No, these are not socks. Yes, these are shoes, No my feet are not purple." I feel that will help answer most questions people are wondering.
Icing, a movie, then off to bed to get my foot elevated!!! Woohoo.
Run attempt #2: 3 Easy
Location: Road
Mileage: 3 Mile
Incline: Varry
Shoe: Vibram 5-finger classics
Pace: 9:00 avg min/mile
Report: I decided to test my ankle/tendon/injured thing out on the road today. I found and easy mile that circles my apartment so if anything happened I wasn't too far.
Mile 1: I started with an easy pace, getting my ankle warmed up. The loop is flat, followed by a long graded downhill, then a long graded uphill back home. Half way through my ankle got a little tight on the long downhill, so I stopped for 10 seconds to rub it a little. After that it started to warm up.
Mile 2-3: I was still feeling good going into my second loop, so I extended the loop a bit, which gave my ankle a good test... the BIG hill near my apartment! Still felt a little tight, but not painful. By the end of the run, after getting more and more warmed up, I wasn't even that tight.
Post Run: After the run I stretched a bit and I could feel my ankle was a little sore, but nothing too bad. The funny thing is, when I press on the tedon/bone area it still hurts as much as it did early last week, but when I use the ankle (running/walking/etc) it doesn't hurt like it did. Not sure what that means, but hopefully the Dr. will tell me its ok and give me the go ahead on running Myrtle Beach in 3 weeks. :)
Vibrams: This was my second running attempt in my vibrams, my first time outside and they felt great. I've always wanted to run on the front of my feet with good running form, but -- let's face it!-- when we get tired our form is the first thing that goes, and we fall back on my heels. Well, the vibrams give you no choice. Try running in your bare feet... you'll notice it's very awkward if you do land on your heel-- much more natural to fall on the front of your foot with very even footing (no overpronation). I also found running on uneven surfaces (the right edge of the road), my shoes tended to wear out on the inside of my right foot... so when I run on flat surfaces, my shoe forces me to overpronate as well. The vibrams don't wear that way, and allow you to run naturally on the uneven surfaces.
Vibram embarrassing moment #2: I know people make comments about my vibrams (or what they usually think are "socks")-- in the gym, at work, walking around the grocery store... but I thought when I ran, nobody could notice!! Wrong... they noticed! I had a few people stare at my feet in stopped cars at a red light. Then I was running by a woman who was getting her groceries out of her car and she came to a dead stop when I was about 10 feet away, followed me with her eyes on my feet, until I was out of sight.
Sigh... I know it must look like I'm running in either socks or my feet are purple, but seriously, when did staring become ok??? I need a shirt that says "No, these are not socks. Yes, these are shoes, No my feet are not purple." I feel that will help answer most questions people are wondering.
Icing, a movie, then off to bed to get my foot elevated!!! Woohoo.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
RE-Learning to Run... Day #1
In my Injury Report (IR) I mentioned that I was taking a week off and trying to mend my pulled tendon-ligament-heel bone area. We aren't exactly sure what is causing the pain, but at first I was feeling a "ripping" sensation every time I kicked back in my stride. Well I've been testing it out and it feels much closer to a tightening sensation. After I warmed up with a 45 Min spin class today, I decided to test it out on the... (dun dun dunnnn) Dreadmill! ugh!
Run attempt #1: 1 Mile Slow Treadmill
Mileage: 1 Mile
Incline: 0-2 grade
Shoe: Vibram 5-finger classics
Pace: 9:30 avg min/mile
Report: I started with a 10 min/mile and felt pretty good so I conducted test #1, increasing my pace to around 8:20 min/mile. I felt a little tightening. I think this is because, the faster I go, the more I lose my form and start to overpronate. I had to OVER-overpronate during the marathon, because it made my knee feel better-- that's how I ended up hurting my ankle! So as long as I run with a forced arch in my foot- landing correctly it feels great. If I let my foot roll in, my ankle hurts.
So then I decided to conduct test #2-- incline! I increased it up to incline level 2-- not a huge amount, but enough to make me really push off with my foot. Not bad!!! A little tightening, but nothing that was going to pull.
Vibrams: My first attempt with vibrams was on the treadmill. I had planned on running with my sneakers, but after a week of walking around and exercising with the Vibrams, the shoes just felt SO heavy. Also, when I started running in the sneakers, I couldn't change my form and it felt very uncomfortable. The vibrams have already started giving me an arch and my shoes have been worn enough to be flattened on the inside, causing my foot to further pronate.
I like the vibrams so far. It felt very natural to run in them and they allow me to run in a comfortable position. Also, they have these little tab like things on the back. Immediately I thought... "oooh blistersss!!" However, I have a scab on the back of my ankle from the chip holder in one of the races last week. If the vibrams were going to cause a blister/cut they certainly would have annoyed the scab-- I looked after I was finished and the scab was fine!!
Overall, I would say Run Attempt #1 was pretty successful... but I have a ways to go. I'm going to try to do 2 tomorrow and if that feels good and my doc gives the OK, I'll try and run 4 on tues.
Run attempt #1: 1 Mile Slow Treadmill
Mileage: 1 Mile
Incline: 0-2 grade
Shoe: Vibram 5-finger classics
Pace: 9:30 avg min/mile
Report: I started with a 10 min/mile and felt pretty good so I conducted test #1, increasing my pace to around 8:20 min/mile. I felt a little tightening. I think this is because, the faster I go, the more I lose my form and start to overpronate. I had to OVER-overpronate during the marathon, because it made my knee feel better-- that's how I ended up hurting my ankle! So as long as I run with a forced arch in my foot- landing correctly it feels great. If I let my foot roll in, my ankle hurts.
So then I decided to conduct test #2-- incline! I increased it up to incline level 2-- not a huge amount, but enough to make me really push off with my foot. Not bad!!! A little tightening, but nothing that was going to pull.
Vibrams: My first attempt with vibrams was on the treadmill. I had planned on running with my sneakers, but after a week of walking around and exercising with the Vibrams, the shoes just felt SO heavy. Also, when I started running in the sneakers, I couldn't change my form and it felt very uncomfortable. The vibrams have already started giving me an arch and my shoes have been worn enough to be flattened on the inside, causing my foot to further pronate.
Overall, I would say Run Attempt #1 was pretty successful... but I have a ways to go. I'm going to try to do 2 tomorrow and if that feels good and my doc gives the OK, I'll try and run 4 on tues.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Photo Thursday???... and injury report
Ok I know people typically do their photo Friday on, well... Friday, but I wanted to get a little Friday into my Thursday!
This is my "office" (cube) wall covered with almost all of my marathon bibs. It's a way I like to stay motivated. I remind myself that I want to fill the wall up. I also have colleagues that will come over and say "hey... I don't see any new ones!!!" To which I usually reply "Don't worry, I'll get another this weekend."
Other than my bibs, there are 2 towels- 1 is from the Air Force Marathon in Dayton, OH-- GREAT race! The second I received when I won the Dances with Dirt marathon in Baraboo, along with a Dances with Dirt gym bag, and a few other goodies. Very cool
Between the towels, on the left, there is also a picture of MB and I after the 2009 Flying Pig Marathon, holding our medals up!
IR (Injury Report): Went to our on-site clinic at work. The Dr. took a look at it and said I either have:
OptionA: a small tendon tear where it meets the heel bone-- not sure which tendon, the pain is right around the achilles/whatever tendon runs on the inside and attaches where the achilles attaches as well... orrr something.
Option B: I have a small fracture on the inner-top side of my heel bone.
I explained that I have only a month til my next race and I have to be running within the 2 weeks before that. So we agreed to 1 week off from running with a compression sock thing and icing like a mofo. If it still hurts in a week--- I'm going in for Xrays. :( Let's hope its just a little tweak and will get better within the week!
Hope you're all having a wonderful Thursday and happy early Friday!!!!
This is my "office" (cube) wall covered with almost all of my marathon bibs. It's a way I like to stay motivated. I remind myself that I want to fill the wall up. I also have colleagues that will come over and say "hey... I don't see any new ones!!!" To which I usually reply "Don't worry, I'll get another this weekend."
Other than my bibs, there are 2 towels- 1 is from the Air Force Marathon in Dayton, OH-- GREAT race! The second I received when I won the Dances with Dirt marathon in Baraboo, along with a Dances with Dirt gym bag, and a few other goodies. Very cool
Between the towels, on the left, there is also a picture of MB and I after the 2009 Flying Pig Marathon, holding our medals up!
IR (Injury Report): Went to our on-site clinic at work. The Dr. took a look at it and said I either have:
OptionA: a small tendon tear where it meets the heel bone-- not sure which tendon, the pain is right around the achilles/whatever tendon runs on the inside and attaches where the achilles attaches as well... orrr something.
Option B: I have a small fracture on the inner-top side of my heel bone.
I explained that I have only a month til my next race and I have to be running within the 2 weeks before that. So we agreed to 1 week off from running with a compression sock thing and icing like a mofo. If it still hurts in a week--- I'm going in for Xrays. :( Let's hope its just a little tweak and will get better within the week!
Hope you're all having a wonderful Thursday and happy early Friday!!!!
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