Wicked Half pictures

Due to the rain, the pics weren't as awesome this year but I still appreciate them and LOVE free photos.  Here are a few from their website.

Unfortunately, there were no finish line pics like last year because the rain was causing significant issues with the camera equipment.  I am bummed, but I totally understand. I am still riding the high of this race.  While I sure didn't have a PR, I had SO much fun pacing my new friend.  We talked the entire race, something I never get to do because I am usually SO focused on the PR and I loved it. I have been contemplating being a pacer for some time now, and I think this is the answer I needed.  I felt just as awesome helping someone PR as I did getting my own PR.  I haven't had any disappointment in my performance at all.  I felt surprisingly strong the whole race, and while the speed wasn't there, all the activities I have been busting my butt doing seem to have paid off.  It was worth every single chlorine filled minute for sure.

Again, I highly recommend this race as a fun, laid back, small town race.  The course is NOT flat, it has flat sections, but is mostly rolling hills.  I really, really want to do the full next year with Stella Ella.  Thank you to everyone who volunteered and put their time in on race day and before.  I know it is hard work and what I did was only a tiny bit of the big picture.  I also want to say a HUGE thank you to doug for keeping my foot healthy and giving me the confidence that I needed to do this race.  I probably would have sat out if it weren't for you assuring me that I could do it.  Even today (Monday, race was Saturday) I have little to no pain.  Going to attempt a run tonight and see how it feels.  Have a great week everyone!!!!

Heartland Series Training Week 10 (Wicked Race Weekend)

Another up and down week!

I wore make up and did my hair this week.  I NEVER do that so had to take a pic:)

Monday:  Planned pool + strength.  I honestly wanted to do a pool work out and 3 rounds of strength training, but one of my machines in my lab went haywire, and by the time we got it back on track, it was past the time I could go.  I just had one of those days with pretty much everything in the lab, so when I got home, I had a beer and some easter chocolate, and honestly felt better about life.  My hubby cooked an amazing dinner, and after some digestion time, headed upstairs to get some strength training in.  I will be very honest, my foot was bothering me a lot all day.  I had planned on taking a full week off of anti inflammatories, and had gone about 3 days without any, but I was ouchy Monday morning, so opted to take some more.  I am hoping that this isn't a bad omen.

Tuesday: Planned 4 miles.  We ran in shorts and had to battle some very fierce wind.  I can tell that I am in shape, but not enough to battle these crazy spring Kansas winds without feeling like I might die.  I am going to be very honest and say that even with the anti inflammatories on board, that I had some pain in my foot throughout my run.  It was more like a running on a bruise than any sharp stabbing pain, but it was there.  The pain certainly wasn't a deal breaker, but it still makes me feel like this is not healed and maybe we need to do more to figure out what the hell this is (see a podiatrist or nerve specialist?).  I was pretty sad after this run, that maybe the weekend activities of running 6 on the road and pool jogging was too much, and that maybe we should be going much more slower with this.

Doug and has wonderful wife Conni!  He really is the magic man with magic hands!

Wednesday: Rest day.  First, I had a date with the bringer of pain.  He always makes my foot feel SO much better, and he did not disappoint.  Overall, that was the first massage in three weeks that i didn't want to cry during and after.  He still can't find anything wrong anywhere that would be causing the pain, so he gave me the green light to attempt the race, with taking it easy as my mantra.  He also informed me he had several runners with dogs this year, and that we had to start at the back with the strollers.  No big deal for me, not going for a PR, just going for fun, and may be walking at some points, so to the back I go.

source

Also had a webinar at night with my running partner sponsored by Team Beef about using lean beef to fuel the athlete.  Really insightful and really fun.  Got some questions answered that I always have had, so feeling so much more empowered about the nutrition choices I have been making. I am heading in the right direction, just need to tweak a few more things.  Blog post to be forthcoming on some of the cool things I learned!

Thursday:  Planned 5 miles.  Well, Kansas decided to go crazy all in the span of a day.  Wednesday we had wildfires burning out of control in southern KS that were causing massive amounts of smoke in the northern part of the state plus ash was falling from the skies.  We had horrible wind gusts up to 40 MPH in some parts of KS that sure wasn't helping the fires.  Then sometime over night and thursday morning, we got snow dumped on us.  It wasn't much, but to see the ground covered after an 80 degree day the day before was very surprising.  Here are a few photos that my good friend Alice took and posted of the hazy smoke that blanketed us most of the day Wed and the snow we woke up to Thursday morning.  After work, I headed out to do my 5.  I decided to run with music, something I normally don't do, just to distract myself.  I had pain, but it was different, more in the arch of my foot.  I kept telling myself different pain is a good thing, which is different than anything else I have ever done.  Any pain is usually bad right?

Friday: Planned 1 hour or more on the bike.  I had taken the day off and I was planning on dropping the kiddo off at the preschool, getting a bike ride on the trainer, and then showering and heading back to go with his class to the Easter egg hunt.   Andrew woke up with a sick tummy.  He attempted to throw up once and nothing happened.  Then he started running a low grade fever.  I had hoped by letting him go to school later that maybe he would feel better, but then the puking began.  Luckily hubby was able to come by on his lunch break and drop off some 7 up and gatorade and saltine crackers, because Andrew wanted water and that was making him throw up.  Around noon, the fever broke, and Andrew began to feel better, which honestly was my worst fear.  I didn't want him to feel better and then want to go to the hunt, but at the same time I hated seeing him feel bad.  So instead of a bike ride, i got a day to snuggle with my baby, and then at night got to see my running partner be married to the love of her life.  I at least got to carb load at lunch for my race.

Saturday:  Planned Wicked 13.1  This one gets it's own post:).  While I was no where near a PR, I finished with a smile on my face and some new friends.  Any race I get to do with Stella Ella is a bonus!  Hoping maybe next year I can do the full with her so she gets to have her very own marathon medal as well.  This is her second year of doing this half and even though it has grown significantly, we had a great time! 

Sunday:  Rest day/Easter Sunday.  Pretty sore from those hills since I have been on nothing but flat.  I had taken a nice long soaking hot tub bath the night before since Andrew fell asleep early, which I think helped a ton.  I figured my foot would be horrible today with the hills and the distance we traveled, but I never even took meds last night (Went to bed early) and haven't taken anything this morning.  Maybe we really are on the down hill of this stupid injury?  I hope so!  I would like to run the next three races with confidence and maybe a little more speed. I know I haven't put in the work to get a PR  and that my A race may have to be moved to the fall but it would be nice to get that time down a little.  I think my official time yesterday, with the extra distance (we ran the wrong way and had to turn around which added some time) was 2:22.    

Total miles for the week: 22

I look forward to getting more consistent miles this week (please please foot, mentally I need four runs a week:).  I have another half on April 9th, so I need to be smart and not anger the foot.  I look forward to what this week will look like, dependent on how my foot reacts to all of the fun things I did this week.  

Wicked Half 2016

2015 Wicked Half

2015 Wicked Half

Those of you who read my blog know that I have been battling a mysterious foot injury since February 1st (how nice of  it to fall on a day I can remember the date:).  This race was one of four that I thought I wouldn't be doing.  As the time got closer for the race and we weren't coming up with any ideas as to what it was, I was seriously doubting this race was going to happen.  Then, as it looked like whatever this was, was healing and not affecting my running, I was faced with the decision of should i do this race?  It really was a hard decision, since it is in my hometown, and I literally have to walk 5 or 6 minutes to the start and finish from my house.  Add on to the fact that this is one of the few races I can run with Stella ella, who consequently, had not been running as much due to me getting most of my miles in the pool or on the bike.    It really was a game time decision and I am so glad that I went for it.  I think it will tell me more where I am with my foot more than anything. I had decided not to race it, to take it easy and just enjoy myself.  Unfortunately between the weather reports of 100% rain and the smoke that was cloaking our area, I was really worried that I wouldn't be able to even enjoy myself.  Boy, was I wrong!!!!!

I didn't get to the pasta feed, as my running partner tied the knot at the courthouse Friday night.  We instead had pasta at the Tall grass Taphouse and one beer followed by lots of water.  Do you know how hard it is to go to a brew pub and just drink one beer????

This is what we woke up to.  I was so hoping that orange and yellow was just heavy rain, and not thunderstorms.  Not ideal, but I will take rain any day over thunderstorms.  Luckily, it kind of let up when we started, but it continued on and off the whole race.  The term drowned rat came to mind several times.  

I helped with packet pick up at 6:15.  Many of the racers still needed to pick up packets, so four of us showed up to help.  Unfortunately, there were NO lights in the tent, but never fear, we had head lamps in our running bags, so Mel and I did packet pick up by head lamp:)

 While I had to leave my running partner at the start, I quickly caught up with the Tin man.  She had won the costume contest, so I immediately recognized her.  We started talking and we were running a similar pace, and she didn't mind me yammering at her, so we stuck together the entire race.  I told her where and when the hills were, and where the tops were, and she told me all about coming back from  major knee surgery.  She kept telling me she might get a PR, so I made it my mission to help her achieve that!  I think based on her FB post, she had a 5 minute PR!!!  WAHOOO!  GO Tin Man!!!!

Tony ended up not getting down to the finish line with stella's collar and medal due to the rain, so she had to model mine.  While the conditions were less than ideal, I am so glad I felt strong the entire race.  I never had any pain (i am sure adrenaline and endorphins covered that up), and I had great conversation to keep my mind off the cold rain.  I was really worried those hills would kill me since my last hill repeats were in January, but I felt good on every single one.

Of course as soon as I got out of the shower she wanted to go throw the ball.  Silly girl, we just ran over 13 miles and you are still rearing to go?   Yep mom, I am always rearing to go!!!  

As always, this is a great home town race.  Yep, there were some small hiccups today, but I hope that doesn't turn any runners off to running here again.  Every year it grows, which brings more challenges, BUT it improves as well.  Great job Doug and everyone at Body First for a great race again this year and THANK YOU so much for allowing me to run with my dog.   I can't wait to see the awesome pics!

Random musings about a former version of me

I have had a rough weekend. I have written this type of post many times and never published it.  Mainly because I don't want to sound like a whiner.  I live a very blessed life, and I am so thankful for everything in it and about it.  BUT I am a honest person and when something is bothering me, I write about it.  So here goes.

Miller and I at AKC Nationals

I gave up dog agility for the most part after my son was born.  This is a sport I was VERY involved in for 13 years prior.  I started with my Berry dog, then showed Harley and Miller, and had begin to show Deuce and train Stella after I found out I was preggers.

This was at a dog show in Omaha NE

I tried valiantly after my son was born to continue my lifestyle of teaching two nights a week, and working full time, and heading out to shows every weekend but I just couldn't keep it up.  It got super hard when andrew got mobile, to keep him happy at the shows.  It was so easy when I could put him in a stroller and just go or carry him around and pass him from person to person while I walked the courses. I tried just leaving him home with daddy but that got tough as well. As he got older, it got even harder, because I didn't like to be away from him.  Don't get me wrong, I totally trust my hubby and he is a WONDERFUL father, but something inside me just didn't want to leave him.  I also had to give up my teaching which was my extra show income, because again, I didn't like being away from him on weeknights.  Kids thrive on routine, and when I went straight from my normal job to teaching on the nights I taught, I didn't see him till the next morning.  I moved teaching at first to the weekends, but surprisingly, I lost a ton of students due to that move.  I finally just gave it up, and with that went my extra show income.  Add on paying for daycare and then preschool weekly and poof, no extra show money.  Again, I am not complaining, I LOVE my son more than life itself, but just kind of pointing out what was going on.

Me running Deuce when I was preggers

I am going to be super honest and judge me if you will, but here goes some honesty.   I had to cut back to one show a month, whereas  previously I had done up to 3 shows a month.  This was super hard, because I really couldn't reach the goals like qualifying for nationals anymore on one show a month.  Also about the time I had andrew, the shows that were once in Lawrence, which was within driving distance daily, all moved to KC, which was not driving distance daily.  I had to start paying for hotel and food and more gas, which was not in the budget.  I am one of those people who likes to be competitive in what I do.  Mind you, I mostly compete with myself in both agility and running, but I like to be the best version of me that I can be.  Going to one show a month and usually only 2 days, plus not getting to regular classes just took me out of contention to be competitive at all.  It wasn't fun for me to just show up at the shows and not get any type of positive reinforcement in the form of Qs, better runs, or placements.  I stagnated and got frustrated, and decided I just couldn't do it.  The financial stress, coupled with the frustration made it not fun anymore for me.  I decided to step away, completely away. No agility.  Nothing.  Not even classes that are about 30 minutes away from me or online classes.   I still watched every video that came out, and constantly watched my agility friend's feeds for all things agility but I didn't go to any shows.  I just couldn't, it was too hard.

The first year I ran at AKC nationals in Tulsa OK with a borrowed dog

Enter in this weekend, the National Agility Championship in Tulsa, OK.  I watched all of my friend's FB feeds for constant updates.  I was chained to my computer for three days.  The fire has been ignited in me to come back to agility, to somehow make it work.  I have no clue financially how I am going to do it.  I need to get back to classes, either online or with my great friend Joc.  I have to make this work.  I let this part of me die out and now I want it back.  I want my son to be a junior handler and get involved.  I want to figure out how to marry running and dog agility shows.  I LOVE the level of competition that exists now.  I love how everyone goes out and pushes themselves to the limit every run!  I want that thrill back!!!

My first and only MACH with Miller

So there it is.  Now that it is on paper and not rolling about my head, I feel much better.  Plus my readers that just know me as a runner now know a second side of me that was more in my previous blogs.   Now to make this a reality somehow, someway.

Heartland Series Training, Week 9 (AKA maybe a comeback?)

So not only I am coming back from my injury, I am battling week 4 of this stupid coughing cold.  Here is how the week went down!  Sorry, get ready for lots of pictures of stella ella because I don't take my phone on the pool deck.

Monday:  Planned 1 hour in the pool.  I had a super light day at work, which was a good thing, because one of our old grad students dropped by with her family.  We ended up taking a long lunch and taking  her boys to the park to burn off some energy after lunch.  A new place opened up in Aggieville called PieFive and it was really yummy!  I can't wait to take my boys back to try it out.  Basically, if you haven't ever been, it is a subway for pizzas.  They build the pizzas while you go down a line, and then cook it super quick.  It was fresh and yummy, and I loved it.  Since I didn't get to the pool, post wearing the dogs out, and playing some baseball with the kiddo, I got on my bike trainer and did 30 minutes of intervals at an easy gear, and then did three rounds of strength.  Since I wanted a shorter strength training session this time, I just did 3 exercises x 3 rounds.  I tried to do an ab exercise, an arm exercise, and a shoulder exercise every round.  I was one pooped mommy post that work out.

Tuesday:  Planned 3 easy miles on the road.  This run was just kind of weird.  I didn't have pain per se, but my foot felt like it was just not 100%.  Like everything in my foot was trying to figure out what the hell was going on.  I also concentrated on my foot the entire 3 miles, which isn't good.  My running partner is battling some issues right now, so she wasn't with me to distract me.  It's really hard not to freak out about every little thing.  I certainly did not have any pain but it just felt off.   3 miles total

Stella was pretty stoked about our run.  While i have been getting my exercise on in the pool or on the bike, she hasn't gotten hers in other than catching the frisbee

Wednesday: Planned 1 hour in the pool.  I almost didn't get to go.  We are on spring break, so everyone's schedules are crazy.  I ended up finishing up my experiment, just in time to head over for the last hour that the pool was open.  I got to share the deep well with the Manhattan High School Diving team.  Was kind of fun watching these young ladies dive, instead of staring at the walls for an hour.  I did decide to try some intensity and do a pyramid workout that my coach had given me for the elliptical.  It was killer, and post jog I felt like jello.  I think the waves those girls were creating diving while I was running made it a perfect work out.  I should add that when I woke up this morning, my foot was sore, but no more sore than it has been.  That is my bench mark that has been given to me to know when I have hit too much.  If the pain is same or less, continue.  If it is worse, stop.  I am still kind of scared about this, but the good thing is, my foot was sore all over, not just in one spot.  Kind of like "hey you haven't used this in a while sore", even though I use my dang foot every day.

Thursday: Planned 4 easy miles on the road.  Of course, Kansas decided to blow it's wonderful spring winds gale force on the day I needed to get outside.  That and the fact that I still have this cold and cough (it's been four weeks now) didn't help my plight of testing my fitness and my foot.  Luckily my running partner was able to meet up with me and distract me, so I didn't think about my foot for an entire 4 mile stretch.  My biggest issue was my cough.  It had previously only been showing up at the end of my work outs, but today for whatever reason, it randomly showed up during the whole run.  I am trying allergy medication now, because I can't be coughing and hacking during a whole race, if I decide to run next weekend.  No one wants to hear that for sure!    I am happy to say that other than the coughing, my run was wonderful!!! No pain during or after. I can still tell my foot is adjusting, and I must add that I had another session with my bringer of pain that surely helped as well.  At this point, barring any issues next week, I am leaning towards running my first half marathon at a super slow pace.  4 miles total.

Friday:Planned 1 hour in the pool.  Again spring break so schedules were all over the place, so I didn't get to go. The good news is I hadn't had an off day really all week, so I decided that this would be the day.

Saturday: Planned 6 miles.  I had aspirations of heading out at 7 am with the group run from our local running store.  They were sponsoring a stunt puppy run complete with door prizes.  That didn't happen, as I slept through my alarm and even slept till 8 am, whoops:)  I decided to hit my normal running route, even though we had high winds and just gut it out.  My foot felt good the whole time, just a little sore in places, but nothing bad.  None of the injuries in my foot are hurting, but I am experiencing soreness from using it again in running.   I had decided to wear compression socks and that didn't feel great, as my foot still seems to not like compression.  Noted, I will wear compression sleeves on that leg for sure next time.

Sunday:  Planned 2 hours in the pool.  I was really dreading this work out to be honest.  I got in the pool and started running and had multiple visitors that made the 2 hours go by quickly.  I made the mistake of not bringing fuel and I am pretty sure I needed it after 1 hour.  Oh well, I learned.  The best part was that I run in the diving well and a dad and his daughter came in to dive.  She had not ever dived off of the diving board and for an hour I watched her try and get her courage up.  Finally she dove in and that was all she wrote!  She was so proud and we all gave her a standing ovation (or a floating ovation in my case).  She even got brave enough to jump off of the high dive.  She and her father were a great distraction to get me through this long run.  I hope I don't have to do many more of these but I am super lucky and thankful I have the opportunity to get to an indoor pool and use it to my advantage.

I still haven't made my mind up about Wicked.    I know I can do it at this point, but it is a matter of should I.  I am totally waiting till the night before to decide.  I am also trying to figure out what combo of drugs gets rid of this stupid cold.  My only symptom is a cough and it typically rears its ugly head first thing in the morning, when I try to lay down at night and when I run.  Overall, I am very, very thankful to do some pain free running this week.  I am looking forward to a few more runs next week to decide if I am running or not.  Decisions, decisions.

Total miles for the week 13 plus whatever I am getting in the pool.

I leave you with this picture (just to prove I do take pictures of other things than Stella).  We bought a bag of balloons for 2 bucks.  He pretty much played with, blew up,

and popped balloons all day sunday.  Best.Present.Ever.  Who knew?  

Have a great week!

Heartland Series Training, Week 8

What an up and down week.  Here is how it played out:

Monday:  1 hour of water jogging.  Still not doing any intensity till the dr gives me the okay.  I found my favorite lady, and we talked and jogged for an hour.  She makes the time fly by.  We know each other, but we are really getting to know each other so much deeper.  She is my idol and I love her dearly.  She has been through some tough stuff by herself, and I have so much respect for her.

Tuesday:Strength training.  I made up three round of different exercises that my coach has given me in the past.    Kind of having fun being creative.  I typically don't do many arm exercises, so I am trying incorporate lots of arms too, as well as abs and lower abs.

Wednesday: Day off.  Visit to Ortho.  I was prepared for so many things.  I was very thorough with the nurse.  The Dr came in, read the notes, and quickly told me that I needed an MRI.  Of course the x rays taken at my doctor's office were inconclusive.  He did see what the radiologist saw, as far as what looked like a stress fracture, however, nothing hurt upon examination and I have had no bruising or swelling in that area.  He basically said it could be one of three things: stress fracture, stress reaction, or soft tissue injury.  We needed the MRI done before he could diagnose.  He assured me that my insurance would most certainly cover it, since it was affecting my quality of life (unlike what my GP had told me).  He also said that he would help me formulate a good plan for moving forward.  He really has changed since I saw him in 2014 for my shin injury.  I went ahead and picked up my bib for this weekend, knowing that it was probably a lost cause.  At least I got a couple of cute shirts!

Thursday: 1 hour of water jogging.  My phone rang around 11 am from the Ortho Dr's office.  I was shocked to hear back so soon, especially since I was told Friday, probably monday before I would hear back.  NO stress fracture, NO stress reaction, NOTHING!  So the very thing I was afraid of, no clue what is going on, and no plan to move forward happened.  Don't get me wrong, I am overjoyed to not be confined to a boot for 6 weeks, but  I love a good plan and without one, I am lost.  I was advised to go back to anti inflammatories, ice 4 times a day, and ease back into running.  I am going to admit, I am scared.  Scared that this is something I need to respect more than just drugs and ice.  I guess the MRI wouldn't lie, and I just have to trust.  I also had a session of body torture with my favorite bringer of pain at Body First.  We decided to stay in the pool for my long run this weekend and again friday, but to try some easy miles on the road Sunday morning with the max being 2 miles.  No race this weekend, which I had already figured, but possibly my half on March 26th, as long as I took it super duper easy.  Again, if ANY pain at ANY time during running, I am to stop, and we will re evaluate.  I know I have enough of a base built up that I could run slowly any of the half marathons, but I want to be super careful about this.  It truly will be a game time decision.

A little park time with my mini me

Friday: 1 hour of water jogging.  I so love the pool, but I so dread doing long runs in the pool by myself.  I am praying my running partner will join me sunday.

Saturday:  Race day 2 mile + 10 K.  I wanted to just stay home and be sad, BUT i also wanted to support my running partner, since technically we signed up for this race together.  She is so supportive of me and everything I do, so it is my turn to return the favor.  It was raining lightly when we left, but that was okay because there were tons of coffee shops to hide in during the race.  I had SO much fun cheering her on in the 2 miler and the 10 K!!!!

I had planned on doing strength again today, but since my hubby decided to rip the carpet up in our master bed room about the time I had planned on strength training, that changed.  No big deal, hopped on the bike trainer and did an hour of constant pedaling.  Tried to up the intensity a few times, but my foot said no.  

Sunday: Planned 2 SLOW miles on the road and a long run (as long as I can stand it and not loose my mind) in the pool.  First of all, the 2 miles on the road was AMAZING! I had read a blog about an injured runner that has what I think i have wrong (see my blog post from yesterday about my idea), and they had claimed the only thing that helped them was going back to minimal shoes for every day and for running.  I got my kinveras out to see if that would help and WHOA, no pain, even during the day just walking around.  I was AMAZED at how much it helped me.  I didn't take any anti inflammatories this morning and was able to walk around the grocery store and run with 0 amount of pain.  I am still shocked and waiting for the pain to show back up.  Even yesterday, just walking around the race and doing stuff afterwards gave me that achy pain.  Today, nothing, nada, 0!!!!!

Mel and I headed to the pool after my 2 miler to jog in a square in the water till we lost our minds.  We made it for 1 hour and 30 minutes before we both started getting loopy.  I will take it!  It takes us about 1 hour 40 minutes to get in 10 miles, so we are pretty close to that time running.  I have no clue how many miles we actually ran, but we both felt pretty tired afterwards.  I am SO glad she went with me.  I am not so sure I could do that by myself.  I will have to long run in the pool again next week, but maybe i can do some of my long run on the land and some in the pool.

Total miles=2

I will be honest, I am not missing rushing home to get a run in or getting up super early to run.  I miss running for sure, but am enjoying having a looser schedule.  It is kind of nice getting my work out done during the day over my lunch hour for sure.  The only problem is stella.  Running is not just for me, but for her sanity as well.

She was pretty darn happy to be out on the road, even if it was like 100% humidity today.  I am still a little scared about over doing it.  While I am going to live in my Kinvaras from now on, I don't want to be stupid and hurt this by running too much too soon. I am going to discuss with Doug and my coach how to safely proceed.  I want to be super duper smart about this. 

Have a great week and run some miles for me!!!!

Something to Ponder

Okay, I know I am NOT suppose to self diagnose but without a clear diagnosis from the Drs, I am still hunting for what this is.  I had posted on a running group that includes trail and ultra runners a while back trying to fish for anyone that might have had the same symptoms as I.  Unfortunately, I got little response other than a few people that had stress fractures.  After the MRI came back negative for anything, I started hunting again.  Today, there was a post that had a person complaining of pain in a similar area, so I started following the post.  She had several hits on what hit might be so I tracked each one down.  Then BINGO, one that sounded EXACTLY what mine was.

Flexor Digiti Minimi Brevis foot pain.  Wow!  While I am still convinced the initial injury was something different, the way it feels now fits this to a T!  I have pain in between my fourth and fifth meta tarsal, with pain not only on the ball of my foot but on the top as well.  Here is a link to an article that describes the injury.  Now that I know what it might be, I might be able to track a better way to rehab this.  I have contacted a few of the people who responded with having this as to what they did to rehab and haven't gotten anything back yet.  The article basically says to do the things I am already doing including resting, ice and advil, so hopefully I am on the right track.  My main interest is how quickly or slowly they returned to running.  Technically, I have only been doing non weight bearing exercises for two weeks and not running.  I had one week where I did a grand total of 2 total miles with one every other day but I don't count that week as non running.

Stay tuned to see if this theory holds!  I think I am on to something, just need to figure out how to rehab this properly!

Heartland Series Training, Week 8 (Don't call it a comeback).

After having a not so good last week, I vowed that this week will be better.  Here is how it went down, as I returned back to some training!

Monday:  A trip to Body First and a deep tissue massage on my foot.  First of all, HOLY OUCH!  I went through all that had been going on, and Doug felt very optimistic.  He really feels like this a deep bone bruise, especially after going over every tendon and ligament in my foot.  He didn't do the tuning fork, but he said that there was NO way if I had a stress fracture that i would be able to tolerate any of the things he was doing.    I am going to hop on his bandwagon and hope.  I still haven't heard back from the Ortho referral, and am hoping maybe I don't need it.    I have decided to do a week's worth of anti inflammatories, and then see where we were at.

 After a mostly resting week, I was ready to get back to non weight bearing exercises at least.  Doug felt like that was a good plan.  He also felt like I would be able to run all of my upcoming races.  Post massage, I headed over to our campus rec center, and got my membership renewed for the pool, so I can try and get in as much as possible right now with my very full research schedule.  He wanted me to do a couple of days of just easing on the elliptical and in the pool with the possibility of some running later on this week.  He felt like we were on the downside of this injury, that it just needed time to heal.

Monday night I headed over to my friend's house to get on her elliptical.  It was pretty fancy smancy.  The only one i have ever used was at the gym and was pretty low tech.  I watched the Leftovers on my phone, while doing an easy 30 minute workout.  Since I had no clue where to be at for easy, I hung around 50-60 rpm.  I know I was dripping with sweat when I was done, but I was not out of breath.  I felt like I got a decent workout, and look forward to using this machine more as I get over this stupid foot thing.  While I seriously wanted to be in racing form for the St. Pat's race, at least I get a chance to run it period (well hopefully).

Tuesday:  Love and Logic class.  Well, this is our last class.  Unfortunately, I had been up all night monday night coughing, so resting at home was probably a better idea.  I decided to take cough drops and soldier on though, because I am not always very smart:)

Wednesday:  Oh boy. Not a good day.  Dr's office called and said radiologist saw something odd.  Wouldn't tell me what but said that Ortho referral wasn't made till Tuesday.  URGH.  I needed to get in sooner, especially if there is something wrong, and I am walking around and using the elliptical, and maybe  I need to be in a boot.  Called back and finally found out the results from radiologist.  Lucency on mid shaft of 5th metatarsal.  Most likely artifact, but could be non-displaced stress fracture.  BOO!  I am trying not to worry.  I am trying to lean towards artifact, but it is hard.  Ortho Dr. called right after and said they couldn't get me in till March 9th.  Super boo.  Lots of time to worry and freak out.  Did 40 minutes easy on the elliptical.  

Thursday:  Woke up with an ouchy foot, but in a totally different place.  Now whatever runs between my 4th and 5th toe  (tendon?)  is  super sore to the touch on the top of my foot.  WTH??  This is even with me still being on a double dose of aleve, and going off of aleve in another day, since it has been a full week now.  Panic.  Multiple calls and texts to runner friends.  Could it be the elliptical or just from the massage?  Didn't feel pain during the elliptical, but I didn't feel pain during running either.  Too many variables makes this scientist go crazy, because how do you determine what is causing the new pain?  Really hoping that the elliptical isn't going to be eliminated.  Getting to the pool four times a week is going to be tough.  Getting to the elliptical four days a week, when it is down the street from my house and available to me whenever my friend is home, is much easier.  Am thinking the elliptical is too weight bearing even though it is non impact?  Am wondering if my bike on the trainer with clip ins will be less harmful to my foot? 

 Did lots of upper body working out as my strength.  Did try plank even though it hurt last time I tried and no pain this time.  In fact it didn't bother me at all during my work out.  I didn't do any plyometrics at all.  Was kind of fun taking all of the moves my coach taught me and mixing and matching.

Friday:  Planned pool work out FINALLY.  I woke up to this.  

Bruises on the top and side of my foot.  WTH?  I have no clue what this means.  I hope it is just from my massage monday, but I have no clue. I am so tired trying to figure this out. I don't sleep at night, one, because I am use to running helping me be tired enough to sleep at night (I use to be a horrible insomniac) but two,  I stay up looking at research and popular press articles about meta tarsals and stress fractures as well as nerve issues in feet.  I wish I could fast forward till March 9th, so I could hopefully just get some answers.  I did get to the pool today and my old pool running buddies that i ran with last time I was injured were all there.  We caught up, and had a good time running in a square.  I told them I am on the every other year injury plan:) I learned that even though the deep well is set aside for water jogging at specific times, that no one uses the diving boards really, so I could come from 11:30-2:30, which fits into my schedule way better than just 11:30-12:30.  I also found sunday nights from 7-8 was a good time to come but that is going to effect my hubby's walking dead watching time, so may not be able to get away then (yes we need to join the rest of civilization and get a DVR).  I am determined to hit the pool the most, because pool running is SUCH a good work out.  While horribly boring, I found that one of my old agility students is water jogging now, and she is a talker, so she makes the time FLY by.  I am also contemplating buying a water proof ipod shuffle, but medical costs may come before I can afford that.  I am going to probably stay low on intensity for now in the pool until I get the green light from my ortho to increase intensity.  Today I did a full hour, which I did not intend on doing, but it just felt so good to be mimicking running that i honestly didn't want to stop.  

Saturday:  Well, the one good thing about not having a long run planned is you can take a day trip to KC to visit one of the biggest train shows around.  I will save this story for another post since this one is getting pretty long.  What I am super happy about and sharing is that my foot felt pretty good. This was day one of no anti inflammatories and I had little to no pain.  I hope that trend keeps up.

Sunday:  Planned long run in the pool run or bike ride on the trainer.  Well, I had to chose the bike ride on the trainer, although I wanted to hit the pool again.  Our schedule just didn't mesh well for hitting the pool, as we had promised Andrew that we would go see Zootopia today.  When we found it had an early showing at 11 am, we figured it was perfect for the kiddos to go early, so that maybe, just maybe, they might nap later and the crowds might be thinner.  Well, the nap thing never happened but the crowds were pretty low and very forgiving of my three year old occasionally talking or shaking his candy box
The movie ended up being very cute although a little on the long side for three year olds but enjoyable none the less.

Got my bike on the trainer and started trying to figure out what was going to get me through an hour of peddling, while staring at the wall.  I tried podcasts first, and that just wasn't doing it, even with my beloved Serial playing.  Honestly, I am not getting into this season like I was last year, so that may be a bust anyway.  I then tried a cycling class, and while I was really enjoying it and sweat was POURING off of me, my foot started protesting as I dialed up the resistance.  I finally  just had to find a gear that didn't irritate my foot and steadily pedal.  It wasn't the most fun but I continued to watch season 2 of the leftovers and I made it through. I did feel like I got a good work out without intensity.  I will admit, I was a little sore today from all the walking around yesterday, plus me working in the basement all afternoon after we got back.  Lesson learned, don't over do it.

I am going to try and not go crazy waiting this week.  I just want to get in and see what we are up against, good, bad or otherwise.  I think if I have a plan on how we can move forward, I will be so much more happy.  If you are pounding the pavement, pound some for me!!!!  Have a great week!