Recovery Week 4/Race week The Bill Synder Highway Half and 5K

Another Race week!  Welcome to my crazy life!  This week I am pacing the 2:35 group for the Bill Snyder Highway half.  This is a point to point race that is super fun and downhill for the beginning.  Going to admit, kind of happy to be pacing a faster group this week, so I can run a little bit faster!

Topeka Discovery Center

Monday:  School trip with Andrew/Rest day.  Every class at Andrew's School gets to pick a field trip that the PTO pays for.  Andrew's class rented out the Discovery Center in Topeka and we had SO much fun!  The kids rode down on the school bus, but then got to ride back with their parents, and Andrew's favorite friend Dash got to ride back with us.  I am really surprised that as much as they played that they weren't all asleep on the way home.

I wish i could sleep like that in the car! He got a nap while I drove.

Post trip, we took a brain break and then headed back to Manhattan to Sylvan for an hour of tutoring and then dinner and then grocery shopping.  I was one worn out momma!

I love this time of year when the storms try to build and break afternoon early night.  The clouds are amazing!

Tuesday:  Four easy miles with the girls.  I honestly didn't know where my foot was and didn't know what to expect.  I wanted to see if would hurt on a short run and prepared Mel that I might not make it the whole 4.  Oddly enough, my foot didn't bother me at all, go figure.  I did try to sleep in a strassburg sock (homemade at that) versus the night splint and I must say, I slept so much better and my foot felt great upon waking.  I also did a barre class called RUSH and it was again amazing!!!!

Wednesday:  Chiropractor day!  Dr. Needles was mad at me for staying away since last November.  He quickly got over it when I told him about my theory about my shoes and my possible PF.  I had brought the new version of the Triumphs and the older versions so he could geek out on them and geek out on them he did.  He took measurements and weights and pictures.  This is why I love this guy!!!!  He truly is a scientist and dr!  He feels pretty confident that the shoes did cause this, and gave me even more exercises on top of all of the healing PF exercises to try and counteract this mess.  His biggest worry was that this could become a chronic issue and that total rest is really the only way to get rid of this.  My coach did bring up that barre may even be aggravating this too as we are always up on our toes and pointing, so I may have to modify my barre exercises because I a NOT stopping now.  Even though he was talking about a break, I never felt that normal panic I feel when I am trying to get things accomplished.  Let's hope I can stay that way.  After some horribly painful trigger point massage and some ultrasound diagnostics, he taped my foot really, really well and made me promise i would take it easy especially after my last pacing duties on June 2nd.

While coach likes for me to do 18 week training cycles, she assured me that we could get by with a shortened 14 week cycle if needed, and I could still be okay to pace my friend Lindsey in early September.  Whew.  I also ordered a specific heel cup that my chiro recommended, and I am probably going to see him weekly for a few weeks.  Finger's crossed that this all worked as he is very against steroid shots and orthotics.  He is very into fixing what causes this verses a quick fix, and that is why I love him. I may spend all day doing PT though but if it works, it works.

This was pre track practice.  Last week was a huge bust with lots of crying and frustration.  This week?  All smiles, lots of running and lots of jumping.  What was different? I have no clue but I LOVED it!  He tried, he worked hard and there was little to no complaining or tears!  He got to do long jump and had one 7 foot jump!!!!!  We need to work on form but at this point I am not nitpicking and just letting him give whatever he wants to give.

Trying to get work done at the shop with a monkey on my back!

Thursday:  After talking to my chiro and my coach, we decided to dial back the runs and just run as needed to try and rest my foot.  No runs over 4 miles except my half marathons I am pacing.  Probably 3 runs total a week.  We are hoping this strategy plus all the PT and some complete rest post Hospital Hill will get this PF to go away.   Mel and I decided we would sleep in and run after work, and then my hubby had to work late and the last thing i wanted to do was run on the mill.  I opted for a 20 minute barre class called Recruit Your Core (BURN) and did some stretching instead.

The photographer sent me more pics from my marathon!  So many to chose from now!

Friday:  4 mile easy run.  I really needed to run to see what the tape would feel like on my foot.  After he put it on my foot, I could barely walk and then later, in taking my sock off, I ripped a layer of skin off of the ball of my foot where the adhesive was, and I really couldn't walk at all. I  wore flip flops all day the day before to try and avoid socks and sticking, but of course I needed to wear socks to run.  My foot felt fine, no pain over 4 miles of gravel and pavement, and my hip and lower back were sore but doable. I can't wait to go back Monday so he can work on whatever I have tweaked in my lower back!

Post work and sylvan Andrew and I went over to see the second corpse flower blooming at KSU!  I  got to see the other one bloom last year and I wanted Andrew to get to see one as this may be the only one in his life time!  Andrew was pretty nervous about the smell but he was brave and un-pinched his nose long enough to get a picture.

Two of my favorite team beef runners!

Saturday:  RACE DAY!  2:35 pace group! I was a lead pacer this time!  Read here about how it went!  Spoiler alert:  It was very humid, I came in a little fast as I was a lead pacer for the first time, but I had a great time!  One thing I left out of my recap was the intense pain from not my hip, not my foot, but the part under my calf muscle that Dr. Needles scrapped/fascia busted Wednesday.  At the time of writing this, it is still very sore, even though I have had it on the heating pad on and off all afternoon.  Glad I am going back Monday for some more help in getting everything under control. The taping job helped my foot because that never bothered me the entire race.

Sunday:  Rest day.  T ball got rained out so we took our show to the shop and practiced there.  Andrew hit two bucket of balls, which is HUGE for him, and took some good corrections without crying and whining.  I was pretty sore all day so took it easy and even took some dreaded advil to help with the pain.  Surprisingly, several of my other friends were sore as well so it wasn't just me, which makes me feel a little better. 

We ended the day just sitting around on the front porch enjoying the cooler weather and our new neighborhood cat "Buttons".  She showed up about a week ago and is always around when we are out in our front yard.  She LOVES andrew and is so gentle and sweet.  Our neighbors across the street are going to feed her and I guess we are going to take her in to get her shots and spayed.  I just wish the dogs would act better with her because she really would like to come in and cuddle in the house.  

Have a great week!  I will probably be doing lots of resting.  I have another chiro appointment and another pacing duty coming up.  Hold on body, we can do this!