Week 6 :Training for the Flint Hill's 50

I kind of knew this was coming but post getting in with my chiropractor, all running is shut down to try and heal this hammy.  I knew that probably was the correct thing to do a while back, but I am a runner and I am stubborn. I have run through most if not all of my injuries in the past, and it has worked out okay for me, so if it isn't broke, don't fix it right?  WRONG.  Let's dive into the week and see how it went.

Monday:  Rest day and see the chiro day.  So many things to unpack.  Number 1, I really need to get the lift back in my shoe.  A while back I had my legs measured and one was significantly longer than the other.  No problem, fix it with a lift.  Except my lift had to go IN my shoe not just an orthotic that can be removed.  Let's see, I go through shoes every 3-4 months and they cost about 160 bucks a pair.  The lift is about 70 dollars plus the cost to cut up your shoe and insert.  Now add in the fact that the guy that i trusted to do surgery on my expensive running shoes retired.  Yep, I took the cheaper option and didn't use the lift for over a year. Now remember, I didn't get injured last year at all, so who knows.  Anyway, got to get that lift back in.  Sigh.  Number 2, diastasis  recti.  Apparently I have it and while it isn't horrible, my new to me chiro feels like we have to work to resolve that.  Then you have the whole issue of the hammy or number 3.  When I do all of the tests to see what this is, nothing hurts. When I do the exercises to see if I have nerve issues, I light up.  Weird.  She did find some sore spots up in my gluteal area that were in fact my angry hammy and my IT bands were tight (isn't that life), but nothing glaringly horrible.  Plus, I don't really have pain when I run, mainly when I am stationary.  So hammy is not in sprain or strain mode, but could get that way if I don't dial it back.  Plus, WTH with the nerve thing?   So i was adjusted all over and massaged with one of those massage guns and then given some rehab exercises that I worked on in office with her attentive eye to be continued on my own time.  Then I asked about running. I knew the answer was probably no, but I had to ask. I had some pretty tough and fun work outs planned for this week, plus back to back 12 milers and of course the weather has been PERFECT this week for running.  Go figure right?  Her answer was if you were my daughter i would tell you NO.  Okay,  I shall listen then.

back to school day for the kiddo FINALLY!

Tuesday:  Strength + rehab exercises.  Since I can't run I figured I would hit my strength training with gusto.  Funny how i have more energy to devote to these things when I am not running.  The new strength work out takes longer, but is trying to get me safely back to lifting again as I had really pushed to get back to the gym and back to weights.  This work out included squats and reverse lunges, lots of plank variations, some hip work and some glute work.  While it looks simple on paper, it kicked my ass.  Who would have thought I wouldn't even be able to do 10 push ups on my knees or 10 tricep dips in a row????  Guess it has been a while since I lifted and am poorly out of shape!

Wednesday:  I put in a FB plea to see if anyone had an elliptical.  I have a gym membership, but with the crowds right now, I would have to go at 9 pm to get on an elliptical.  I knew someone had one sitting around not being use and low and behold, i found someone!!!!!  FB can be a wonderful, mysterious thing!  A mom who had had her kids at the same preschool as Andrew had one sitting in her garage gathering dust.  When we went out to get it, it was a NORDIC TRACK!  SCORE!  She didn't even want any money for it as they were moving and she just wanted it gone.   My coach gave me some fun work outs to do walking on the treadmill and on the elliptical so I was stoked to try it out.  While my feet did go numb by the end of the 30 minute work out, I did feel like I got quite the work out in heart rate wise.

Thursday:  Coach had loaded in another fun work out on the treadmill plus, i had strength training plus PT to do.  I had decided to leave out the squats and the reverse lunges to try and not aggravate anything.  I made sure my chiro was okay with my work outs and my incline walking and she okayed everything, so off I went.  Is it bad that I am not really loosing my mind not running yet?  Let's just say that this work out had me holding on to the rails of my treadmill and huffing and puffing!

Friday: Fartleks on the elliptical plus PT exercises.  I found a new documentary to watch (Cheer) although I am still not totally through all of the seasons of the Great British Baking show.  Qued it up and started my elliptical fartleks of 4 minute easy one minute hard.  The time flew by and I was soaked with sweat by the end.

Saturday:  Tournament day.  Kind of glad I didn't have a run because we had a significant ice storm move in Friday afternoon/Friday night.  There is no way I would have wanted to do 12 miles on the mill.  We woke up kind of thinking we wouldn't go to the tournament (and andrew NOT wanting to go) but we heard back from other parents that the roads were miraculously fine.  We hustled to shower and pack and get going (thank goodness i leave the wrestling bag packed other than snacks).  We made it to warm ups five minutes late but made it.  I wrote a blog about how the day went here. It wasn't a horrible day but it wasn't the greatest but we had fun and hung out with our favorite people.  Post tourny I did my incline walk again and did my PT exercises.  I love that incline walk, simple but OH so hard!

Sunday:   Long walk day.  Coach gave me the option of doing a "long run" day by doing a 30 minute walk, 30 minute elliptical, and 30 minute walk.  Things were a bit tricky since we had MORE ice making it hard to walk outside.  I quickly did 30 minutes on the mill, grabbed my stuff, slip slid to the shop to hop on the elliptical, slip slid back to the house to get 30 more minutes on the mill.  With the help of the show Cheer on Netflix.  I felt good with what I got done and honestly didn't miss doing back to back long runs this weekend at all. 

Is it weird to say that I really didn't miss running this week?  The weather plus the pain I was feeling and then the absence of pain made me know I was making the right decision.  Who knows what next week will hold.  Stay tuned!