Cathartic Thread For Injured Runners, er support for managing injuries. ;-)
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@shanaber if at all possible, get a doctor that at least "gets" runners. To basically discourage you from running is ridiculous!
My foot doc is not a runner (he's actually used to be a boxer in Philly! I found his record online...0-7...good thing he stuck with med school) but he understands sports, and the place I'm going is an orthopedic center which focuses on sport medicine. Any chance you have a place like that you can go to?3 -
Thanks everyone! I have a great orthopedic doctor - actually a sports rheumatologist. I have seen him for most all of my other issues and he has been great. My regular doctor really wanted me to see the podiatrist instead and I could see her sooner. I will follow the instructions she has given me for healing my foot and then go from there to see my ortho guy if I need follow on care. He isn't a runner but he was the first person to talk to me about chi-running years ago and making sure I could hear my footfalls and listening to them to make sure that they were even. I wish now I had just gone to see him for this injury.2
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Only 4 hours left in this boot! I will be throwing this away when I'm done.
A great revelation came to me last night. The 50 mile race I'm doing in April has over 8000 foot of elevation gain & loss. Hiking will be a large part of that race. I can't run for 6 more weeks, but I can train for the hiking in that time!
I'm going to take the first two weeks of walking easy, only going on pavement, but after that I'll be finding hills and hiking.1 -
First part may be TMI and is about lady bits...
Have any ladies here done any pelvic floor PT? I'm looking to add that to my regiment. I'm currently in PT twice a week with a male PT I adore, but he's definitely focused on helping me run with a torn labrum. I went to my OBGYN last week to have my IUD removed (I suspect a number of things making me feel icky related to the IUD and I don't need it for BC, so while I will miss not having a period, the side effects were more than I wanted to deal with any longer), she noticed how tender I was when she pressed on my ovary/uterus area and recommended pelvic floor PT in addition to my regular PT. The IUD has been out about 5 days and I already feel better, but still have tenderness there.
I finally have a running scheduled. I'm allowed 2-3 days per week now. One of those runs can be as much as 4 miles if I feel up to it, but otherwise 1.5-2 miles per run. I'm pretty happy with that and have managed a few runs without a ton of pain AND a few at-home BodyPump workouts. Me and the PT also suspect some SI joint disfunction due to the pain that seems to be triggered in my low back from any crunches or anything, so for the time being, there will be none of that! Today we finally got to move on to more strength exercises to help me be able to raise my knee a little higher when I run. Right now I have to kind of shuffle run, which is weird but oddly fast. And my *kitten* is amazing from all the glute work.
I'm eyeing a race in April that I did last year as a 25k (my first trail race). I'd like to do the 50 this year, but if things progress at this pace, I think I'll at least be able to do the 25k again.
Hoping to not be as MIA...new job earlier this year is really infringing on my Internet time.
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Well poop! It appears I was too ambitious in my plans.
Everything is coming along quite nicely but the doc put the brakes on idea of ramping up the walking and hiking right away. He says I should take the next two weeks easy, then limit myself to 1 hour walks on easy terrain (no trails) for 2 weeks, then up to 2 hour walks for the next 2 weeks.
Then I can start running but will basically be starting from zero,and should still stay off trails for a couple of weeks.
Not really happy about this and I'm not sure I won't go on a half hour walk tonight.
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Well poop! It appears I was too ambitious in my plans.
Everything is coming along quite nicely but the doc put the brakes on idea of ramping up the walking and hiking right away. He says I should take the next two weeks easy, then limit myself to 1 hour walks on easy terrain (no trails) for 2 weeks, then up to 2 hour walks for the next 2 weeks.
Then I can start running but will basically be starting from zero,and should still stay off trails for a couple of weeks.
Not really happy about this and I'm not sure I won't go on a half hour walk tonight.
I'm not terribly surprised about that. Serious trail hiking beats on your body, it just beats on you a different way than running roads does.0 -
@fitoverfortymom girls gone strong is fairly well known for pelvic floor health and other girly issue fitness
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Well poop! It appears I was too ambitious in my plans.
Everything is coming along quite nicely but the doc put the brakes on idea of ramping up the walking and hiking right away. He says I should take the next two weeks easy, then limit myself to 1 hour walks on easy terrain (no trails) for 2 weeks, then up to 2 hour walks for the next 2 weeks.
Then I can start running but will basically be starting from zero,and should still stay off trails for a couple of weeks.
Not really happy about this and I'm not sure I won't go on a half hour walk tonight.
I'm not terribly surprised about that. Serious trail hiking beats on your body, it just beats on you a different way than running roads does.
Yes, and everything he tells me makes sense and I know he's right. It's just not what I wanted to hear. Really, I shouldn't be so worked up about the slightly longer time to ramp up. I need to keep my perspective on the long term. If I want to be able to run for the rest of my life, it's worth taking a longer break now if I need to.
BTW, I didn't go for a walk yesterday. I was too depressed about this and other things so I just stayed home and wallowed in self pity. I had a good sleep and I'm good now though.
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@fitoverfortymom girls gone strong is fairly well known for pelvic floor health and other girly issue fitness
Thank you! I love girly fitness issues. 0 -
For what it's worth I am feeling down too @7lenny7! I have a Running Group holiday brunch tomorrow with a group I have never actually gotten to meet let alone run with (Oiselle Volée) and who I am sure are all much younger than me. I really wanted to be out of this boot/shoe thing and was actually contemplating just wearing my normal shoes anyway, just for this event but my foot is really sore again today. Seems if I get over 5-6000 steps it gets unhappy... I am tempted to stay home but I have said I will be there.
I did get over to the gym and had a good cardio workout cycling there. Better actually than I thought it would be as my thighs are so sore from strength training last night. It just doesn't provide the stress/emotional release that running gives me no matter how hard I try to push it.
@hanlonsk is that group also on MFP?1 -
Hope you all manage to get away from here soon:
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Last week I managed two 1.7m runs and a 3.4m run (two loops of the 1.7), which for the most part mirrors my forever-schedule I'm supposed to adhere to of running every other day (some weeks I'll get a bonus day, but while I'm still in PT it's three days). There's a whole regimen I have to follow before I get out the door, but I've also managed some solid BodyPump online classes at home (they are seriously my guilty pleasure) to alternate with my run days.
I'm still not allowed to do hills, but actively working in PT on rehabbing my movements so I can do that.
My weight is also starting to stabilize, too. I went on a bit of a bender after my injury and feel WAY better without the IUD. I saw my weight creep up about 15lbs, and all but 7lbs of it are gone.
Feeling hopeful that I'll actually be able to set a mileage goal for January and rejoin the main thread!3 -
Put in 3 miles this morning. Felt amazing. Next run day is Friday and going to aim for another 3. I'll decide on Sunday how long my "long" run will be based on how I feel (also going to give it a go on a flat trail). Ideal = 6. Likely = 4-5. Any miles are good miles at this point.3
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Omg yes! @fitoverfortymom Great to see you back at it!
I'm still noticably sore from 3 miles Sunday. I want so bad to be ready for 4-6 miles. But i have to be diligent <---- hey that's my word of the day!* So i need to make a plan.
*My word of the day was just a how am i going to approach today/work. Just trying to listen to to the cosmos for divine guidance. Haha!
DH signed up for another marathon today. Ugh. Its my favorite race, the OKC Memorial Marathon. I resisted asking him to sign me up for the half. <Sadness>. But if i train smart i can do next year or may surprise myself and be able to do this April.2 -
@fitoverfortymom and @Elise4270 it looks like you're making progress!
While I was not pleased with the doc for holding back from even walking for two weeks, I'm glad he did. I did sneak out for a 30 minute walk Sunday and yesterday I was sore!!! I ended the day with 7600 steps, by far the most since surgery.
My foot was a bit swollen on the ball of my foot and I had some muscle soreness. It's feeling better today. I have a 4 day pheasant hunting trip starting Saturday and normally this means a lot of HARD walking through fields, but trip I'll be all-time blocker (waiting and the end of the fields for the birds to fly at me, while the boys and Kody do the hard walking) and my experience with just that little walk Sunday convinced me to not tempt it in the field. I am concerned about Kody, since he's not gotten near the conditioning he would normally have before a trip, so I'll have to keep a close eye on him.
After my trip I'm considering signing up for a program through Blue Cross/Blue Shield, called "Fitness Your Way". For $30 per month I can go to any of dozens of gyms and fitness centers around here. I have LA Fitness very close to work and home, as well as Anytime Fitness, Plant Fitness and Snap Fitness. Doc says I can swim or bike if I don't push it too hard, so that's what I'll do. I only have to commit to 3 months and by that time I hope to be back up to the upper teens for long runs.2 -
I was not diligent today. I took a break and was lolly-gagging about chatting with a coworker and the boss^2 came in. *Sigh* I swear I'm a hard worker. See, i didnt listen to the universe today and I look like a slimy unreliable weasel. Dip. FML. Our management team use to give us heads up, but we seem to be opposed lately. I hate being a lazy no-good slimy gimpy weasel.
@7lenny7 Good luck hunting. Sounds like you havr a good plan to not over do it.1 -
@7lenny7 - Have a great trip and don't try to do too much! I hope Kody has a blast!
@elise4270 - everything ok now with your boss and upper boss? I am sure they recognize how diligent you are and how hard you work.
I have been trying to not wear my shoe/boot for a period each day. The doctor said to try it no more than an hour at a time and increase from there as long as there is no or very little pain. I spent a good part of yesterday on my feet making Christmas goodies and for a while was barefoot and then put on Crocs with my orthotics. My foot did not like the orthotic and when I went to put them on again this morning immediately complained. Now I am wondering if the orthotic is actually part of the issue like I thought back in October...
I also visited the YMCA that is about 20 mins from my house - WOW it is really really nice (and also very busy - full parking lot on a Wednesday morning at 10am!). Huge 50m pool, classes and workout rooms, weight room as well as all the latest 'machines'. All of the cardio machines have the large screens and access to Netflix or whatever you want to watch or location views that move as you move so like running in San Francisco... It is not super expensive but a bit far away so I am concerned I won't want to drive all the way over there and I am not sure I can justify another gym membership ($47/mo) without giving up something else like my trainer? Or maybe I drop one session a month with him to pay for the Y... hmmmm1 -
So yesterday after the gym since my foot has been feeling good, I decided to not wear my shoe/boot to Costco. We were there and at the grocery store ~2hours walking around. My foot did not hurt at all! I did put my shoe/boot back on and put my foot up when we got home. Today I had it on when I first got up but then have been wearing my OOFOs sandals and this includes the time working in the kitchen!! I am so excited and feel for the first time like I am really on the mend!
Now to just not overdo things. My wise trainer told me that I need to keep to my plan - if it is an hour, do an hour even if I feel like it all feels good and I could do more. When I run I tend go out for 4 and end up doing way more, regularly... so my new motto is - Keep to Plan!4 -
We got home just past midnight this morning from a great hunting trip, for many reasons.
On the drive out there Friday, my foot started to bother me from the continual lifting of my foot and the associated flexing of the repaired tendon. During the first three days of the hunt, I never walked a field, but would always block at the end and let others walk. My step count was 5500 to 7500. Not too bad. With every day, my foot would feel better and stronger. On the fourth day I decided to walk the last two fields, since it was relatively even ground and I could get through it easier. I had no problems with my foot doing this and finished the day with over 11,000 steps. My foot still felt great!
On the long drive home, however, I had the same problem with the continual lifting of my foot. I finally though to use cruise control for the last two hours (duh!!!). Today it's much better and I'm feeling pretty optimistic about my recovery.
I wasn't able to use my normal hunting boots because it hurt to put them on my right foot, and because they were to tight for the slight swelling. Thankfully I found a pair of little used boots that were a little too big for normal use, and had a lower rise. They were perfect for the hunt. Now that I'm back in my normal work shoes and feeling a bit too tight, I think I'm going to go to Costco to see if i can find a shoe a size bigger that I could were to work until the swelling is completely gone. Now when I say swelling, it's not a lot...probably not even noticeable to others, but I can tell.
Kody had a wonderful time! He loves hunting even more than running and was in heaven, though after 4 days, he was BEAT!
Here's Kody on the last day of the hunt, and at the end, when he was curled up in the back seat, ready to go home. He'll get a week of rest before I let my friend take him running.
For the squeamish, there are no dead animals in these photos
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After 4 days of improvement while in South Dakota, I started feeling more pain when I got home, particularly on the outside edge of the ball of my foot. At first I thought it was delayed pain from hunting, but now I think it was the shoes I've been wearing to work. Changing it up today and next week to see if it goes away.2
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@7lenny7 - how is your foot doing?
I spent the weekend in regular shoes at the agility trial. Realized that the trail shoes I wear for agility are too hard for right now and especially walking on the lumpy dirt in the arena made my foot sore. Once I got home and put on my shoe/boot it was fine. On Sunday I wore my regular running shoes that have become my walking shoes, and my foot was fine. I won't however be wearing those shoes for anything else though as they are now full of dirt (trial was in a dirt arena/expo center). Monday I was also out of my boot most of the day running errands and working around the house. Yesterday I just wore my OOFOs sandals and by the end of the day my foot was not happy. Guess I pushed it too far, so back to the boot today but I am still hoping the doctor will release me on Friday as the pain level is low - just enough to let me know it is still there.0 -
@shanaber thanks for asking! It seems to be two or three steps forward, one step back. I get pain popping up here and there but the overall progress is steady.
One key has been to stop wearing a certain pair of shoes that was bothering my outside edge of my foot (which doesn't seem directly related to my surgery but I think it's a side effect of the swelling). With all other shoes I've loosened up the laces to reduce restrictions.
The swelling has gone down considerably, but there is a lump of what I suspect is scar tissue at the incision.
The overall pain in my foot increased once I started walking, but then slowly subsided. I think it's just due to the activity which my foot wasn't used to.
Mobility seems to be coming back, though it's not to where it was before.
I think the doctor was spot on in giving me guidelines for increasing my activity. It was disappointed in the limits initially, but looking back, I certainly can't argue with him. As hard as it is, I'm not going to run before he told me I could, even by a day or two. January 17th is the day. Until it's power walking. After this weekend I may start climbing stairs at work too.
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@7lenny7 - so glad to see you making progress! The release was to run. She had wanted me to slowly start wearing the boot less. My goal was to not need it for the days I worked at the agility trial last weekend since it was on a dirt arena and the boot I had was open and would have been a mess! I was able to wear regular shoes both days generally without issue but the uneven surface made my foot ache.
The good news is I saw her today and I have been released, can start running, and can consider the HM in February although she isn't real keen on it, even just walking it. She said repetitive stress over that distance and time could be an issue. She gave me no guidelines for returning to running other than make sure I take it slow, Wear good cushioned shoes and stop if it hurts... She also said it can take up to a year for stress fractures to fully heal
Now I need to start considering what my running re-entry is going to look like. 3 -
@shanaber awesome news that you're allowed to start easing back into it, even if you have to do so slowly. My physiotherapist (who I already think of in my mind as "that evil pain-inflicting *kitten*") gave me a heck of a lecture about how we runners seem to overlook what a lot of stress we put on our bodies over such long distances and how little we realise how long it really takes them to recover from that! When I said I wanted to run another HM in March she told me off and said one in early December and another late March was way too close together for 'normal people'. Oh dear, guess she missed the point, we ain't normal people :-D
So yeah, guess I'm going to be hanging out in here climbing the walls for a couple of weeks. Don't suppose we have any low calorie cookies stashed away in a corner do we?
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Cookies? Aww... None here. Im keen on a beer or two even though I'll regret it. Dang dehydration.
I'm struggling with tiny spasms. Just little jerks and constant tightness in my low back, mid back and around into my hips/abs. Dang nerve surgery side is unhappy too. Maybe a good dose of magnesium will help. Beer definitely won't.
I have upped the miles the last two weeks. Perhaps i should do some swimming i pay monthly for and never go.
Get well running soon all.1 -
@shanaber that sounds like the guidelines that I got, except for the shoes part. "Start slow and listen to your body". I'd think an HM in Feb would be a bit too soon.
Since I finally got on the elliptical trainer, and was able to get in 40 minutes without getting too tired, I'm getting pretty stoked about my return. Today I rejiggered my training plan to include a lot of ellliptical in my comeback. Initially I was thinking strictly running once the day got here, but last night opened my eyes to what else I could do. I got a great cardio workout and it didn't suck bad like treadmills do (for me).
After I posted my elliptical session to my Strava account, one of my friends told me about a guy he knew who had an injury and spent two months on an elliptical, and then two weeks later went and crushed a marathon with a PR. Now all I want to do is get back to the gym and keep running..er...ellipticing? ellipticizing? whatever it is.
After just that 40 minutes last night, though, my legs are sore today! So rest day today and I'll be back at it tomorrow. Goal time is 90 minutes Saturday, and 90 minutes Sunday, with some strength work as long as I'm there. I'm hoping I can get to 120 minutes per session next weekend.1 -
I may try the elliptical too, although in the past I have found it as boring as the treadmill. I am liking the cycling and it does get my HR up.
I am going to try a run/walk either tomorrow or Sunday but no more than 2 miles - up to the trail and back.
I am trying to figure out what to do for shoes... we don't have a lot of running dedicated stores here and none that carry Altra, Topo or any other 0 drop shoes. I do have my Altra Escalante for now.1 -
In my albeit extremely limited experience of ellipticals, they're not made for very small women with very short legs. I either fall off or can't make them move at all or an in agony within 30 seconds.
I think I might have found someone willing to part with their very clapped out old exercise bike though, which my family aren't happy about as the treadmill already takes up almost half the lounge heehee.
I think when I'm allowed to run again I'm going to follow a gentle 8 week plan I found to train for an 8km, which includes just 3 running days per week at manageable distances plus 2 days of cross training and 2 of strength training. In the past my cross training has consisted of just walking on the treadmill, but I've been wanting to switch it to cycling for a while for the sake of my knees!
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I really had to push myself to give this a try as I was pretty terrified to even see if I would be able to run and was sure I would reinsure myself or my foot would hurt so bad I would need to go home or have my DH come get me...
Total of 2.84 miles of walking and running. I tried to keep to the paved street and bike trail as much as possible and did not run at all on the sidewalks. My foot was uncomfortable at first - not painful just that weird discomfort. I had a thought when my watch dies less than a quarter mile from the house, to just go home but decided to keep on a bit longer. Glad I did as the discomfort completely went away!
I won't run again until Monday if all is still feeling good! I guess I need to come up with a running plan!
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