Yesterday morning at the lovely hour of 7:45 am, I had my long-awaited physical therapy appointment with Steve. For once I was glad to be going so I could report to him my ankle flare up, but I was also dreading what he was going to say about it.
I told my sad story (just started the marathon training, hurt more than ever after 8 mile treadmill run, iced it, took two days off, resorted to cross training on the elliptical, etc) and as predicted, Steve told me things that I did not like to hear.
When he learned I've been logging most of my miles on the treadmill in the past few weeks, he was not happy.
Steve: Why have you been doing that?
Me: Because it's hot and I'm a wuss.
Steve: Well, you're going to have to learn to suck it up.
Me: Is it that bad?
Steve: Yes, we see a lot of stress fractures happen because people log too many miles on treadmill and then try to go back to the road. You need to be running outside even if it's hot.
Me: But... but... when I'm on the treadmill the fan blows right on me. And I have a TV... and my headphones... and a trashy magazine to distract me!
Steve: Suck it up.
Next up, he questioned me on how many days a week I'm running. Again, he was not happy with my response of 4. He guarantees that I can train for a marathon with 3 days of running: one day speed work, one medium-length run, and one long run per week along with 2-3 days of cross training. He insists that I shouldn't do more than 3 days of running per week as I continue to work on strengthening my ankle. It needs its rest, so I'm told, to prevent flare ups. (Rest schmest)
The thing about this is, I hate cross training. Sincerely. I feel like the bike is a complete waste of my time and the elliptical isn't much better. Don't even TALK to me about swimming.
::whine:: Why can't I just run? ::whine::
Me being me, I'm not sure if I'm going to 100% listen to Steve's advice. One, I'm hard headed. Extremely hard headed. Once I get something in my head and planned out (like, for instance, a marathon training plan, plotted to the lat mile), I don't react well to changes. Two, I hate being told what to do. Just ask my mother, my husband, my best friend, and anyone else who knows me. You tell me what to do, it's most likely I'll do the opposite. And the more you tell me to do something, the less likely it is to happen.
But then again, the last thing I want to do is sabotage myself. So I guess I'll make an attempt to run outside (uuuuuuuuugggggggh) for at least some of my upcoming miles. And my compromise on the 3 runs instead of 4 per week is that if my ankle hurts at all, I will cross train on the additional day... BUT if it doesn't hurt, I'm running.
My next appointment with Steve is next Thursday. Hopefully he doesn't try to tell me to do anything else that I don't like. Otherwise, I don't know if he can be my new best friend anymore.
Showing posts with label physical therapy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label physical therapy. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Friday, June 22, 2012
What Happened?
Things had been humming along quite nicely here at Run Eat Play RVA and then I dropped off the face of the planet.
So what's the deal?
The weekend after we got back from Boston, BFF and her husband came to stay with us for a visit. We explored nearby Berkeley Plantation (Fun facts include: site of the first Thanksgiving and taps was composed there during the Civil War), ate copious amounts of Key Lime Cake in honor of BFF's birthday, and had an amazing brunch at Can Can Brasserie, which I had every intention of writing a Richmond Rave about.
Then life happened. That Sunday morning before we headed to brunch, I got a call from my Mom - one of those kind of calls. My grandfather had died early that morning. The next few days were spent in Hagerstown helping my Mom deal with all that... and not running or doing anything else noteworthy other than stuffing my face with Krumpe's donuts and chicken salad sandwiches.
This brings us to the weekend of the 16th and 17th... another weekend full of activities. Husband and I traveled to Virginia Beach for my 11th Dave Matthews Band concert (his 4th). Again... very little running going on but lots of interesting people watching.
Otherwise, I've been extremely busy with my work, which means I've been writing a lot of intense stuff, which saps my blogging powers. I've also been going to physical therapy in the mornings, which requires me to wake up at 5:30 am. By the time I get home in the evening after a run, all I want to do is eat dinner and go to bed... and that's pretty much what I have been doing.
Now it's June 22nd. How did that happen, anyway?
More importantly, it's June 22nd and SUMMER has happened. Big time. All of my fellow east coasters have been experiencing this lovely heat wave with me. The past 3 days have seen temps above 100* when humidity is factored in. As a result, I've been pretty much banished to the treadmill, which doesn't make for interesting writing. It also means I'm in a pretty foul mood because I hate summer and the heat and humidity that comes along with it.
Despite all of the craziness going on in June, I have managed to keep plugging away at the run but not getting nearly as many miles as I had hoped. It's looking like I'll be lucky to hit 70 miles for the month, which just feels pathetic to me. But I have to remind myself that my monthly goal last year at this time was 30 miles.
Yesterday at my Physical Therapy appointment, my new BFF Steven deemed me fixed, canceled the appointment I was supposed to have this morning, said to take next week off, and scheduled a follow up for July 3rd. That's right friends - I'm no longer defunct! I have a whole laundry list of exercises to continue to do, including some core strengtheners that are a real b*tch, but Steve thinks I'm ready to start my marathon training without a problem.
Mainly I'm just thrilled that I won't have to wake up at 5:30 am anymore. Though with the heat we're experiencing, I just might have to bite the bullet and start to run in the mornings. But for now, I continue to resist. I'm pretty stubborn (and inherently lazy) so I don't see this changing any time soon unless something drastic happens.
So that's what happened. I hope to get back into the swing of things next week, although I am still in a pretty intensive period of writing through July 5th. After that, marathon training starts (!!!!), at which point I'm going to try to begin a weekly marathon training update. A good intention, but only time will tell if it happens.
Meanwhile, everybody stay safe in this heat!
So what's the deal?
The weekend after we got back from Boston, BFF and her husband came to stay with us for a visit. We explored nearby Berkeley Plantation (Fun facts include: site of the first Thanksgiving and taps was composed there during the Civil War), ate copious amounts of Key Lime Cake in honor of BFF's birthday, and had an amazing brunch at Can Can Brasserie, which I had every intention of writing a Richmond Rave about.
 |
| BFF, unamused by the number of candles on her cake. |
Then life happened. That Sunday morning before we headed to brunch, I got a call from my Mom - one of those kind of calls. My grandfather had died early that morning. The next few days were spent in Hagerstown helping my Mom deal with all that... and not running or doing anything else noteworthy other than stuffing my face with Krumpe's donuts and chicken salad sandwiches.
 |
| Krumpe's Donuts - a Hagestown tradition and quite possibly the best donuts on Earth. |
This brings us to the weekend of the 16th and 17th... another weekend full of activities. Husband and I traveled to Virginia Beach for my 11th Dave Matthews Band concert (his 4th). Again... very little running going on but lots of interesting people watching.
Otherwise, I've been extremely busy with my work, which means I've been writing a lot of intense stuff, which saps my blogging powers. I've also been going to physical therapy in the mornings, which requires me to wake up at 5:30 am. By the time I get home in the evening after a run, all I want to do is eat dinner and go to bed... and that's pretty much what I have been doing.
Now it's June 22nd. How did that happen, anyway?
More importantly, it's June 22nd and SUMMER has happened. Big time. All of my fellow east coasters have been experiencing this lovely heat wave with me. The past 3 days have seen temps above 100* when humidity is factored in. As a result, I've been pretty much banished to the treadmill, which doesn't make for interesting writing. It also means I'm in a pretty foul mood because I hate summer and the heat and humidity that comes along with it.
Despite all of the craziness going on in June, I have managed to keep plugging away at the run but not getting nearly as many miles as I had hoped. It's looking like I'll be lucky to hit 70 miles for the month, which just feels pathetic to me. But I have to remind myself that my monthly goal last year at this time was 30 miles.
Yesterday at my Physical Therapy appointment, my new BFF Steven deemed me fixed, canceled the appointment I was supposed to have this morning, said to take next week off, and scheduled a follow up for July 3rd. That's right friends - I'm no longer defunct! I have a whole laundry list of exercises to continue to do, including some core strengtheners that are a real b*tch, but Steve thinks I'm ready to start my marathon training without a problem.
Mainly I'm just thrilled that I won't have to wake up at 5:30 am anymore. Though with the heat we're experiencing, I just might have to bite the bullet and start to run in the mornings. But for now, I continue to resist. I'm pretty stubborn (and inherently lazy) so I don't see this changing any time soon unless something drastic happens.
So that's what happened. I hope to get back into the swing of things next week, although I am still in a pretty intensive period of writing through July 5th. After that, marathon training starts (!!!!), at which point I'm going to try to begin a weekly marathon training update. A good intention, but only time will tell if it happens.
Meanwhile, everybody stay safe in this heat!
Thursday, May 24, 2012
And the Verdict Is...
... a weak left posterior tibialis, most likely caused by a strain from competing in the Maymont 8 Miler last September.
Or so says my new best friend, Steve-the-physical-therapist-who-specializes-in-running-injuries.
So what the heck is the posterior tibialis muscle?
It's that one, that goes from your tibia, wraps around the ankle, and attaches at the top of the inner arch. Steve thinks that I strained it during the Maymont 8 Miler last September and then because I never officially treated it it just gets aggravated once in a while. Also not helping matters is the fact that my feet are too flexible (I never knew there was such as thing as too flexible), so the muscles in my lower leg and ankle have to work harder to keep my feet stable.
Usually I'm pretty skeptical of doctors, especially orthopedists and physical therapists. My feeling (which is probably - ok likely - 100% wrong) is that they just take a guess as to what the problem is and hope that they are right, con you into hours of therapy, and then nothing gets better and you are out a lot of time, sleep, and money. But to me this diagnosis makes perfect sense and explains my ankle pain and arch pain.
The good news: I'm not truly injured, just a little weak in the left ankle.
The hour and a half of questioning, running up and down halls, weird stretches, and attempts to bring me into alignment (fruitless, since I'm naturally crooked) also led Steve to the following:
Anyhow, so what does this mean for my running obsession and marathon dreams?
First, I have to go do physical therapy twice a week for four weeks with Steve... which is why he is my new best friend. Not really. No offense to Steve, but I hate physical therapy and am not looking forward to it. I hate paying the copay (I know I know, I should be thankful that I have good health insurance and don't have to pay that much). I hate having to wake up early to go there first thing in the morning so I don't miss work. I hate the boring strength exercise that I'm supposed to do twice a day.
Basically, this is how I feel about having to spend a bunch of time at the sports medicine office:
Actually, Steve is pretty cool and a runner himself, so I enjoyed "talking shop" with him during the sonogram therapy and ice therapy portions of my visit. And I know that taking care of this weakness now will prevent big problems down the road (hopefully), so it will be worth it.
Second, for the next few weeks I am relegated to maintaining my current mileage (15-20 miles per week); and that mileage has to be flat. Read: no more trail runs or hills. Period. So much for my brief love affair with trail runs.
Third, I have to cut out the heel striking and up my foot strikes per minute to somewhere between 170-180. To achieve this, I got permission from Steve to go shoe shopping and finally pull the trigger on the purchase of a pair of Brooks PureCadence. He's a big fan of the more natural running shoes and when I asked "How do you feel about the Brooks Pure line?" he immediately said, "I love them!"
Well, there's nothing I love more than an excuse to buy some running gear, so I immediately ordered up a pair in the snazzy teal color. Steve claims that the very low Heel-Toe Offset of 4.0 mm on these shoes will help encourage me to start moving my strikes from the heel to mid foot.
To increase my foot strikes per minute, Steve encouraged me to check out Jogtunes and download some songs with at least 180 bpm and then make sure I am running in time to the music. Yay - more medically necessary shopping! And my inner band geek also loves the fact that I've been directed to run in step to music.
Fourth, right now this is nbd (no big deal - I learned that one from BFF. Thanks for keeping me current). By taking preventative measures now, marathon training and running a marathon should be totally fine unless some other muscle, joint, or ligament decides to take a crap on me.
So that's what's up. Yay medical science.
Or so says my new best friend, Steve-the-physical-therapist-who-specializes-in-running-injuries.
So what the heck is the posterior tibialis muscle?
 |
| Yoinked from Wikipedia |
It's that one, that goes from your tibia, wraps around the ankle, and attaches at the top of the inner arch. Steve thinks that I strained it during the Maymont 8 Miler last September and then because I never officially treated it it just gets aggravated once in a while. Also not helping matters is the fact that my feet are too flexible (I never knew there was such as thing as too flexible), so the muscles in my lower leg and ankle have to work harder to keep my feet stable.
Usually I'm pretty skeptical of doctors, especially orthopedists and physical therapists. My feeling (which is probably - ok likely - 100% wrong) is that they just take a guess as to what the problem is and hope that they are right, con you into hours of therapy, and then nothing gets better and you are out a lot of time, sleep, and money. But to me this diagnosis makes perfect sense and explains my ankle pain and arch pain.
The good news: I'm not truly injured, just a little weak in the left ankle.
The hour and a half of questioning, running up and down halls, weird stretches, and attempts to bring me into alignment (fruitless, since I'm naturally crooked) also led Steve to the following:
- My foot strikes per minute are a little on the low side and that I am not a terrible heel striker, but do tend to land there more often than not.
- I did better than most of the runners that he sees on the core strength and flexibility tests (thank you, yoga). In fact, for a few minutes he did additional tests to see if I had hypermobility because I was able to a few of the Beighton Score tasks. I only scored a 3, so I'm not hypermobile. But I could have told you that - the only reason I am reasonably flexible at all is because of 4 years of yoga.
- My basic running mechanics are fine (yay).
- The scoliosis doesn't seem to really be causing that much trouble. It is why my left side is a little out of whack but it's nothing that will really mess me up.
Anyhow, so what does this mean for my running obsession and marathon dreams?
First, I have to go do physical therapy twice a week for four weeks with Steve... which is why he is my new best friend. Not really. No offense to Steve, but I hate physical therapy and am not looking forward to it. I hate paying the copay (I know I know, I should be thankful that I have good health insurance and don't have to pay that much). I hate having to wake up early to go there first thing in the morning so I don't miss work. I hate the boring strength exercise that I'm supposed to do twice a day.
Basically, this is how I feel about having to spend a bunch of time at the sports medicine office:
Actually, Steve is pretty cool and a runner himself, so I enjoyed "talking shop" with him during the sonogram therapy and ice therapy portions of my visit. And I know that taking care of this weakness now will prevent big problems down the road (hopefully), so it will be worth it.
Second, for the next few weeks I am relegated to maintaining my current mileage (15-20 miles per week); and that mileage has to be flat. Read: no more trail runs or hills. Period. So much for my brief love affair with trail runs.
Third, I have to cut out the heel striking and up my foot strikes per minute to somewhere between 170-180. To achieve this, I got permission from Steve to go shoe shopping and finally pull the trigger on the purchase of a pair of Brooks PureCadence. He's a big fan of the more natural running shoes and when I asked "How do you feel about the Brooks Pure line?" he immediately said, "I love them!"
Well, there's nothing I love more than an excuse to buy some running gear, so I immediately ordered up a pair in the snazzy teal color. Steve claims that the very low Heel-Toe Offset of 4.0 mm on these shoes will help encourage me to start moving my strikes from the heel to mid foot.
To increase my foot strikes per minute, Steve encouraged me to check out Jogtunes and download some songs with at least 180 bpm and then make sure I am running in time to the music. Yay - more medically necessary shopping! And my inner band geek also loves the fact that I've been directed to run in step to music.
Fourth, right now this is nbd (no big deal - I learned that one from BFF. Thanks for keeping me current). By taking preventative measures now, marathon training and running a marathon should be totally fine unless some other muscle, joint, or ligament decides to take a crap on me.
So that's what's up. Yay medical science.
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