Rub it out

Check it out, I'm typing a post on a Saturday....how's that for a change of pace?

I definitely have good news about the foot. Around the time it started to really hurt last week, I massaged it a little bit and noticed a release point, or at least a little bit of popping. It had felt better after I did it but did I continue doing it? No...that is, until a few days ago, I started massaging it again for about 10 minutes, 3 times a day and that has made it feel TONS better. So my guess is that I had some kind of scar tissue down there, or maybe some kind of bursitis. Whatever it is...it's going away.

The other exciting thing too is my gait....it's radical in the sense that I've been in the process of totally reworking the way I walk AND run. I've talked about how my running is changing for the better, but now Todd has me using the same methods for when I walk. And trust me, it's a lot more awkward to walk with the new form, especially if I've been a heel striker all my life. It has taken some time to get used to it, but I feel like I'm coming into my own. Based on previous wear patterns on my shoes and by watching myself walk via a mirror, I've traditionally struck on the outside of my foot and rolled in, but now I'm focusing more on hitting on the midfoot and getting the most out of my stride.

The other x-factor in all this is still the knee, and it has actually been feeling fantastic. I'm definitely gonna attribute that to the new gait and the "physical therapy" that Todd is putting me through. Thursday I used the elliptical for the first time in a while and went a mile with no pain anywhere, and this morning before work I ran a mile just to see how things were feeling. The foot sort of gave me pain, but it wasn't nearly as much as it has been giving me lately. So yes, good signs all around....let's hope they continue, in more ways than one.

Two steps forward....SIX steps back??

Remember the foot? Oh man....

It had been feeling better the past few days, but on Thursday afternoon it just started hurting SO bad, so I scheduled a doctor appointment for Friday afternoon and they took a look at it. Apparently the doc didn't get the point that I hadn't been running at all lately, but that's alright. They took an x-ray of the foot just in case, and everything looked healthy so she ruled out a stress fracture. That's always tricky though, because sometimes it doesn't really show up on x-ray...really a bone scan is a way to go but she said that "it's more cumbersome." Ok....

She also said it may be a neuroma, but it's very unusual to see it in the young population. So really she didn't know what it was. I had seen Todd earlier that day for a previously scheduled appointment too, and he had his own theory for why it has been hurting. All of the exercises that I have been going through to straighten my alignment basically get me off my heels and put me on the balls of my feet. To do this effectively, however, I need to be bending at my ankles, which is something Todd noticed that I wasn't doing when we were going through the exercises. By not bending there, I was keeping the shin muscles inactivated and putting more stress on the plantar muscle to keep myself in proper alignment. And he was right....because I felt better after I worked with him.

At any rate, I've really been babying the foot since then and it has been progressively getting better. The knee has also been on its best behavior lately too, so that's a good sign. It's only a matter of time before I'm out there again.

And in case you were wondering, the picture is from a local 5K this past weekend - the inaugural Michigan Brewing Company Beer Run 5K, which actually started inside the brewery. No word on how many people actually made it out of there...

Right on the beach

Alright, let's see.....the foot seemed like it was getting better, so I tried another mile on Wednesday night and I was sort of wrong. So I've been staying off of it since then just to be safe. As of right now, it's almost all healed.

Thursday morning a few of us from work went up to Mackinac Island for a couple days for a little retreat kind of thing....the island is right next to the bridge that connects the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan. I had never been there before, which is hard to believe since I've lived in Michigan all my life, but wow....it was pretty awesome. There are no cars on the island (which is 8 miles around) so you get around on foot, bike, or by horse. Friday morning before we left, one of the other guys ran around the island while I paced him on a bike and it was just amazing with the sun coming up over the water of Lake Huron...we both agreed that was one of the best, if not the best, run/bikes we have ever done. So that was that...I ended up riding 28 total miles over the two days, so I definitely got a good workout in.

Other than all that, there's really not much else to talk about. The knee is feeling alright and I wanna get back out there eventually. But that's old news, who wants to hear that anymore? I know the best is still yet to come...

A glimmer of hope

Apparently I enjoy writing posts on Monday nights...anyway, I suppose this will be a happy post, and you'll soon find out why.

Last Tuesday marked 7 months since the marathon and the beginning of my knee problems. In the morning I swam a mile and also biked a mile getting to and from the pool. After dinner I was thinking about how it's been SO long that I've been dealing with this, so I said screw it, I'm gonna complete the "mile triathlon" and go run a mile. I did and it felt grrrrrrreat. And it felt the same the next morning. :) So I did it again the next night and had the same result. Yeaaaaaaa!

The only bad part was my calves were pretty sore, since this new form stresses the muscles a bit more, but that's something my body will get accustomed to, for sure. The other bad part is that I stepped wrong on something the other day, so now the bottom of my left foot is sore....so I'm waiting for that to heal up before I try running again.

All in all, I really really do think this alignment business is working. And it darn well should, all the logistics make sense. I had forgotten to mention this in my last post, but it reminds me of the place that Annette goes to that helped/is helping her come back from injury. It's so weird how our running situations are parallel...

I had a session on Friday where Todd added a few more exercises, especially ones that focus on muscles that fire (or are supposed to) in the running stride, and that felt good. Sunday I went in and tried things on my own, and then tomorrow I've got another appointment. Todd pretty much kicks my ass, but it's all definitely been worth it so far.

This past Friday was the Cooley Law School 5K (picture - top 3 finishers), which was the 5th race (out of 12) in the Playmakers Race Series, and last year's version also happens to be the last 5K that I have run. So it was a little bittersweet that I couldn't run it, but oh well. The next 4 races (all 5K's) are on July 7, July 22, August 12, and September 9. My hopes are to make it back by the August 12 race, but maybe I'll do the July 22 race if things go well in recovery. The x-factor is me - I gotta be determined in this alignment process and I still gotta keep a postive attitude about everything.

"I'm confident you're gonna see results real soon. And by soon, I don't mean many weeks to months - I mean just a couple of weeks." --Todd at Synergy Fitness