Friday, March 27, 2009

TGIF :)

Am swim

500 warm up

Drills
1 x 250 paddles
1 x 250 buoy
repeat 1 X

4 x 50 - One arm catch up going down, finger drag on the return; 10
2 x 100 - 25 Aok, 25 Fist, 25 Karate, 25 Free
1 x 100 speedy

That, that, that is all folks!
Total yardage - 2000

Followed up by a 45 min aqua run
The first 20 minutes went by pretty easy and was taken at a low intensity level so that I could talk with Alana. She dragged her ass out of bed at 4 something to join me for my swim/aqua run this morning, pretty badass if I do say so myself. It was REALLY nice to have someone to talk with. That's one thing that I miss most about running and the one thing I am most looking forward to during Ironman - finding someone who will talk with me for the whole marathon, and if not the whole thing finding a new buddy every couple of miles. Anywho, picked up the intensity level for the last 25 minutes - Salt N Peppa's Push It was a great song to end the run. Push it real good - ahahahahahaha!

TGIF!!! Work flew by like a kite on a beautiful sunny day...smooth sailingl.

Post work pre ART PT I decided to attempt to run around the city. I think this was good, as I learned a few things and did see a sign of progression. I ran for 25 minutes straight, I stopped and took short 20-30 sec walk breaks here and there, maybe 2-3 minutes of walking total. I still experienced pain on the run but it was better then last Sunday and it was the first run I've done that I didn't limp after.

Somethings I've come to realize is that
A. I can run on the pool surface pain free. My mid foot and heel never touch the floor, I'm always toe and ball running.
B. I don't experience pain at all when I have a 1-2 inch heel on and
C. I can run on land uphill pain free, yet I hurt on flats and descents. Thus the pain occurs when my mid foot or heel make impact on the ground.

I am making progression on recovery as I can swim and bike while pushing wattage/threshold w/out pain. I am also off of the anti-inflammitories. Each week I am showing small signs of improvements. They are small but they allow me to get my endurance training in without injuring myself any further. My ART doc suggested wearing heal cups in my flat shoes to tilt my foot down and alleviate some of the annoyance pain I occasionally get from walking. For now I will continue as I have been, swim, bike, aqua run, ice, massage and test my run every couple of days. Per my doc I know my run stride/gate well and have proven to listen when things don't feel right. So continue forward I shall march....

Post ART my leg hurt like a little b^%$^$. It was pissed off from the run and then from the therapy. I've been dealing with it yelling at me, it won't STFU. Hopefully it will calm as the night rolls forward.

My mom and I shared the BEST cheeseburger in the world and I got to catch up with a good friend at The Carafe. Mmmmm, dinner and company was 5 stars tonight. Today was a very good Friday :)

2 comments:

Unknown said...

listen to your body...cross train and do a little weight training to correct muscular imbalances...

Bryan said...

I'm just trolling for article ideas to meet a deadline, (I'm supposed to be working), so take my advice with a grain of salt. That is, I'm not a doctor. But, I have three recommendations.

One, ditch the flats. We wear "street" shoes or secondary (worn) athletic shoes when we're not running, etc, but these shoes are in a way more important than our running shoes. You buy a new pair of running shoes after so many months or miles, yes? Yet, some of us wear these non-athletic shoes for years after they're worn down and start hurting our feet or force our legs to over-compensate.

Plus, the number of hours you spend working out in athletic shoes is going to be a small fraction of the time spent in your non-athletic shoes working all day, plus going to and from work, going out at night, and weekends. As long as heels don't hurt your feet, throw out all your shoes that are suspect, and wear heels 24/7 when you're not working out.

Two, ask your doctor about the Graston technique - when it applies, it works quickly and really speeds up recovery. It's painful, but probably something you'd enjoy, especially if it gets your leg back in action.

Three, don't take too much NSAIDs (Nonsteroidal Antiinflammatory Drugs) such as ibuprofin, aspirin, naproxen, etc. Certainly take them for extreme or nagging pain, but if you're taking them to reduce swelling you may be delaying your recovery. Natural swelling from prostaglandins is how your body protects the tissue and heals faster.

In the case of injury, ice is never a bad way to reduce swelling, but NSAIDs *may* prolong injury. In the case of normal exercise, your tissues will react and swell a bit, and many people over-react with too much ibuprofin. A daily routine of cold/hot/cold/hot ice bath / steam or shower can do wonders if you get the timing down.