Ankle Sprain Treadmill Run IV: Last Run Before Hawaii -- 1/17

This is how I felt before going to Hawaii

This run went well.  I did 30 mins. on the treadmill with minimal pain.  The taping and brace helped and my stamina was pretty good, so I decided not to push my luck and try to get in another workout before I left for my trip.  I had been pretty frazzled leading up to my vacation and the ankle injury, ice storms, and crappy workouts had only added to my frustrations, but this workout went well and helped to improve my frame of mind.  after the run.  I did a good ab workout, and some stretching, which I knew that I would need before cramming myself into my seat for the flight.  I left the gym feeling optimistic about my up coming trip.

Ankle Sprain Treadmill Run III: 1/15

I took a day off after my last treadmill run.  This time, I taped up my ankle much better and put on my ankle brace.  Both of these things helped with the ankle, but my conditioning felt really bad, and I struggled with this run just as much as the one prior to it.  However, this time I didn't let it get me down as much.  I ran 20mins. and walked 10mins.  After running I did a lot more abs and other exercises than I did after my last workout.  These runs were starting to make me think that I might not be able to run the entire 5k in Hawaii.  I just wasn't really sure if the ankle was going to let me run enough before the race to workout whatever kinks were sure to develop as a result of the long flight from Raleigh to Oahu through Atlanta.  I wanted to get in two more workouts before the trip started and luckily I didn't have to work again before the flight on Wednesday.

Sprained Ankle Treadmill Time part II: 1/13

My Ankle started to felt alright after running the day before, which gave me the bright idea to run on the treadmill again.  This time, however, things did not go as well as they did before.  I struggled a lot with this run and had a lot of pain on the inside of my ankle going up my shin.  At first I wanted to run for 30 mins.  Then, I decided that it would be better to run 15, then walk 5, and run 10.  However, after walking 5 mins.  It was all I could do to run another 5 mins. before I shut it down.  I decided that this had been a bad idea in general, and regretted going at all because it just got me down a bit mentally.  I did do some stretching and abs, but overall I would have been better off skipping this workout.

Umstead Ankle Sprain Run: 1/8

My first run in Umstead with Old Bob (my Garmin) didn't go like I had planned, as you can tell from the title of this post.  I had been looking forward to this run for a long time, but I kept having to delay running in Umstead either because of races or bad weather.  So, when the day finally arrived that I could take Old Bob out to Umstead, I was really excited.  It was pretty cold and snow flurries were falling as I started down the trail.  I deiced to run out to the bridge and then go around the loop once, and then walk back from there.  I didn't think that I would be able to do the whole trail, so I started down the trail at a running pace after doing my stretching rather than walking to the bridge like I do most of the time.  I really wanted to be able to get accurate distances for the course for the first time, but  made a pretty good effort to ignore my Old Bob other than to look at my mile pace when I heard the beep for each mile.  I knew that I needed to concentrate on the trail or I would be eating dirt quickly.

The first mile went well.  There were a lot of people on the trail heading back to their cars because of the snow, but I wasn't worried about it because I had heard the weather report and knew that it wasn't going to last.  I ran the first mile in 11:13.31, which I thought was pretty good considering the difficulty of this part of the trail.

The second mile of the trail has a larger up hill portion than the first mile, but there is also one of the longest flat parts and the trail is much less difficult because there are far few rocks and root to negotiate in this portion.  Also there were only a few people on this part of the trail because most families out for a stroll in the woods stop at the bridge and head back to their cars.  The snow had stopped by the time I finished the second mile.  I did this mile at a slightly slower pace than the first.  11:19.06

The third mile was is a little more of the up hill then you cross the Horse road and start a bit of a down hill.  This portion of the trial is tight in places but is probably the portion of the trial with the fewest rocks and roots other than the last part of the trail.  It is good place to recover a bit from the climb in the second mile of the trial.  I was struggling before I crossed the house road, but I was able to recover some after I crossed the road and was feeling good by the end of this mile, which took 11:20.46  There are some narrow portions and moderate rises, but this is a fun portion of the trail.  There are a few spots where you and pick up speed and really open up you stride because the trail is in pretty good shape even though it is really narrow.  I enjoy this portion of the trail more than any other part of the run.

The fourth mile is both the most difficult because of roots and rock, steep up hills, and steep stairs.  It is  portion of trail is always where I fear falling the most and risk running out of gas.  I went through this portion of the trail much slower despite one good spot for speed.  This is the part of the trail that I like least.  I did it in 12:26.19

The last .85 mile is the least difficult portion of the trial.  There are only two trouble spots .  The first is where the trail narrows really tight in one spot.  It is a good place for speed as long as you don't meet up with another person on the trail, which is what happened to me.  The other portion is right at the end there are some large rocks that form an obstacle in the trail that you need to negotiate.  I made it through the first trouble spot despite meeting up with a guy who was walking in the opposite direction and not really doing much to move off of the trail when he saw me coming towards him.  He basically took one step to the side and stopped walking.  This forced me to over to the side more than the trail will really allow you to do and put me really off balance.  I made it past him and around the next little bend but was getting more and more off balance until I took a bad step and rolled my left ankle.  I could ear the tendon crunching as the ankle rolled, and though for a second that I was going to fall, but my right leg planted extremely well my next few steps on the left side became more hops than steps.  The pain was kind of bad, and I could tell that this was more than a twist, but I also knew that it was not a high ankle sprain either.  I have had many, and they have never allowed me to bear any weight.  I figured that at this point the best thing that I could do was keep going at least until the bridge where there would be more people if I needed help.  I ran the last portion of the trail at a 10:25 minute mile pace, which was faster than any other portion of the trail.  This portion is the fast part of the trail, and had I not sprained my ankle I am sure I would have been around an 9 min. mile pace on it.

Once I got to the bridge I was able to walk back to the parking lot.  Once I got home I ice the ankle, but it had swollen up a good bit, luckily not too bad and there was no bruising or discoloration.  So, I think that I got pretty lucky as far as sprains go.  Especially considering my race in Hawaii was only two weeks a way.

Mummy Feet: Day 2 Morning Run & Wed. Sports Conditioning Class!

Okay, My feet aren't mummified, but it does take a bit of time to get used to running with them taped up like they are.  The PA that I saw is a triathlete and swears that I could still run, which I am doing . . . cautiously!  I'll be traveling this weekend and early next week, so I plan to take a few days off, which I hope will help the healing process along.  I did a very short 1 mile run on the track at the Y last night just to get warmed up for my stretching and foam roller.  My feet felt really weird running on all of that tape -- it was like I had borrowed Jimmy Hoffa's shoes because they felt like the bottom the bottoms were filled with cement.  I used yesterday as a both a light and adjustment day rather than just rushing head long into a workout. 




This is not exactly how my feet are taped but very close.



I got up this morning at 4:30am.  It was still dark out while I was running, and just so relaxing.  I love running before dawn before the traffic picks up.  The city is just so peaceful, and it is a great time to set aside life more mundane problems.  This mornings run was particularly noteworthy because the sky was really clear, the stars were stunning, and the air was just cool enough -- right around 64 degrees!  I ran the same 2.67 course from Monday, felt sluggish at points and weird from the tape at others, but overall was really calm throughout the run.  I'm not sure what I was even thinking about for the most part, but I know that I was glad that I had gotten up and ran. 

After the run, I attended 30 Mins. of the sports conditioning class, mainly the abs and legs portion of the class.  My legs felt more sturdy than they did last week, but I still avoided anything closely resembling a hop, skip or a jump.  After the  class, I used the foam roller some more and stretched.  I am feeling good about my treatment.  I feel like there has been some improvement, but it is really too soon to tell.

Medical Report & Advice for Myself and Others Part 2: 8/14/10

I went to the MD yesterday, and my feet are mummified in tape.  He basically told me that I have a combination of plantar faciitis and Achilles tendinitis, and taped up my feet to give the tendon in the bottom of my feet some extra support.  He also showed me some exercises and stretches to use which I talk about in another post.  I've been dealing with these problems most of the summer, so I a really looking forward to moving past them, but I wanted to take sometime to share how I am dealing with all of this because injuries can be more mentally taxing than they are physically.  

The mental side of the weight loss / workout battle is much more difficult than the physical.  I've been stuck at my current weight for over two and a half months.  Also, I have been dealing with Achilles injuries for all of the time.  I have had some rough days where I have let my frustrations get to me a little, but for the most part, I have been able to keep my spirits up.  I have talked before on this blog about how I am an annoyingly optimistic person.  And that is true.  I am an optimist for the most part.  I have my bad days and crappy moments, but I just don't see the point in negativity because it doesn't lead anywhere.  I can get upset that my Achilles is messed up, and I can get frustrated that I can't get one stinking ounce below 270 lbs., but it won't change anything or make me feel any better, so I've decided not to go down that road for if I can avoid it. 

Honestly, these things are temporary frustrations, and life is way too short and often brutal to let them get me down.  Frayed Laces  has this great picture and quote on her blog.  It is her running with a quote that says: "There will be a day when you can no longer do this . . . Today is NOT that day!"  I love this idea, and I've thought about it a least once everyday since I saw it.  And, I don't limit the idea to exercise but extend it to life in general.  One day this frail existence that I call my own dear life will come to an end.  Fact.  So, I should do my utmost to enjoy it as much as I can.  Therefore I've decided that I need to Love this fight! Love the work, the struggle, the small rewards, the crap days, the shitty advice I give myself and others, the morning runs, time with my wife, the injuries, laying out my workout clothes, getting up at 5am, and I even need to love my Achilles pain!  If I Love every bit of this stuff, and I will come to love myself because it is all me. I am the one doing it. No one is doing it for me or to me!  No one is standing in my way. This is my life and how I choose to live it, so I need to love it and enjoy it!  Because one day I won't be able to do any of this . . . but today is sure as hell not that day.  It may be hard for some to understand that I love my Achilles injury, but I do.  Granted, I will be glad when it is healed and won't miss it one bit when it is gone, but I love Achilles injury because it is here challenging me, making me mentally stronger, testing my commitment to myself.  I'll be stronger, smarter, and more appreciative once it is healed, so in reality.  It is a blessing.  A gift.  My Achilles injury, frustrating as it may be is here to help me, so I am going to love it.  I know . . . that you think that I am high, but I'm not!  It is just that the alternative line of thought is nothing more that a treadmill to nowhere.  

The Worst Achilles Day Yet! Sat. Aug. 7th

I don't want to dwell on this day because it is in the past, and my achillies has improved greatly since then, but this was a hard day to take.  My achilles was pretty sore when I woke up on Saturday morning, but I thought/hoped/deluded myself into thinking that it would improve as the day went on.  Let's just say that it did not!  I just got worse and worse until I was mentally exhausted by it all and had convinced myself that I would soon be wearing a boot on my foot.  Basically, I am pretty sure that I had overstretched my legs and caused my achilles to flare up. 

The day went badly because instead of just lifting or swimming I tried to run on the treadmill.  I stretched a little before getting on the treadmill.  And I was hoping that after walking for 5mins. my achilles would warm up and allow me to run, but it didn't it just got worse as I began to run and the soreness was so bad that after  10mins running I got off of the tread mill without my customary 5mins walking.

I went and did some abs and stretched, then I iced, showered and went shopping with my wife.  The longer I was on my feet the worse I felt and the more my mental stat began to plummet.  The heat and crowds in the stores were making me nuts and I wanted to cut my feet off with a rusty hacksaw!!  Luckily, when I got home I had the sense to ice my achilles, take some anti-inflammatories, and put on some muscle cream.  I also made sure to keep my legs elevated.  As the night progressed my mood improved a little, but I was still not hopeful that Sunday would bring much improvement.  However, when Sunday rolled around I would be shocked!!  I will save the details for my next post, but I will say this . . . It was a good that came at the right time because I am not sure that I could have taken a repeat of Saturday!  Sometimes the world like to just pile it on, but thankfully, Sunday wasn't on of those days!

Break Through . . . maybe !?! July 29 to Aug. 2

Ok. I know that I have said this before, but this time I really do think that I am starting to put this injury behind me. Here is the thing, last we sucked! My achilles was just not feeling good, the rest of my left leg was starting to feel really tight as well. I was freaking out to say the least, so I was on the Internet looking up everything that I could find about achilles injuries. After a long while I ran across the video below: 

Which is really boring to anyone who doesn't have an achilles injury, but what is important about it is that he talks about how even though someone fells pain in their achilles ofter the root of the injury is located elsewhere in the leg, and that doctors often need to treat this other portion of the leg in order to relive the pain.  I didn't even have to watch the whole video before I felt like I know the cause of my pain!! 

I have known for sometime now that my left Hamstring is very tight and needs a lot of stretching.  It has caused me a good deal of pain in the past, but it didn't occur to me that it could be the source of this latest injury as well until I cam across this video.  I immediately stopped trying to treat my achilles and stared focusing upon my hamstrings and response was nothing short of immediate. First off, I really stared focusing on doing long periods of deep stretches and using the foam roller on my legs.  My God, the first time I tried to really stretch my left leg, I thought that I was going to explode and I was basically in tears, but my hammy was so tight.  I bent over to touch my toes, which was impossible, but I tried to keep my knees straight and hold the stretch for thirty seconds.  During that time, I tried not to wet myself and cry like child in the midst of a meltdown,; I could feel the stretch all the was up into my gluts and lower back as well as down into my achilles.  After I end the stretch my achilles felt so good !  better than it has after any of the calf stretches or exercises that I have been doing.  Basically, I think that all the stairs that I had been running tightened up my Hamstring and caused a strain on my achilles, and all efforts to to treat the achilles itself mealy irritated the and caused more stress on the achilles than it needed.  

I spent all of Thursday and Friday stretching my whole leg focusing mainly upon my hamstring, and by Saturday, I was back on the treadmill running a mile, and the difference from Monday was night and day.  It felt so much better.  My leg tightened up some that night, but my wife helped me stretch and gave me and a great massage, and on Sunday the leg felt great.  I took Sunday off just to rest up, but Honestly I feel so much better about where I am.  Cross your fingers, knock on wood, and all that Jazz! 

Monday July 12: Swimming and Exercises

Still trying to rest the Achilles, which are beginning to feel better, so I  swam this morning and attended the latter part of Plycore where I did some the exercises that I thought would not hurt my heel.  When they were doing things that I couldn't I did some rehab exercises and abs.  I think that this will be my approach for the next few weeks or until my heel improves to the point that I am pain free for an extended period of time.  On a side note, I am really enjoying my swimming I think that it will really reshape my workout.  I already feel more eager for my workout than I had been recently, so if there is a bright side of this injury, it's that it has give me a good reason to change up my workout.

The Workout:

Swimming:
2 laps Frog
20 laps Crawl

Exercises:
50 Crunches
50 Crossover Crunches Left
50 Crossover Crunches Right
25 Bird dogs
heel raises 10
walking lunges: back and forth across the width of two basketball courts
heel raises 10

walking lunges: back and forth across the width of two basketball courts
heel raises 10

walking lunges: back and forth across the width of two basketball courts
Side oblique Crunch 15 each side

Weds. June 30th Sprots Conditioning Class -- What I needed and didn't need

I wanted to go to this class because I needed some ab work.  Also, I thought that this would be good for my Achilles because this class doesn't require that much running or a lot of stairs.  However, I forgot that sometimes we do tons of calf raises, which really work your Achilles.  Of course, that is exactly what we did . . . tons of calf raises!!!  The abs portion was fine, as were the other exercise, but the calf raises really put too much strain on my heel.  I iced both of them right after the class and did a lot of stretching, but as the day went on my heels felt like they were on fire.  I even had to get one the ice pack out of an old first aid kit in the afternoon and put it on my heels.  On my hay home from work, I stopped and got an ankle brace, which is suppose to help with the healing process.   I put it on when I got home and ice my heels some more, and they improved a lot as the night went on, but I know that I need to change what I am doing and give time for recuperation. 

Monday Plycore June 28th

I am glad that I went to this class, but I should have taken the day off.  I didn't realize just how tired I was from the weekend until this class got started.  I had spent the day before helping my cousin move in Asheville then drove home to Raleigh.  I also didn't sleep well, but I was excited to go to class.  We started the class off with a big run, and I did well with it, but following the run I started to have some abdominal cramps and began feeling worn out.  I was able to push my way through the workout, but things got complicated because my Achilles began to flare up at the end too.  By the time the workout was over, I was feeling pretty out of sorts.  It is strange because everything just sort of hit me at once, and I wonder if I wasn't just a little dehydrated going into the run and then the humidity got the better of me. 

The workout:

2.33 mile run (warm up)

Sprint, butt kicks, and high knees (up and down the gym)

walking lunges up & down the gym

20 push ups

15 dips

5 box jumps

6 flights of stairs (up & down)

5 chin ups

X3

Achilles Worries: June 28th

I have recently been experiencing some soreness in my Achilles on both of my feet.  The left seems to be the worse of the two at this point.  I am sure that this is due to the increased amount of running and stairs that I have been doing.  And, I know that I need to rest up and treat this before it gets worse.  Achilles problems are common for people that run or have recently increased their amount of running.  Unfortunately it is really difficult to take the time to rest that I need.  Right now, I am hoping to get the situation under control with some stretching, anti inflammatory, and ice treatment.  Accordingly, I have been searching the Internet for some good stretches, and this on seems to be the best that I have found thus far:

Website for this stretch

 Right now I am hopeful that I can treat this without having to take a large amount of time off, but if I can't, I will be sure to move to the pool, bicycle, and weights.  But, I need to keep my fingers crossed that I have caught it early enough.

Weds. June 9th: Triple Threat -- Jump Rope, Bosu, and Toning Express Classes

Well, here is the good news, I came away from all of this with only a sprained middle finger. Honestly, I wasn't expecting to do all of this, but I enjoyed . . . some of it . . . The Jump Rope Class was fun. 30 min. class 3 jump sections and 3 ab & push up sections. It was pretty fun, and I am getting much better at the push ups.

Next up was the Bosu . . . I hate the Bosu! I only took this class because my wife wanted to do it, so we can file this under the the heading of "Stupid Crap that I have done because of a Woman!" This was a lot of aerobics, tons of step ups, and squats on the Bosu. By the way, Bosu's are not ment to be used by a man my size (of by a man for that matter) because every time that I jumped on the damn trhing I thought that I was going to impale my self into the ceiling. This was 30 mins of pure terror, and I never want to do this again.

Last, I took a Toning Express Class 15 mins of Toning . . . On the terror ball bosu!! We did more squats, lunges, push-ups, dips, hopping. It was during this part of class that I sprained my finger. We went from doing push ups to dips on our bosu and mine was really sweaty from chest hitting it, and my hand slipped while I was in the midst of a dip causing all of my finger to slide in different directions (none of which were intended to go!). The only thing that I liked about my 45 mins with the devil device bosu was the portion of class when we had to pick it up and hold it over our heads.

Wed. 27th Sports Conditioning: injury

I woke up on Weds. morning and felt a little stiffness in my shoulder. It had been sore on Tuesday, but I took the day off, so I was hopeful that it would be all right to workout weds. morning. I was wrong. Everything went well with the warm up. Jumping rope seemed to help the stiffness go away, and my range of motion seemed fine, but I could feel the shoulder getting more and more sore as the workout progressed. I made it through the 45 min. of class but still had more stuff to do, but when I tried to do some burpees, I knew that it was time to shut it down. I stretched pretty well, but I neglected to put ice on it, which I think was a big mistake. When I got home, I took a hot shower, put on some flexall, and took some medicine, but my shoulder got worse as the day progressed. I couldn't extend my arm out to my side and lift it any higher than my shoulder without feel pain. It got worse over the course of the day no matter how much I stretched. I have had this same problem before, but I thought that the source of the pain was in me deltoid, but it is the rotator cuff. It is an annoying injury because it feels fine for most of the time then bam!! Lift your arm too high and when you start to bring it down the whole damn thing feels like it about to fall off. This injury would cause me to miss the gym on both Thursday and Friday and really limit what I could do. However, I was able to find some good videos on YouTube, which described which trigger points in my shoulder needed attention. Once I understood what to do it stated to improve almost instantaneously.

Supraspinatus Massage

23rd & 24th: The Wheels

The wisdom tooth pain had subsided by this point, but my jaw will take some months to fully heal, and these workout gave me a preview of what is to come. My strength is back on track, but when I run (on concrete is the worst) I feel every vibration right in my Jaw bone. It is bad at the beginning of the workout, in the middle I get use to it, but by the end--it is worse that it was to start with. However, I don't plan on shying away from this pain. I read a quote by Lance Armstrong the other day that has really made me think about the nature of pain and struggle:


"Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever."

Now, I know that I must respect the pain that I feel. Injuries can't be ingnored, but they are also not an excuse either. Honestly, I am begining to think that the are a gift (not like a Christmas present is a gift), but a gift like in the way that an unexpected second chance to make something right is a gift. That is how I am begining to see injuries. They are an opprotunity to see that circumstances could be much worse, the remind us just how frail an tentative our existence remains no matter how strong we feel. Injuries and pain add value to our struggles because if we didn't feel that pain or experience those injuries, we would never notice the progress that we have made or the distance we have traveled. That being said, injuries and pain are frustrating and dissappoint, some times beyond measure, but as Lance said they are temporary.

Workouts:
200 skips
2 long laps outside
4 stairs (Up& Down)
2 laps inside
10 dips
25 crossover crunches left
25 crossover crunches right
50 crunches standard
5 push ups

Thursday's Plycore & Admitting to (a minor) Injury

  Today's Workout:

Jumping Jacks 1 min.
7 Burpees
34 Wall Crunches: lay down on you back, butt and legs pressed flat against the wall, lift your arms straight in the air with 8lbs. weights and bend at the waist.
33 Wall Crunches: lay down on you back, butt and legs pressed flat against the wall, lift your arms at an angel towards your knees and bend at the waist until you touch the wall.
33 Wall Crunches: lay down on you back, butt and legs pressed flat against the wall, extend your arms towards your hips and bend at the waist until you touch the wall
5 Squat Thrusts
10 push ups
6 flights of stairs (up & down)
2 labs around the track
10 box jumps

I did this three times and started the fourth round in 35 mins.

I really enjoyed this workout, but afterward I was forced to admit that the crick in my neck is more serious than I thought. I think that I have a pulled or strained muscle in my neck, upper shoulder, and back. Honestly, I never thought that it was anything other than stiffness from sleeping wrong, but today the discomfort is far less localized and more in my shoulder and upper back, so I am pretty certain that I have a pull. luckily, tomorrow's class selection is not that good, so I will take the morning off and exercise in the afternoon if I am pain free. However, if I am still sore tomorrow, then I will skip Friday and wait until later in Saturday afternoon in order to give myself some rest.

This type of injury is a dangerous one for me because I can currently still able to workout, but I know that if I do not get the proper rest, the injury will take forever to heal. I have taken some anti-inflamitories, and I will continue with the muscle cream, but I am worried that the discomfort will continue into the weekend or longer. I have also looked up some stretches that I hope will help as well, and if things get worse I will be putting a call into my cousin, who is a physical therapist.  The key thing that I need to remember is that this injury is only temporary.  I need to stay focused and stay to whatever plans I make to deal with the injury because I will never meet my goals if I act impulsively and hurt myself more.