Well, after the setbacks of the earlier days I adjusted my training. Maintained my cardio with a few lap sessions at the gym's pool and did a tempo on the stationary bike thursday. My visit with my physical therapist on Wednesday helped a lot. Kendra told me that the scar tissue was more evenly distributed, like a layer rather than a big ball unlike the scarring from my last tear a couple of years ago. My nursing has been successful then, I think to myself. Kendra thinks I am crazy to still want to do Sunday's Birch Bay marathon. But as far as protecting against injury my opinion it's all about intensity and level of discomfort I feel during normal activities such as going up stairs. I was able to do the Billy Banks ' Lower Body boot camp Friday morning without any pain or discomfort. I walked all afternoon in Seattle with my daughter after that. Although, true we went up the steps to Pike's Market from the pier and towards the top I felt a knot in my calf, it was subtle and not painful like it had been in the days past. Today I did not feel my calf at all. I can contract it comfortably and feel all the strength back in it.
I had been worried I wouldn't be able to run for a few weeks. I still haven't tried any distance. I though about doing a couple of miles today just to feel where I was at, but didn't. So I will find out tomorrow I guess. Definitely doing the Birch Bay marathon tomorrow. I can for sure walk it. Hopefully run it. More likely it will be a walk/run, that's the responsible thing to do (ah ah). It will be a slow run ... I figure I'll drop my pace to about 14-15 min a mile because of small strides. But what matters is I will not give up, will stick to the plan. For me that's what matters, for other that's the crazy talking ... But no matter what the "normal people" say I think I have a good balance of crazy with carefulness though. I went through all my stretching routines tonight, then rolled. Used my stretcher helper from footsmart.com I just received today (timely).
I am ready. Going to get some Z's. Early row call tomorrow at 0330, in Birch Bay by 0545, for ya'll that don't speak military that's be in Birch Bay by 5:45am. Happy dreaming everyone ... I will dream asphalt and trees for sure :)
My excellent running adventures
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Pulled Calf ... Day 4 !
So far so good. No pain when I got out of bed. A little of pain when I contract the muscle. If all is good I should be able to run a little tomorrow. Today I will concentrate on stretching. If time allows I will cross-train at the gym on the stationary bike. Tonight I am thinking some heat could be beneficial to relaxing the muscle.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Pulled Calf - Day 3
This morning my calf felt noticeably better. I could walk almost without limping with my brace on. I am exited. I inspected my calf area and I still not not see a bruised area. I recall when I teared my calf last time there was a bruise about the size a quarter right below the large muscle complex. Throughout the day I notice some amount of pain ... tightness ... growing. I used some time at lunch to begin stretching. By stretching I initially though about the "typical" calf stretches like gastroc stretch. While researching further I found out that there exist series of stretches that "rehabilitate" a strained calf while healing from the injury. I started doing the Active Range Of Motion stretch (AMOC) described on this web page and I felt relief from the tightness immediately. As the day progresses I repeated the AROM a couple more times. The stretch isn't uncomfortable so I am ready for more.
On a side note ...
I performed the AMOC on both my legs at the same time. I was surprised to feel relief from tightness in both legs. Recalling my the condition of my Achilles tendon, was just wondering if performing these stretches regularly would help. I did purchase a stretcher helper at footmart.com that will do just that ... pictured below:
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Pull Calf ... Day 2 Update
So on day 2 I had a non related foot doctor appointment for x-rays. A week ago I wen to the walk-in clinic to get my feet checked. I was feeling a lot of pain on the ball of my foot and at SGF suggestion I had me feet checked. The pain had started after switching to size 10 shoes a week earlier so we were pretty sure it was related to the shoes ...
Warning ... tangent subject:
I switched to size 10 from 8 at the suggestion of Max, at The Balanced Athletes in Renton, WA. Max told me my size 8 were too tight, impeding the natural roll of my feet which created pressure on my ITB. True, the size 10 did relieve my ITB but I started feeling this splitting pain instead at the ball of my foot. It was suggested to me it could plantar fasciitis by a fellow runner so a very worrisome situation for me. Dr Conyers though it could be a stress fracture but the absence of continuous pain suggested otherwise ... Dr Conyers though that by switching to size 10 my toes had a tendency to want to "grab" while I ran and that the cyclic pressure i applied to the contracted muscles was creating the pain ... So more confusion ... Fix one thing (ITB) create a new problem. Dr Conyers told me though that I need to find the shoe that compromises on both items, so I may feel a little ITB pain, and some pressure on my foot, but the overall fit is healty. Great advive, glad i went (I though) then ... Dr Conveys says ... go back to the old shoe, and I would recommend you see a podratrist for orthodics and by the way I see an onset of Metatarsalgia here you should get you feet X-ray'd ...
Ok Fast forward back to the appointment now:
... that's why I was there in the first place. In the mist of our discussion Dr Lund told me she sees that I have contracture of the Achilles tendons, that is my tendons are shorter, tight and do not provide a full range of extension of my foot. That cause additional stress in both the plantar area of the foot and my calves ... So that gives me a little insight. I know that I have tight muscles. With education and physical therapy I have learned to manage my knee pain (I haven't felt knee pain since the fall 2011), my ITB pain has been greatly reduce (where it's 1 or 2 ... it's there but it doesn't bother me). In my discussion with Dr Lund I may have identified the root cause of my problems (where the extra stress is starting from, that is limitation of my form by the sorter tendons). It would make sense ... Stress has to manifest somehow, first the knees ... then quads / ITB / Hip. But with stretching and training these muscles and tendons provide a path for stress flow now so stress manifested in the weaker end of my leg ... my right calf that I teared two years ago. Right?
Well it's a good possibility. So along with rightly sized shoes (I am currently test running 8.5 Aesics trail shoes to test the toe box/ankle support theory), possibly orthodontics insols ... targeted stretching in the lower leg might go a long way reducing the possibility of a new occurrence of a muscle tear.
I checked with Dr Lund and she agreed swimming was a good low impact cross training cardio to maintain my athletic level (remember I have a marathon in 2 weeks). I could also get on the stationary bike to maintain fitness in my leg muscles, depending if I feel any pain in the calf doing so. Though with the marathon only two weeks away the reality of things I will likely loose very little fitness if any so I should focus on good recovery instead (that's the pet talk ... of course applying this will be more difficult ... )
So I went for a half hour freestyle in the pool. In the evening I continued the application on and off of ice for two hours.
Warning ... tangent subject:
I switched to size 10 from 8 at the suggestion of Max, at The Balanced Athletes in Renton, WA. Max told me my size 8 were too tight, impeding the natural roll of my feet which created pressure on my ITB. True, the size 10 did relieve my ITB but I started feeling this splitting pain instead at the ball of my foot. It was suggested to me it could plantar fasciitis by a fellow runner so a very worrisome situation for me. Dr Conyers though it could be a stress fracture but the absence of continuous pain suggested otherwise ... Dr Conyers though that by switching to size 10 my toes had a tendency to want to "grab" while I ran and that the cyclic pressure i applied to the contracted muscles was creating the pain ... So more confusion ... Fix one thing (ITB) create a new problem. Dr Conyers told me though that I need to find the shoe that compromises on both items, so I may feel a little ITB pain, and some pressure on my foot, but the overall fit is healty. Great advive, glad i went (I though) then ... Dr Conveys says ... go back to the old shoe, and I would recommend you see a podratrist for orthodics and by the way I see an onset of Metatarsalgia here you should get you feet X-ray'd ...
Ok Fast forward back to the appointment now:
... that's why I was there in the first place. In the mist of our discussion Dr Lund told me she sees that I have contracture of the Achilles tendons, that is my tendons are shorter, tight and do not provide a full range of extension of my foot. That cause additional stress in both the plantar area of the foot and my calves ... So that gives me a little insight. I know that I have tight muscles. With education and physical therapy I have learned to manage my knee pain (I haven't felt knee pain since the fall 2011), my ITB pain has been greatly reduce (where it's 1 or 2 ... it's there but it doesn't bother me). In my discussion with Dr Lund I may have identified the root cause of my problems (where the extra stress is starting from, that is limitation of my form by the sorter tendons). It would make sense ... Stress has to manifest somehow, first the knees ... then quads / ITB / Hip. But with stretching and training these muscles and tendons provide a path for stress flow now so stress manifested in the weaker end of my leg ... my right calf that I teared two years ago. Right?
Well it's a good possibility. So along with rightly sized shoes (I am currently test running 8.5 Aesics trail shoes to test the toe box/ankle support theory), possibly orthodontics insols ... targeted stretching in the lower leg might go a long way reducing the possibility of a new occurrence of a muscle tear.
I checked with Dr Lund and she agreed swimming was a good low impact cross training cardio to maintain my athletic level (remember I have a marathon in 2 weeks). I could also get on the stationary bike to maintain fitness in my leg muscles, depending if I feel any pain in the calf doing so. Though with the marathon only two weeks away the reality of things I will likely loose very little fitness if any so I should focus on good recovery instead (that's the pet talk ... of course applying this will be more difficult ... )
So I went for a half hour freestyle in the pool. In the evening I continued the application on and off of ice for two hours.
Pulled Calf ... Day 2
Well its day 2. I find that i still limp but can take longer steps, can apply some amount if pressure on my right foot. I was able to go up stairs using both feet with minimal pain. I'd pain level decreased to two on a scale of ten.
Looks like the ice regimen kept the swelling to a minimum, and i still can't find a bruise in the general pain area so i am hoping the damage to my calf was limited. I had a chiropractor appointment this morning. Dr Stringer ran PTLMS on my calf. Dr Stringer says that would help breaking up the scar tissue and improve blood flow in the injured area. It hurt real bad ... But definitely feels better afterwards ...
Next, got to figure out whether I should repeat the ice regimen tonight, and need to get on my stretching ... The stretching will be important to align the muscle fibers correctly. I still plan yo swim half hour or so today to keep the cardio part of the training going. I may had abs ... Heavy duty abs since i wint be running for a few days ...
Looks like the ice regimen kept the swelling to a minimum, and i still can't find a bruise in the general pain area so i am hoping the damage to my calf was limited. I had a chiropractor appointment this morning. Dr Stringer ran PTLMS on my calf. Dr Stringer says that would help breaking up the scar tissue and improve blood flow in the injured area. It hurt real bad ... But definitely feels better afterwards ...
Next, got to figure out whether I should repeat the ice regimen tonight, and need to get on my stretching ... The stretching will be important to align the muscle fibers correctly. I still plan yo swim half hour or so today to keep the cardio part of the training going. I may had abs ... Heavy duty abs since i wint be running for a few days ...
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Pulled Calf
Well, there you go. I pulled my right calf during my lunch run today. I am not quite sure what happened ... I was running laps at the gym, about half hour into the run I started feeling some pain in my right calf. The pain grew sharper, sharp enough that I though to myself "I should stop", I was 3/4 into the loop. I heard a popping sound, then started limping. I though to myself, "well f&ck ... I teared my calf again ...".
It's the exact spot I teared my calf a couple of years ago. I have had a lot of scar tissue from that time. I stopped running then for almost 2 months. I want to nurse this injury to minimize the impact to my running schedule this time though, so i have to educate myself now. In particular, I know I will have to step out of the running game for a few days, but not two months. When the pain symptoms have re-ceded I can start picking up some mileage. I need to facilitate good blood flow through the damage tissue and ensure that my tissue fibers align properly during regeneration or i will continue to have issues with my right calf. That is achieved though soft stretching. Also I need to minimize scar tissue buildup with massage and ice.
The initial onset use R.I.C.E (Rest Ice Compression Elevation). I kept my leg elevated at work. When I got home I applied ice, 20 on 20 off for 2 hours.
Bummer for my leg ... I wonder, what I did to cause that.
It's the exact spot I teared my calf a couple of years ago. I have had a lot of scar tissue from that time. I stopped running then for almost 2 months. I want to nurse this injury to minimize the impact to my running schedule this time though, so i have to educate myself now. In particular, I know I will have to step out of the running game for a few days, but not two months. When the pain symptoms have re-ceded I can start picking up some mileage. I need to facilitate good blood flow through the damage tissue and ensure that my tissue fibers align properly during regeneration or i will continue to have issues with my right calf. That is achieved though soft stretching. Also I need to minimize scar tissue buildup with massage and ice.
The initial onset use R.I.C.E (Rest Ice Compression Elevation). I kept my leg elevated at work. When I got home I applied ice, 20 on 20 off for 2 hours.
Bummer for my leg ... I wonder, what I did to cause that.
Strength Training for the Dummy Runner like Me
I ripped off this routine from Active.com (by Cathy Vasco) and modified it a little. The routine is designed to be executed at home with dumbbells. In some parts I used a V bar since I was at the gym, same exercise just a different execution ...
1. Bench Press, Barbells (but could use dumbbells), 3x12 reps
2. Rowing, dumbbells (gripping the dumbbells neutral), 3x12 reps
Superset with chair dips
3. Overhead Pulls, 3x12 reps
4. Curls, the routine calls for seated dumbbells neutral. But I used a V bar to vary the angles. Did 12 reps, straight and 12 outward, repeat twice.
5. Crunches, 3x15. But I up'd mine with doubles 15 on top of the 15, so 15/15 doubles, x3. Took the idea from Billy Blanks Abs bootcamp :)
6. Lunges ... I didn't do lunges due to the condition of my quads after quad killer weekend.
That was it for this routine. I added side planks where you rotate one arm up and out, 5 each side. I though it completed this routine very nicely.
Total time ... about 30 minutes ! Its a great, simple. As a runner I sometimes forget that strength training is important for my performance. So i think incorporating a small amount of strength training with some variation of uphill / downhill training will help me perform better during my road and trail events.
1. Bench Press, Barbells (but could use dumbbells), 3x12 reps
2. Rowing, dumbbells (gripping the dumbbells neutral), 3x12 reps
Superset with chair dips
3. Overhead Pulls, 3x12 reps
4. Curls, the routine calls for seated dumbbells neutral. But I used a V bar to vary the angles. Did 12 reps, straight and 12 outward, repeat twice.
5. Crunches, 3x15. But I up'd mine with doubles 15 on top of the 15, so 15/15 doubles, x3. Took the idea from Billy Blanks Abs bootcamp :)
6. Lunges ... I didn't do lunges due to the condition of my quads after quad killer weekend.
That was it for this routine. I added side planks where you rotate one arm up and out, 5 each side. I though it completed this routine very nicely.
Total time ... about 30 minutes ! Its a great, simple. As a runner I sometimes forget that strength training is important for my performance. So i think incorporating a small amount of strength training with some variation of uphill / downhill training will help me perform better during my road and trail events.
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