Wednesday, April 18, 2007

My body is much happier

So since I haven't run in about twelve days, my body is much happier with me - no more random aches and pains, and things just feel generally better! Everything except my belly that is, where my abs have gone back under cover - the body fat is noticeably up since the run mileage fell off. I am increasingly convinced that while running may provide some cardiovascular benefits, it really isn't all that good for you!

PT - It's on!

So on Monday of this week I got in to see a physical therapist with the local sports medicine department. Katy spent some time watching me walk, doing range-of-motion tests and strength tests, and then video taped me on the treadmill. Her conclusion from working with me was that there is nothing wrong with my gait or any physical issues, and that my injury was likely just from over use. Cyclists don't have the greatest bone strength as cycling isn't totally weight bearing, so shifting to a heavy running load just over stressed my left tibia.

The good news is that Katy thinks I will have no problem running the race. She wants me to continue with non-impact aerobic work (I have been out on my fixed-gear bike a lot) and to begin doing some specialized stretches and strengthening routines. This weekend I will begin running a little (very little at first) and will slowly ramp back up. One good thing about my training is that I have already done a couple of decently long runs (18 and 20 miles), so the is confident that I will be able to do the full race. I will get in to see Katy three more times before the race to assess how things are progressing and to make any needed changes in the plan. In the mean time I certainly don't mind being back on the bike a lot!

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Sorry...

Hey all. Sorry I haven't been keeping things a bit more up to date here. I've been in a bit of a workout funk with the leg injury and I'm back at school now and seem to be constantly pressed for time.

The update on the leg is that it is definitely a stress fracture of the left tibia. I saw my doc on Monday and he confirmed what my trainer thought, but ordered an MRI to ensure that it wasn't anything else like compartment syndrome. I had the MRI on Tuesday, which took forever. Apparently lower legs are not a commonly imaged area and the techs had some problems getting the images they were looking for. Laying on one of those MRI beds for 90 minutes isn't all that comfortable in case you were wondering!

Based on the MRI results my doc thought it would be beneficial to meet with a physical therapist to look at continued training and recovery options. Hopefully we can work out an adequate training plan that still allows me to do the race.

My leg doesn't feel that bad now that I'm not running (actually most of me feels much better without the constant pounding...). There is some dull aching in the leg, especially toward the end of the day, but not bad. I have been hitting the elliptical machines for about an hour a day to keep my aerobic base up, and that doesn't seem to bother the leg. Hopefully I will be able to start adding some running back into the routine pretty soon!

Saturday, April 7, 2007

The end is nigh


I knew that something wasn't right with my leg. After waking up on Thursday with my lower left leg in substantial pain, I went to talk to my team's athletic trainer, T. She did some poking around and squeezing and gave her assessment that I most likely have a stress fracture. T is really good and really knows what she is doing, so I have no doubt that she is correct. I have an appointment next week with my primary care physician who will hopefully order an MRI to confirm (most stress fractures don't show up in x-rays).

The fracture is on the inside of my left tibia, about four or five inches below my knee. It doesn't hurt all the time, although it does seem to hurt when I get up in the morning, and it is pretty sore by the end of the day as well.

I'm not real sure what this means for the race yet. Everyone I've talked to has said that I need to get into a pool and start water running, but I don't know that I have enough pool access to make that work. It didn't seem to be bothering me biking to work this morning, so the bike may be OK. I am going to head to the gym shortly here to try out an elliptical to see if that bothers it at all; I figure that is as close as you can come to running without any impact. If I can keep up my aerobic base I will hopefully be able to still do the race. I would hate to have done all this training and not be able to run the event!

Thursday, April 5, 2007

Something isn't right

Greetings from beautiful Oak Ridge, Tennessee! I have been down here in the Volunteer State since Friday training with the women's rowing team that I coach during our spring break. The trip so far has been pretty good from a training perspective, but the rest of the trip hasn't been great for me from a school or running perspective.

On the academic side of things, I just haven't gotten enough done. I've done some reading and some writing, but no research on the two big papers that I have to do. Between two extended practices a day and trying to get in some runs, I don't have all that much motivation left to study. Oh well, it is "break," right?

On the running front, I haven't gotten in as much as I should have. I missed a little running with the travel days down here, and I will miss some with the travel back. The bigger problem, however, is that I'm having a goodly bit of pain in both of my legs. The right shin is a bit sore, but I'm not too worried about that. More concerning is the pain that I'm having in my left calf/shin area; the pain here is much more acute. Today will be a day off and I need to have the team trainer take a look at it and see what she thinks. My guess is a strain of some sort, hopefully nothing more severe than that. Odd that this would happen when my mileage has actually dropped off.

The running down here hasn't been great as there isn't much of anywhere to run. There is a small park near our hotel that has some nice paths on it, but you are essentially running in circles all over the park. There is also a nice new bike/run path near the river here, but the 4.5 mile run over there is on busy shoulders with strip malls and redneck good-old-boys passing you too close while leaning on the horn. And the girls on the trip with us who go for runs get it even worse. Ahhh, the South, sometimes I wonder if we should have let them go....

Early tomorrow morning we pack up and head to Indianapolis for a day of training and a day of racing, then it's back home to Madison where I hear it snowed over night. Not cool - it is April, it shouldn't be snowing any more!