The State of My Leg

Hello, Welcome, and Good Evening my Fellow Americans.  Tonight we gather to discuss the State of our Union.  J/K.  I'm here to discuss the state of my currently gimpy leg.

Addressing Congress...

As you may or may not have noticed, there has not been much mention of RUNNING on this here running blog the past few weeks.  In fact, it has indeed been nearly 4 weeks now that I've abstained from running in the hopes that whatever this twinge/strain/inflammation on the back of my leg was would make a hasty retreat.  I'm sorry to report that has not happened :(

Truth be told, I have not really been resting my leg.  I've maintained my normal workouts, save for running.  My weekly workouts have generally looked like this the past month:

Monday:  Strength or HIIT workout (Bodyweight only, at home)
Tuesday: Strength workout (Weight lifting at the gym)
Wednesday:  BodyCombat (Les Mills kickboxing class)
Thursday: 4 mile walk (outside)
Friday: Bicycling + Rowing workout (gym)
Saturday: REST or Hike outdoors
Sunday:  4 mile walk (outside)

Throughout all of this my leg has not been in pain, but it didn't really feel like it was getting much better.  To be clear, this is not a knee injury.  It is an inflammation/pain of the tendons, ligaments or muscles in the fleshy part of the back of my leg behind my knee.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and let me tell you, I have been dying for a run.  So, last Thursday I turned that 4 mile walk up there into a 3 mile run.  Bad news bears.  1 mile in I felt GREAT!  I was RUNNING for heaven's sake.  The wind in my hair, finally breaking into a real sweat, endorphins starting to kick in, and then I felt it.  An ache.  A twinge.  A pinch in my leg behind my knee.  MOTHER F#$*(&^@!!!!

I convinced myself it wasn't that bad and continued to run.  Another mile.  It was definitely there.  Pain.  Mile 3.  Ok time to stop.  And I definitely paid for that drug-induced endorphin-induced relapse right there, because my leg has been sore ever since.  I've been getting some strange numbness up and down that leg now and into my foot/arch as well.  It comes and goes.  Very strange.

I still don't know where this mystery injury came from.  Is it because I'm wearing running shoes that are far past their prime?  Could be.  My shoes are 9 months old.  Way beyond their lifetime at this point.  Is it because I've been doing 2+ mile walks daily in flip flops with my charges at work?  Probably a contributor.  Did I strain something in my new kickboxing class and continue to aggravate it each week?  Also a possibility!

I had planned to run this trail half marathon with my friend November 1st, but now it seems that may not be a possibility.  Even with the very abbreviated training cycles I do, I still need a minimum of 8 weeks to adequately up my mileage for a half.  That means I would have to start training Sept 1st and that just doesn't seem a possibility right now.  I guess as a last ditch effort I could try to abstain COMPLETELY from all physical activity for the rest of August and attempt a run come September 1.  But who are we kidding.  If you got me to sit still for 2 1/2 weeks you should buy a lottery ticket because you're definitely a miracle worker.  I think at the very least, I will cut out as much walking as possible, as that seems to aggravate it the most. 

[PSA:  I'm somewhat making light of this but if I was in extreme pain, if I felt something may be broken, or if my daily activities were being hindered in any way, I'd obviously abstain from physical activity and possibly see a Dr.  I'm not advising anyone take my advice regarding overuse injuries right now!]

Any suggestions, commiserations, pity parties are welcome!  If you are running right now, LUCKY LUCKY you.  I want to be you.

You haunt my dreams

The State of our Union is strong my fellow Americans (mmm, debatable), but the state of my leg is not.  Send good vibes.  And I'll send some your way :)


When was the last time you suffered a running injury?

What was it and how long did it last?

And HOW DID YOU DEAL!?!?

Training Update (Week 6) and Dr. Scholl's Active Series Insoles Review

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So here we are already in Week 6 of my abbreviated 8 Week training schedule for this little number!

 

 

 

My how the time flies.  And I'm not just talking about the past 6 weeks.  Where, might I ask, did the summer go? And for that matter, the first 9 months of this year?!  I have no idea how I ended up in Fall already, but I'm not too pleased.  I mean the downward spiral of our daily high temps has already started and it only gets worse from here.  Fast forward me to Christmas for 1 day, and then straight to Memorial Day pleeeeeease. 

 

Ok enough rambling.  So going into training for this race I was concerned with how my legs would hold up, namely the periostitis and tendinitis in my lower legs that started to resurface after April's Nike Women's Marathon in DC.  I was therefore also concerned with getting my mileage up in time for this race, since I had started later than I would have ideally wanted.  I'm happy to report that I am feeling pretty good and I was able to get my mileage up pretty quickly.  My running workouts for the past 5 weeks have looked like this:

 

Week 1 - Two short runs of 3 mi each; One 5 mi long run

Week 2 - Two short runs of 3 mi each; One 6 mi long run

Week 3 - Two short runs of 3-4 mi each; One 7 mi long run (at the beach, on vacation I might add!)

Week 4 - Two short runs of 3-4 mi each; One 9 mi long run

Week 5 - Two short runs of 3-4 mi each; One 11 mi long run

Week 6 - Two short runs of 3-4 mi each; Long run TBD this weekend

Week 7 - TBD

Week 8 - TBD

 

On non-running days I continue to cross train with any/all of the following: 

 

At-home circuits/HIIT/WOD (via Pinterest - you can follow my board here)

Interval biking workout (gym)

Weight lifting (gym)

Swimming (gym)

Walking (outside)

Monthly challenge (100 crunches/day for September)

 

I usually take a rest day each week as well. 

 

When I hit that 11 mi run last Friday, I started to feel a lot better about the race.  I have two long runs left before I taper in Week 9 leading up to race date on Oct 20th.  One thing that has really been helping with the long runs lately (though I loathe to admit it) is the cooler temps.  Fall is the season runners across the US rejoice because suddenly we're FASTER!  How does that happen?!  One day you're running in 90 degrees feeling like death, and then a few weeks later it's 65 degrees and you swear you are actually flying.  Either that or you suddenly inherited Usain Bolt's legs. 

 

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So, I was feeling pretty peachy about the race, until I spoke to someone who ran the RW Half last year and said it was her hardest race to date because of the hills!  And I quote: "It was 9 miles of hills. I cried."  Um, EXCUSE me, what was that?!  Oh boy.  Well, despite hearing that little gem of information, I'm actually trying not to think about it.  I will approach the race like every other half marathon and just get out there and run my best! Sure, it might be slower, but it will be a challenge and I will embrace it.  At some point, I would like a half marathon PR below 2:00:00 (my fastest thus far was 2:01) but I think I will have to choose a flatter course.  I know 2 people who ran the Philly Rock N Roll Half a couple of weeks ago, and they both PR'ed saying the course was fast and flat.  So perhaps that will be on the docket for next year!

 

One other thing I wanted to cover in this post was a review of the insoles I have been trying out for the past 5 weeks.  These guys:



 

 

 

I liked them immediately, but wanted to give them several weeks of wear before I did a write-up on here.  As you know, I've been trying many different things to alleviate my stress injuries that seem to crop back up every now and then, and it was only recently that I thought my insoles might need looking at.  I have historically never bought separate insoles to put in my running shoes.  I simply use the ones that come with the shoe, although I know many people swear by separate or even custom insoles with each new shoe purchase.  There were 2 things that led me to believe perhaps I should give insoles a try.

 

First, I attended a nutrition clinic at Road Runner Sports in Columbia, MD earlier this summer and tried out their Shoe Dog fit service.  I always knew I had high arches but they told me I had extremely high arches (is there a difference?!) that required more support.  As part of their no-obligation Shoe Dog service, they created a pair of custom-molded insoles for me while I shopped around.  I didn't end up buying them because they were $80 but it was good information to know!

 

Secondly, when I was visiting my sister in Atlanta in August, we went on nightly walks (I didn't run during that trip because my legs has just started bothering me and I wanted to give them a few weeks' rest before I dove into training).  She had an old pair of insoles that she used when she did a 3 day/60 mile walk for breast cancer a few years ago.  But even using those old insoles and just walking, I could tell a difference in my legs. 

So upon returning, I decided to research insoles and see if there was something within my budget that might help.  I've heard good things about Superfeet insoles before, but they are also currently beyond my budget.  So after seeing several TV commercials for the Dr. Scholl's Active Series I decided to give them a try.  At $19.95, they were affordable, and I have to say I have really seen a difference in the way my legs feel after using them for the past 5 weeks.  The arch support is much better than the flat insoles that came in my Nike's and there is added cushioning zones in the heel and forefront.  If you are suffering from shin or knee pain, I would definitely recommend giving these insoles a try, if you are not ready to spring for custom insoles yet.   

I do continue to run in my ProCompression socks as well as ice my legs after each run.  I also am trying to imitate the Graston therapy I had in PT last year.  If you are not familiar with this, look it up.  A physical therapist uses plastic or metal instruments to scrape at scar tissue that is lurking beneath the skin's surface.  Sounds medieval and painful, right?  Well, it is!!  But apparently, I have a lot of soft tissue adhesions in my lower legs and they need to be broken up or they will continue to cause pain, so I've taken to massaging them with my hands or my Marathon Stick after each run:

 

 

 

Wow, this post turned out to be a lot longer than I had planned! I didn't mean to bore you with my training thus far, but if you are interested in or have any questions about the products I talked about here please let me know.  They are all things I purchased on my own, use regularly, and have found helpful.  Also, if you are currently suffering from any injuries and PT is in your future, beware the Graston treatment! 

 

 

Your turn!

 

Are you training for any fall races?  How is it going?

 

Do you use insoles in your running shoes, or do you just wear them as is?  Do you know what kind of arches you have??

 

 

 



 



Mid-Summer Goal Check and August Arms Challenge

Today is the first day of a new month.  That always feels so good doesn't it?  Like a fresh start in so many ways.  I can't believe it's August already though.  I guess this 'mid-summer' goal check may be a bit late, however according to the calendar, summer technically doesn't end until September 21st so let's go with that :)

I'm not sure if I ever actually stated my summer fitness goal on the blog, but I wanted to incorporate more cross training into my workouts this season.  In the first half of this year, I really slacked on any kind of cross training - I was just running, running, running constantly - and I was afraid this would lead me to re-injure areas I had problems with last year.  I'll back up for a minute and explain those injuries. 

Last year I was elated to find out I had won a spot in the Nike Women's Half Marathon out in San Francisco, so I was training all summer for it.  However, I gradually started to experience pain in my shins and lower legs that I thought was shin splints, but I continued to run through the pain.  The last experience I had with shin splints was when I ran track in high school, and I'm pretty sure we just iced our shins and continued training.  I don't ever remember taking time off or missing meets because of it.  Well, the pain got pretty unbearable last July so I went to see an orthopedic doctor who thought I may have developed stress fractures along my tibias.  She ordered a bone scan to check it out.  What a strange test that was.  They inject you with radioactive dye in the morning.  Then you come back to the lab a few hours later and they take pictures to see where the dye has migrated.  The tibia in both legs was lit up so darkly with dye, the technician said he had never seen inflammation like that before!  Then the doctor came in and said I had severe tibial periostitis and I had to immediately stop running or I was in danger of getting stress fractures up and down both legs!  Im addition, I was diagnosed with posterior tibial tendinitis at this time as well. 

This pretty much crushed my dream of going out to San Francisco to run Nike.  So I started physical therapy, and very reluctantly took some time off running.  But apparently not enough time.  After a few weeks and against the advice of my physical therapist, I started running a little bit a few times a week.  Bad idea.  This just prolonged the injuries.  The thing that really frustrated me during this time (other than not being able to run, which was REALLY hard) was that none of my doctors or physical therapists could pinpoint what had caused these injuries and how to prevent them in the future.  I still don't have an answer for that.  So I took some more time off through last Fall and that's when I got into CrossFit.  LOVED CrossFit and if I had the money to join a box I would definitely have continued.  I think the conditioning I got during my trial month was probably some of the best workouts of my life. 

So fast forward to early this year.  I found out I won a spot in Nike's Inaugural Half Marathon in DC and was PUMPED! With all the time off and conditioning I did through the fall, I felt this was my reward for missing San Fran.  So I trained from January through April for that race, but only by running (I never learn!).  I developed a nagging issue with my right knee before that race but it wasn't enough to stop me.  I still don't know what that was.  I had a great race, not a PR, but I felt really good the entire race, which to me is a WIN!  After the race in late April, I never took any time off from running.  In fact, I've not take any rest weeks or time off since the beginning of the year.  (You can probably see where this is heading.)  A few weeks ago, I started to feel pain on the inside of both ankles but kept running through it. It got progressively worse and I also noticed some tenderness in my left tibia.  I think at this point I realized the tendonitis in both ankles had resurfaced and my shins were hinting at some inflammation as well.  This is what I get for NOT cross-training.  Even though I told myself at the beginning of the summer that I would be more conscious of adding non-running workouts into my schedule, I failed to do this. 

So it's now been about 3 weeks since I've gone for a run.  I have the Runner's World Half Marathon coming up in October and I don't want a repeat of last Fall.  In the past three weeks I have been swimming, biking and lifting like a maniac.  I probably should add in some total rest days here and there, and I know I also need to be doing some strengthening exercises like these as well:


Video via Runners World

In the meantime, I continue to search for answers as to WHY I keep getting the same soft tissue injuries in my lower legs.  I personally think the surface I run on is part of it (I run solely on concrete and asphalt) but I also think my form is part of it as well.  After reading Born to Run, it just seems heel-striking is not the most natural way to run.  I've also been connecting with some teachers of Chi Running on social media and am interested in picking up a copy of that book next.  I read an article in Runner's World recently about a woman who would cycle through the same overuse injuries between every race until she took a course in Chi Running and has now been injury free.  Proponents of Chi state that it is a more relaxed, natural way of running that reduces injury.  After I've had a chance to read the book, I'll post a review up here.  When I start running again, I may go back to the treadmill for awhile to see if the softer surface helps at all.  (I haven't run on a treadmill in probably over a year, ugh!).  I'm hoping if I really stick to taking some time off, doing some strengthening exercises and cross training, I will be ok to start training again soon and do Runner's World in October.

One of the things that actually did force me to incorporate cross training were the monthly Challenges that I started this summer.  Remember Plank A Day for June?  And last month was the 30 day Squat Challenge:

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If you squatted along with this entire challenge, you did 3,295 squats this month!  Give yourself a giant pat on the booty for that :)

 

I've decided August will be for Arms and this is the challenge I'm doing for the month, if you'd like to join:

 



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I mean we need to balance out our hugely muscular thighs now right?!

 

Here's to hoping by the end of the month, my legs are feeling healthy and fresh.

 

 

Questions for you today:

 

Have you experienced any running injuries?  How did you deal with them?

 

Are you participating in any Fitness Challenges this month?