Happy New Year! It is finally 2014! I have been looking forward to the beginning of a new year for quite some time, and now that it’s here…what do I do?? We spent the last few hours of the year at a house party with friends, lots of tasty snacks and adult beverages.
Heading to the NYE house party! Happy New Year!
I’ve really enjoyed reading so many other bloggers’ recaps of 2013 and their resolutions for 2014. I’ve already written my recap of 2013, and I’ve shared my general running goals moving forward, but what are my New Year’s Resolutions?
I’m so glad I can finally take the time to give a proper update on the past month! I didn’t write about my latest runs because there haven’t been any. The last time I’ve run was on Sunday, September 8, at the Heroes Run 5K, which I discuss in a previous post. During that run I felt some very unpleasant pain in my left (non-stress fractured) foot and it scared me. Immediately, I set an appointment with my Sports Medicine doctor. He did a few tests indicating that I still have those weak hips, particularly on the right side, though I am clearly stronger than in February. He did some squeezing on my metatarsals and the 3rd bone in my left foot felt pretty sore…yikes! He didn’t seem concerned that I got a new stress fracture but ordered X-rays just in case and wrote a prescription for Physical Therapy for plantar fasciitis and gait training. So now I’m back at Novacare!
It’s kind of sad to state that this is my 3rd time going through physical therapy. The first time was summer 2012 after being concerned about my chronic knee pain, or “Runner’s Knee”. I learned some exercises but my therapist didn’t do much for me. It didn’t make it difficult to try a different office when I had my stress fracture in February of this year, and that was a much better experience, though I constantly saw different therapists each time due to my inflexible schedule (grad school and PT four days a week total).
But this time, we’re doing things differently and I’m very confident in the plan. Once again, Kim is my PT, but this time I’ve been working almost exclusively with her. At my first session, my measurements were taken to determine my flexibility and I took a series of very bizarre balancing tests to determine my functional movement.
Since then I have been working SO hard. Here is a summary of the exercises that I do at Physical Therapy 3 times a week:
Frankenstein walks
Opposite arm/opposite leg lifts with Theraband, 30 times each side
30 mountain climbers on a stair stepper
25-second slant board stretch, 10 times each side
5 second modified single legged bridges 30 times each side
15-second planks on giant exercise ball, 10 times
30-second planks, 5 times (just added)
Theraband hip stretches, 10 times each side (just added)
A couple other core exercises with Therabands (one standing and one on the floor) that I can’t really describe
Last Friday was the “mid-point” of my PT. Kim took new measurements and it seems that I’m improving, so yay! Focusing on strengthening my core has been key, and will hopefully prepare me for when I return to running!
Oh yeah, I guess that Runner’s World 10K on Saturday is a no-go….10K races seem to be the bane of my existence! Another 40 bucks wasted, but oh well…
Wish me luck as I keep pushing…I will never give up!
First off, I’d like to thank everyone who has been reading and enjoying my blog. I’ve noticed a lot of page views since writing about my 6 pound weight loss, and the thought that I could inspire others to do the same is amazing!
On another note, I’m having some technical difficulties with the blog (comments not loading properly), so I’m using a simpler template for the time being until I find something pretty. I look at a lot of blogs and they have really great designs…so hopefully I’ll find something that’s simple, clean, and attractive.
I’ve wanted to write again for days now but it’s been a busy week. Monday was Labor Day and instead of taking a day off, I joined Black Girls Run for Boot Camp with Platoon Fitness! It was awesome: 30+ black women (most of which had already run 3-5 miles) doing squats, lunges, supermen, all kinds of sit ups, and adding in some jogs in between. It was brutal and my quads and glutes hurt for DAYS! I haven’t felt that kind of good pain in ages, so I LOVED every minute of it.
I had a couple of pictures but the Facebook Group was recently shut down…so I can’t grab them. I will once it returns. I am slowly liking BGR a little more, but it’s still hard to not already have a friend who’s involved. Sometimes I can be a little shy!
Despite the days of an aching body, I ran on Tuesday for about 2.7 miles, and while I actually felt really good, my foot didn’t. I had to call my doctor again and let her know that while my left foot has signficantly improved in pain, my right foot still hurts after running. I actually had to pull out my old ice pack for my arch…so that was unsettling.
My doc said I should talk to the sports medicine doc and see what he says, and in the meantime continue my “stretching” exercises for my foot. So here I am getting the runaround. My sports medicine doctor is not my favorite person…so I don’t really want to write a long message to him and get a blunt response as per usual. I’ve been dying to see a PODIATRIST but they seem to refuse to allow it. It’s really making me angry. I think they would know what’s wrong with my foot more so than the other two. Sigh.
In any event, for the first time since January, I am in training! On Saturday, October 19, I will be doing my first 10K at the Runner’s World Half and Festival. There will be a ton of activity on Saturday with a 5K, 10K, running seminars, and then the big Half Marathon is on Sunday.
The course sounds absolutely amazing. I have never run a race outside of Philadelphia, so I’ll actually have to take a drive to get there! I’m really hoping that I’m in good health to run my first 6.2 miler!
I am using Hal Higdon’s novice 10K training plan to get ready for the race! So far I have stuck to the plan, but I need to keep up with strength training and cross training. Yesterday, my boyfriend and I took a nice bike of about 10 miles, and today I need to do 40 minutes of cross training.
When I work with a training plan, I tend to perform very well in my races. It provides me with the discipline I tend to lack, and I add each workout to my Google calendar so that I get a reminder at the start of each day. I still track my runs on Runkeeper but have finally learned to turn OFF the audio cues so that I can just enjoy myself!
I’m very nervous about my upcoming 2 races, the first that I will have in 2013. This has been a very difficult year for me. I’m still fighting a lot of battles (don’t get me started on nutrition!), but running means so much to me and I will do whatever it takes to get healthy and strong again.
