My Running Gait Analysis with Tracy Peal Speed

By Janelle @ Run With No Regrets | review , running

After all of the issues I’ve had with running shoes over the past year, I keep thinking that if I can just get my running form correct, everything will fall into place.

So I’ve finally been able to get my running gait analyzed by a professional!  Kim, my physical therapist, set me up to participate in a gait analysis session at Novacare as part of a lecture being held by Mr. Tracy Peal of Tracy Peal Speed.  He is an expert on biomechanics and provides coaching to all kinds of athletes.

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Five Things I Learned After 3 Rounds of Physical Therapy

By Janelle @ Run With No Regrets | fitness , injury prevention

As I wind down into my final couple of weeks of Physical Therapy I’ve started to reflect on how much time and energy I’ve spent rehabbing my body in the past 15(!) months.  MY PT timeline:

• Round 1: July – August 2012.  Was diagnosed with “Runner’s Knee” after experiencing awful knee pain during an intense few months of training and racing.
• Round 2: March – May 2013.  Developed a stress fracture in my right foot after changing my running gait and shoes to “improve” my form.
• Round 3: September – November 2013.  Developed plantar fasciitis after slowly starting back running in new shoes and freaked out after feeling foot pain after a 5K.

So here are the Top Five Physical Therapy Tips I’ve learned after all of my experiences…

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Latest Nutrition Session…Same Plan, New Method

By Janelle @ Run With No Regrets | nutrition

After a lot of cancellations, I was finally able to see my dietitian for a follow up  last Wednesday since being put on a 1900 calorie diet plan.  As I mentioned before, the first plan worked great, and I lost 6 pounds.

But September didn’t go as well.  I ended up losing 2 more pounds, which was not the goal.  I was supposed to maintain my diet, but it became increasingly difficult to write down all of my meals, day after day after day.  Usually at work I’d start off great, but once I got home, I got lazy, and didn’t feel like writing it all down.  On top of that, we spent a lot more time going out to eat.

I’ve been struggling with coming up with creative snacks and my lunches overall have been boring (PB&J every day), so instead, we’ve worked out a few options for each meal that I can have the freedom to choose, as long as I keep up with the correct number of food groups in each meal.  Then I keep track of what I’ve eaten throughout the day, and if I miss a serving earlier in the day, I can make adjustments to make it up by the end of the day.

For example – for breakfast, I should have one bread/starch, one fruit, one dairy, and one meat.  So to satisfy this, I had one serving of low-sugar apple cinnamon oatmeal with 8 oz of almond milk,  a 4 oz glass of orange juice and a handful of peanuts.  Surprisingly this meal really filled me up.

I think that this new method will be much better for me.  While my first couple of days started well, I have to admit, this weekend I haven’t been doing the greatest job…we had a lot of toasting and celebrating to do.  But I will buckle down and keep committed!

It’s time to get more groceries, so I’m looking forward to adding the following new snack items to the list:

• Animal crackers and whole grain crackers
• Laughing Cow cheese wedges
• Baby Carrots (not my favorite but I’ll keep trying)
• KIND bars (work as a fruit and meat serving)
• Frozen yogurt
• Low calorie ice cream bars
• Sugar-free pudding

Back to Physical Therapy for Plantar Fasciitis

By Janelle @ Run With No Regrets | training

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!