Appointment with the Podiatrist

I made an appointment last week with my podiatrist to get his blessing to do the 13k run in October. However other than walking over the weekend I also did a short stint of skipping. And I hurt my foot. Not my problem foot, but the other foot. Apparently because of the walking and skipping (mainly the skipping) I overworked my foot and strained my tendon and pinched a nerve.

So the original intention to go to the podiatrist close to pain-free (except after runs) ended up with me hobbling down with a tingling big toe and an arch that ached. We discussed how I was constantly hurting myself doing ridiculous things like skipping when I hadn't skipped in years and the nagging ankle ache when I did my runs now.

He was also shocked that I slipped my feet into my running shoes without undoing the laces. Yeah, so it seems the laces on my runners were tied too loosely so my feet were just moving all over the place in the shoes and the orthotics were rendered useless because of all that movement. So boys and girls, tighten them laces because apparently it makes a big deal.

We checked my hips, my back, the length of my legs so on and so forth. He also gave me a heel raise on one of my orthotics and sent me off with a warning to not do anything this week that would put too much weight on the front of the foot. I could run my sad little 3k runs and continue with my walks for the week and next week, we reassess and if it's still lousy, we start adding on ankle straps/taping to get the ankle movement sorted. If that doesn't work, then it might possibly be some problem with my back and then I'll be packed off to a chiropractor or osteopath. Joy. And all I wanted was his blessing for a 13k!

The Slow Long Claw Back to Fitness

It's been tough trying to get back to a 'fighting fit' stage. Currently I'm anything but. Because all my 'runs' previously were transferred to the elliptical and because I found the elliptical dead boring, I had pretty much reduced mileage to under 5k (but really mostly only 2k) and that didn't even translate to running on the road. In the heat. And it's been so hot. I come back from a run nowadays - and by that I mean the only 2 runs I've done this year - dripping with sweat and terribly disappointed in how slow all this is taking.

Yesterday Rich and I did our first trail walk again in ages. It almost didn't happen because it was pissing down at 7am. The rain stopped eventually and we mucked around. Before long it was 10 and getting too late to do anything. We made alternative plans - maybe we could walk to breakfast and walk back - before we decided to just bite the bullet and do the damn trail walk we'd planned to do in the first place. So after a quick breakfast, we headed out at close to noon.

My ankle and foot ached after our 2 hour trot and I ended up having to cut the walk short because it hurt too much. I don't think I had a huge pain tolerance in the first place (my motto has always been NOT to run through the pain) but it seems what little I had has now been shot and I spend half the time now icing something or the other. That said, aches and pains aside, the walk was good.

We took the trail behind my house and walked to the nature reserve, did half of it and ended up back on Rifle Range where I threw in the towel and insisted we get a taxi back. It was nice to be among all the green again and in spite of my sore ankle, I really do love trail, even with the bugs, mozzies and all them creepy crawlies. Hopefully fingers crossed I can get down to attempting a run on trail again without killing myself by tripping over a root or something equally idiotic.

Incidentally, I've been using the Daily Mile to log my training. I started using it because the Masters Swimming Club had a swim challenge they issued to all of us and I had to sign up to join the challenge. It's pretty amazing though and it can never hurt to know how many donuts you've burnt off or how many tvs you've powered. If any of my friends are using it, add me as your friend! It'll be fun to train together virtually! There's never any harm having more training buddies!

No Rest for the Wicked

But tons of rest for me. Again. I'll post the report of Safra Avventura tomorrow, but Rich and I sort of completed it yesterday (you'll see) and I ache so bad. Neck down, everything hurts. Down to my good ole sesamoids.

Just got back from my podiatrist and I've been made to take a month off running. Bah. I also got my insoles adjusted to help get the weight off them. So no Green Corridor Run for me then and potentially no Aquathlon and maybe no City Race. And I was really looking forward to the City Race because it seemed like a whole lot of fun orienteering and running around the city. Ah well.

The Longest 2km Ever

After doing nothing except maybe a swim or two during the festive period because I was either banned by my podiatrist from running or just down with the flu, I decided to go for a run yesterday. I figured it'd be good to get a couple of km under my belt before the adventure race on Sunday that I have done absolutely no training for.

I pretty much got a stitch not very far into the run and I had to slow to a walk just under 1km. After walking off the stitch, I managed to get back into a sort of trot-run and then it was back to walking again. It took me a good 20 minutes to finish 2km which is a complete morale sap. And despite it being such a pathetic attempt at a run, my foot still hurt after and I had to ice it again. Ah joy. I foresee the upcoming adventure race being a wonderfully enjoyable event!

Meantime, I got my results back from the X-ray I did last week and I have no fractures (woohoo!) but the sesamoids on my left foot are considerably smaller than those on my right. Essentially they're not happy with all the weight on them. As to why they were perfectly fine for 30 over years of my life but are now acting up is beyond me. All the same, woohoo for no fractures!

What I've done:

Saturday - 1.5k swim 

-                     360m warm up

-                     240m drills

-                     240m kicks

-                     120m strokes

-                     240m free/breast

-                     240m IM swim

-                     240m cool down

Yesterday – 2k run/walk

Questions Answered

First off, a big WOW and congratulations are due to my friends who completed the Melbourne Marathon - Chris and Gina. I knew they were both going to do a Full and a Half respectively, but it only occurred to me the day before the actual race that they might actually be doing the same race albeit different distances. Doh! All the same, Chris ran sub-4 (better than Paul Ryan!) and Gina ran sub-3 which is pretty awesome considering the only time I did a halfie, I took ages and ages. So well done, you awesome running people!

Other than that, the weekend was pretty much a blow-out. Hardly did anything because I was so dang tired. I managed to make it down for pilates on Saturday and then did a quick walk up the Nature Reserve with Rich on Sunday. Did a short run on Friday which turned out fine minus the return of my all-too-familiar stitch...Didn't go too far because well...erm....I was just plain lazy. Because I knew I wasn't going to go too far, I tried to run a bit harder...which maybe explains the stitch. So that didn't last very long either.

Whilst mid-run, I thought about my podiatrist and I realised that I'm kind of glad I went to see him. Rich says I walk like a cowboy sometimes and I never really understood what he meant, but it's the whole flicking outwards that my foot makes when it leaves the ground. I know it's to compensate for something, but I forget now. Then there's been that annoying pain on my little toe that never really quite went away and the foot aches that cause a whole bunch of hobbling around. In all, it's nice to know that there's a reason for all of this. Makes me feel that I'm not actually that much of a freak and that maybe I can run (not that I'd choose it as my first sport of choice) a little more pain-free once I get all that fixed up.

I've finally got myself a new pair of runners. I decided to go cheap and headed to Queensway (sports gear mecca!) over the weekend and got me a sweet new pair of Asics Gel-Nimbus 13s for $70 less than the usual specialist running store I go to! I did miss having someone there who said 'yes, you should wear this shoe and in this size' though because I'm terrible at making a decision. Even something as simple as 'do I want this in a size 6 or a size 6.5?' I spent a good half hour deciding that. This despite the fact that I brought my old shoes along and it clearly showed 6.5. I ended up buying a size 6 and then going home rummaging through all my old shoes (all size 6.5 as expected) and heading back the next day to change it. Maybe that's what the $70 gives me - extra time and peace of mind. Plus Queensway is like a zoo in the weekends, way too many people! Meanwhile I just hope I got the right pair of shoes.

What I've done:
Friday - Ran 20 minutes
Saturday - 45 mins Pilates
Sunday - Walked Bkt Timah Nature Reserve

The Foot Report

I went to see the podiatrist today and have learned that I have one foot a wee bit shorter than the other, and that I walk funny and have been walking/running funny for a while. That's the short story. The long story involves a lot of walking around, reaching for my toes and standing around while my little toes and big toes were moved around.

Bottom line is, I need custom-made orthotics because I am over-compensating for my feet by walking funny and over-working muscles (or something like that). I also need to stretch my calves and hamstrings twice a day, do an ice bottle massage after each run and I need to either get regular sports massages on my calves or do it myself with the foam roller. Oh joy.

Plus I've got to change my running shoes (which I kind of knew, but didn't think I ran enough lately to justify getting a spanking new pair of runners) which means a trip down to Queensway tomorrow to find a new pair, which he kindly recommended a few.

The good thing that came out of all this is that I've been given a free pass to skip the halfie I signed up for. Woohoo! I can sleep in and not feel bad that I'm being lazy! He did say thought that I should shoot for the trail race later in the month I also signed up for. Which is fine, I like that race anyway.

So now my foot is taped up and he says to run tonight with the tape on. So far I've walked with the tape on and it's dang uncomfortable, and for some reason my heel is starting to ache a little. Not sure how my run is going to go.

All in all, I quite like this guy, aside from being rather good eye-candy, he seems to know his feet. He's the 3rd podiatrist I've seen ever and I felt more informed coming out of the appointment. It could well be that he spins a good tale, but hell if I'm paying that much, at least spin a good tale!

Sickies

Be warned, this is going to be a 'poor me' rant. I promise to keep it short though!

And I was doing so well! I think I got through almost half a year without falling ill. Then again, I was following a better schedule than I was the last week. I just rediscovered Touched By an Angel and I've been keeping stupid hours. Urgh, going to load up on the Vitamin C, Echinacea, and garlic...ain't no Vampires hanging out with me for the next couple of days!

I've also gone off and injured my right shoulder, so I've been told to lay off the front crawl for a week at least. Which makes swim training a little bit lame. Plus I've to do a whole bunch of strengthening exercises to get my shoulder blade to stop shifting so much and screwing up my tendon again. Not fun. To top that off, my right toe was hurting too and I went for a run (yes yes, I thought I'd run off the pain) and aggravated it, so was told to lay off running for at least a week too. So essentially all I can do by way of training is cycle...Blech.

When it rains, it really pours.

Okay, rant over!


What I've Done:

Saturday - Swim training (2.1K)

Monday - Ran 4k in 28 mins

Tuesday - Swim training (kicks and breast stroke only - 800m)

Sports Injuries

I really wish I had more 'glamorous' sports injuries like 'oh I ran so fast I broke my leg in the process'...or at least something not as lame as me tripping over my toe and spraining in as I got into the pool. Which of course is what I did last night at swim training. I got out of the pool to get my paddles and then pretty much stumbled back into the pool. So now my fourth toe is aching and the bit that scraped against the wall of the pool just keeps oozing clear liquid. Lovely.

Yesterday's training was short as well. I had to catch stand-up comedy with Rich after training, so had to leave pretty much after a half hour session. So it's not like I sacrificed my toe for something big. I think I managed three 150m sets (swim/kick/drill) and 4 x 200m pull sets. Meh. Didn't really feel like I did much.

What I did:
Yesterday - 1/2 hour of swim training
Today - 1hr personal training

My Middle Name is 'Bruise'

This weekend was not spent as fruitfully as I would have liked it to be. Saturday was pretty much a lost cause since I spent almost all of it feeling crazy tired and slightly hungover from playing till too late on Friday. Sunday was my saving grace because I hauled my aching ass and legs (from my PT class on Friday) over to East Coast (by that I mean, I drove down there) and did a short bike ride. All of 14km (ooooh!). Met some of the windsurfing folk, who gave me a hard time for giving up the sport...which I haven't! I just hate my sail. And now I've gotten rid of that, I might just go back to renting equipment...but that's another story.

Now after my crazy night on Friday, I found a nice big bump on my shin. Probably from kicking myself unknowingly or something. I tend to do that after having some vino...I suspect I have some masochistic streak in me! Then I found 4 more shiners this morning after my bike ride. I have no idea how I'm riding the darn bike that I would get 4 weird bruises in completely random places. I don't think I've ever been bruise-free in my life, come to think of it! Firstly I bruise easily and secondly I'm clumsy as hell. It'd actually be amazing if I were ever bruise-free!

What I did:

Friday: 1 hr of leg/core work - torture getting in and out of my chair now!

Sunday: 14k bike ride in I don't know how long, but my legs were jelly after. Weak, I know!

A Date with the Sports Doctor

So early this year at the adventure race I fell and hurt my little toe. After a couple of months of it hurting I went to see the sports doctor about it and on doing an ultrasound on the toe to check that no tendons(?) were torn, established there was nothing wrong it. Still it continued to hurt if I put any weight on it.

Early this month, being the total klutz that I am, when I entered CMPB to get a couple of drinks I tripped over a step and made a very unglamorous entrance. And OBVIOUSLY I would land on the very same toe that has been hurting all this while. So after a couple of weeks, and in the course of them I've squeezed my toe into heels twice (I had to attend fancy dinners! They required heels!), my toe still ached if I moved it back which meant another trip back to the sports doctor. I'm not complaining, the guy's great eye-candy so I'm happy to stare at him all day; but I felt so stupid. It's the last toe, and really in my day-to-day activities, it hardly affects my life, but it's still annoying and I'm a little bit of a hypochondriac - so really, half of me wants to get something sorted and the other half is just going 'this is sooooo lame!'

After looking at the X-ray of my toe and finding out nothing was wrong again, he said the joint might be a bit sore and if it was really troubling me, I could get a cortisone jab. Now I have no problem with taking jabs, but frankly if it's not absolutely compulsory I have one, then I'd rather just lay off the jab. So the plan B is icing the crap out of my toe and going on a week of anti-inflammatories. Hopefully that'll wipe out all the pain on the toe and I can go back to....well, it's not like I stopped my life because of the toe! I guess the upside of all this is I got another look at the doctor, I just wish I didn't come across like a complete klutz!

Misadventures in the Gym

On Saturday, I did my 'circuit training'* again and don't ask me how but I managed to pull my left quadricep(s?) stretching. So much for my lunges this week, I had to settle for squats and they hurt because my thigh was sore (I'm using that as my excuse as to why I didn't do my long run yesterday as well).

As usual ("usual" being all of two times) I did the "tens" (7:26 minutes - I remembered to time myself!) but this time I cheated. I started the first 9 push-ups doing proper pushups, but then the rest of the push-ups that followed were girly pushups, on my knees. Somehow despite cheating, I managed to hurt my left wrist. Don't ask me how I did that, I have no idea. In fact I don't even know whether I hurt it doing pushups or I hurt it when I was fiddling with the weights. Aaargh, clumsy clumsy clumsy.

So as I said earlier, I didn't run on Sunday because my thigh was sore, but more because I was just too darn lazy. And 'Zohan' was calling to me from my DVD player.

What I did over the weekend:

Saturday
- Circuit training (approx 45 minutes)
- Swam 15 laps (25:36 minutes)

Sunday
- Went shopping with my good mate (that's like cardio exercise!) who's back in town

*I really have no idea what to call what I do in the gym, so I'm just going to keep calling it 'circuit training'.

How to Sprain Your Finger

1. Have a couple of drinks
2. Talk about spin classes
3. Wave your hands animatedly whilst talking about it
4. Rub hands together to describe friction between seat and crotch
5. Get overly excited and yank last finger too far back because it got caught in other hand

Ta dah! You've got a sprained finger.

And yes, I achieved all that last night.

What I did yesterday other than spraining my finger:
1 hour training with my trainer (purely arms and core work because my legs were shot to hell)