Road to Recovery & Week 37 Recap

I'm almost afraid to post this, but I think my foot is on the mends. I woke up with zero pain today, even when I took my first steps out of bed, and it's felt great all day! Every now and then I think I feel a twinge, but that's probably in my head because it feels too good to be true and I don't want to get my hopes up too soon.

It is a strange sensation to finally feel a body part healed. When you have an injury, the pain decreases both in intensity and frequency as it heals, but you still have that nagging dull ache until it's fully heals. Then all of a sudden you wake up one day and it is completely gone. You almost miss the pain because you barely remember what it was like to not have it and wonder all day if it's really gone or if stepping the wrong way will suddenly bring it back. It's a wonderful feeling!

Even though I ran 9.5 miles this weekend, I took really good care of the foot. It was bothering me a bit on the ride Friday night, but I stretched it well and taped it before the run. The taping worked wonders. Not only was I not in pain during most of the run, there was no pain after. I kept it taped most of the day while we were out, and I think that helped too. What I think really put it over the edge was that I finally did yoga and lots of stretching on Sunday.

Apparently thunderbolt pose (where you sit on your heels) is great for this, and I did that a few times without knowing it. I did yoga before bed last night, wore the splint, and was sure to stretch and flex the foot before stepping out of bed and I could not believe it when I didn't feel pain even on that first step. I'm still going to be cautiously optimistic, continue to stretch every chance I get (e.g. when waiting for my food to heat up in the break room) and do yoga regularly again in hopes that the pain stays away for good!

This makes me feel much better about the upcoming Half Marathon in 6 weeks, and that I'll be able to train for a full marathon in February! I was going to run a 15k this weekend, but decided against it earlier this weekend. I am tempted to register now, but I don't want to push it too soon, so I'm going to sleep in, go for a short(er) run and enjoy running :)

Week Totals (rounded)

• run - 17 miles
• walk - 6 miles
• bike - 39 miles
• strength/core - 14 (full) push ups (oh yeah, I'm restarting 100 push up challenge, but with full push ups this time)
• yoga - 40 min
• totals - 10 hrs / 61 miles

Workout Summary

See details on Dailymile

• Monday - 1 hr massage :)
• Tuesday - ran 3 miles; biked 1.3 miles (publix)
• Wednesday - walked 2.5 miles (bus)
• Thursday - ran 4 miles; walked 1.25 miles (bus)
• Friday - walked 2.5 miles (bus); biked 17.25 miles (ice cream)
• Saturday - ran 9.5 miles; biked 20 miles (fm, lunch, gms)
• Sunday - 40 min yoga (2 sessions); 14 (real) push ups!