Digging Deep

I've been spending time trying to pull some positives out of this forced time off from training. It hasn't been easy, and I'm not finding a lot of positives. But, I am learning some things about myself.
Here are a few of those things:
1. My lifestyle is pretty darned active.
In contrast, Most people my age are not as active as me. Therefore, they don't get why this is a big deal.
2. My kids are pretty darn active.
But,they are content to hang with me and watch a movie in the evening.
3. I have a hard time sitting down to watch a movie.
Even with my kids.
when I'm not injured, I never actually sit when a movie is on.
4. I like coaching/ working with preteen girls.
I've continued to work with the Girl's Inc group that I started. And, it's been great. The girls are fun, and like pushing themselves to run a little better every week.
5. I am not a patient person, when the patience is needed for myself.
I want my foot to be better. Non. I want to be running and biking. Now.
In contrast, I am very patient with the people I work with.
6. I think like a runner/biker.
When I'm driving, I am generally assessing my route in reference to what type of run/bike course it would be. I never really noticed this until now. Probably because it's coupled with the frustration of knowing that I can't run or bike.

That's it for now.
-Heidi

Answers for the Foot Mystery

Saturday I did a scheduled bike ride. It was a high intensity workout to get a sense of lactation thresh hold- meaning that the purpose of the workout was to go so hard that I wanted to hurl. It was awesome! I averaged 5mph faster than my normal workout- and maintained it for 30 minutes. By the time I finished, I could barely walk. My quads were screaming for a break.My knees ached. My feet throbbed. Even Jack and Mack thought I looked and smelled disgusting:)

I showered, and got dressed to go to my Great Uncle Pete's memorial service (More on that later) I popped a few ibuprofen and went on my way.

Then, later that night, I was sitting on the couch with the kids. I flexed my foot, and something snapped. It sent my foot into immediate muscle spasms, with swelling and a bruise. I iced it, took ibuprofen and elevated it right away. But, I ended up crying myself to sleep with the pain.
Sunday morning the pain and swelling were worse. I waited for urgent care to open, and headed over there for some Xrays. Those showed nothing. The Dr. thought I probably ruptured a tendon. So, she wrapped my foot, gave me crutches and a post-op shoe and instructions to follow up with Ortho.

I woke up this morning, and again the swelling and pain were worse. Despite the fact that my drill sarg...I mean really supportive husband made sure that I iced every 20 minutes, and didn't get off the couch all day.
I managed to get in to ortho this afternoon. This is one of the Dr's who consults with the NY Giants when they are in town for spring training. So, I know he's good. Before I even let him look at my foot, we talked about my lifestyle. I told him that it's important he understands that I'm not a 40 year old soccer mom, who's main goals are to wear cute shoes, and shop in the mall all day.
More xrays ensued. Then a diagnosis. Stress fracture with possible tendon damage. Now, I am in this lovely piece of DME:

I'm looking at 2 weeks in this beautiful piece of hardware. I can try swimming in a week, but nothing before that.When I looked frustrated by the news, the Dr said, "of course, if you want to change your personal goals, and just go shopping for some cute shoes, we can treat this much less conservatively."
He does not play fair!

I think the worst part about this, is that the bike ride I had that day was such a high. I got off the bike that day, knowing that if I could maintain that pace in a race, I'd be placing significantly higher in my races this year.

No foot injury is ever straight forward for me.

I've been having some pretty extreme foot pain for the past 3 weeks. Wakes me up in the middle of the night sometimes, and if I touch the top of my foot in the right spots; Well, it's excruciating!

But, it doesn't hurt when I run. (Figure that out). So, I finally went to the Dr yesterday. Of course, he took one look at it and said, "hmmm. This is weird, and way out of my league. I'm sending you to a specialist." He sent me for some xrays to rule out an occult fracture...results still pending. Hopefully, I'll get in to see the Podiatrist this week.

In the meantime, my running volume is going to be cut way down.

Oh well, if it was straight forward, it wouldn't be my foot :)