MY "FIRST"

I took the plunge.  Yesterday after spinning on the trainer for 45 dizzy minutes, I decided to go downstairs and try to run on the treadmill.  I ran barefoot.  3 minutes.  About a 14 minute pace (It's not about speed....yet).  Pain?  No, not really.  Some slight throbbing of the Achilles, but seriously, I no longer trust myself to rate pain on a scale of 1-10, and quite honestly I have difficulty distinguishing from the heel bone and the Achilles.  I do feel the bone, and my guess-- after talking to others who have broken a bone, had bone surgery, lost part of a bone-- they still feel the bone afterwards for quite awhile.  It's not painful, but rather a constant reminder.  A few hours later I could feel my ankle/heel area stiffening up, so I went on a bike ride with my 8-year old.  Not as easy as you might like to think.  He, like his father, is a risk-taker. So we rode a lot of over-grown trails and then up a nice steep hill (on the road).  It did, however, loosen me up.  BTW, I wore my Trek Sport Fivefingers.

Fast-forward to today, a morning that was no different than any other morning since I've been on my feet post surgery.  I rode Phat Shirley out to my favorite horse trails (Infirmary Park), rode around, and then rode home.  About 16 miles.  The nice aspect of cycling is it really requires me to ride evenly on both sides.  No gimping around allowed.  And again, with Phat Shirley, speed doesn't matter.  Courage matters, which I am slowly regaining.  I do a lot of thinking out on the trails, be it running or cycling, and it never fails to amaze me how my self-perception and self-confidence is intrinsically tied to running.  If I liked tattoos, mine would say "I'd rather be running" or, since I seem to lack courage at the moment, a license plate that says, "My other car is my running shoes." Courage.

Anyway, when I returned home, I stretched, hopped on the treadmill for (get ready...) 4! minutes at a slightly faster clip.  Barefoot.  Again, I am slowly regaining the courage.

New Ideas

So this week, my regular PT, Mark, is in Honduras in a missionary capacity.  In his absence, Chris is filling in. I find it interesting to observe differences in a PTs approach.  First, some history. While no longer a runner, I discovered that Chris is more into lifting (yep, he works out. 1 point)  It also came about that in his previous position (he recently moved to the area-- this weekend), he wore FiveFingers.  A minimalist (2 points).  Now, don't get me wrong, Mark has been more than capable, but as I said in an earlier post, I have become quite the snob when it comes to choosing physicians.  So Chris asked about my history.  How much did I used to run... Have I ever sprained my ankle...He also added some new, tremendously difficult/exhausting exercises.  (more about those later)  When he had me on the table, he noticed that my ankle was locking up in the dorsiflexion position, suggesting that with ankle sprains (multiple in my case), the ankle can become jammed.  So he un-jammed that.  Then he asked about my scar, and if it ever caused discomfort. Yes, in fact, it does, especially when my ankle swells at the end of the day and becomes rather lumpy.  So he worked on that and suggested Vitamin E lotion (or oil is ok since I already have that) rubbed into the scar area to break up the tissue and help the redness to go away.  Interesting. I just think it is good to have different perspectives, and I liked how he looked outside the box.

So, some new exercises.
1. Standing on right foot (surgery foot), on a piece of blue foam, slowly twist the upper torso to the right, back to center, and to the left.  I managed 5 times each position.

2. Standing on same piece of foam, on right foot, stretch torso out in front, raising left leg parallel to floor.  Slowly move back to original position.  Then to the right and to the left.  I managed 5 times in each position.

I will certainly practice these at home, without the lovely blue foam- mostly because I don't have it.

3. He added some toes curls as well.  Not sure if I can explain them, but here goes.  Sitting (notice I have very few sitting-on-my-ass- exercises anymore), pull right knee up, with foot flat on floor.  Put a finger under the 1st metatarsal and hold down while curling toes.  This is much like the scrunching of the toes on the towel stretch.  This is to work to build strength in the arch and provide a better foundation when running.  If you had a chance to read one of the latest postings on Dr. Nick's blog, you'll see the correlation.  If not, here's the link: http://www.drnicksrunningblog.com/category/running-shoes-2/

Lots of food for thought.

Plateau

After my Phat Shirley ride, I was really (really!) worried again about the plantar fasciitis.  The rest of the evening my heel hurt to put any weight on it.  I cursed myself for pushing harder than I needed and wearing minimal shoes on the bike.  I decided not to wear cycling shoes because the shoe is so incredibly stiff.  Anyway, I was afraid to get up the next morning, but miraculously...my heel didn't hurt anymore. Seriously.

Since then, I am up to about 30 calf raises at a time.  I think today I will easily hit 100.  I just returned from a family vacation at the beach.  Our first day, we walked to a pier that ended up being 1.7 miles away...no wonder my kids were tired. They compared it to walking on a treadmill to nowhere.  I'm still experiencing a lot of on and off swelling.  It usually occurs in the evening and is gone the next morning.  It does inhibit my flexibility.  So I ice.

Some days, I really feel positive about running again...soon.  Other days....