Back Again!

Yes, I'm back again from another running hiatus from the Peroneal Tendonitis flare up. My previous injury seemed to have healed up and I was back to feeling normal/not feeling the ache in that ankle. So, after I've been running regularly again with my husband (close to a month since my last injury) and everything has been going well on our runs together, he comes home one day and suggests we switch things up and go back to the trail that presumably gave me my first injury.  He offered to take the stroller through the choppy parts and this sounded good enough to me. I know I was going to hate it, but I also knew I would like a change of scenery and that my husband wanted to go back there. Well, it turns out the trail wasn't as bad as the last time we were there, as that time, it was mainly muddy from the rain and the sand they had poured over the mud had seemed to 'absorb' or wear away from being huge sinking piles in the trail. However, the mud pits were still there, but hardened and the hard-rocky gravel parts were still there. These parts create the dip and uneven parts in the trail that you have to jump over and dodge. Everything seemed "fine" until the last mile of that run. Guess what started hurting? Yep, that same ankle. I thought my body was playing a joke on me. My body is such a troll. Well, it was the real deal. I actually started limping when my husband and I next to him, started sprinting to our stop point. Once we started walking on our cool-down, I let my husband know about my returned pain and I think part of him thought I wasn't being serious.
My ankle was hurting way worse than the previous injury and on my lateral side of the foot, instead of the back of my ankle. I remember reading that the Peroneal Tendon runs on the lateral side of the foot/lateral aspect of the ankle, below it and lateral/outside of foot. That's exactly where it hurt and it was a deep pain, unlike the ankle part (where, when I massaged it, it would feel some relief). Massaging, icing, rolling out and stretching did not seem to relieve this injury at all. So I knew I wasn't going to mess around with the elliptical and I was going to be serious and rest it. I did not want this becoming a chronic injury and I was just going to blame it on the trail for now.
Thankfully, about a week and a few days of actual rest - it is feeling better. It still aches, but I am trying to go easy on my runs and stay on even ground trails (there will be no trail running for a long while, I think). My husband, for this run and the last two (which have been my first three runs back since my injury) has taken the stroller for some of the run to help me take it easy. It still amazes me how much of your muscles, mentality and endurance deplete after a week or so of no running.
So, I've handled up to 4 miles now on my healed injury and feeling OK about it, but still slightly hesitant. My husband wants to do another 10 miler on Sunday (which he did his own 10 miler when I was resting - so congrats to him!). I am feeling apprehensive about a 10 miler with the stroller, but I think if we switch off, it may be doable. The month is almost over and I am hoping to still get in my 13 miler, but we'll see.

Day Two Post-Injury Run.

So, Sunday was a bust. Turned out to be a rainy day and something told me it might be fate to give my ankle another rest day after my first run. My husband and I both agreed to have a super long run after work today. Well, once I got off of work, my son spikes a 103 temp and I decided to stay at home with the babies and let my husband go running without me. It world be pure, selfish evil to take  Van out when he's not feeling well. The "fresh" air would be good for him, but being restrained and uncomfortable would not be pleasant. Plus, he's been very clingy and needs cuddles when he's feeling yucky.

Once the babies were in bed though, I decided I'd get on the treadmill and just do another "test" run to see how my ankle does. I was on my feet all day at work, so I didn't want to overdo it. Plus, I'm not sure if I'm just paranoid, but sometimes I feel a little soreness here and there.

A good thirty minute run at my usual (solo) pace of about 8'40. I was feeling good. I use the Nike sports watch, which is great for GPS. However, when I run on the treadmill, I don't wear my VFFs and wear my Nike Frees with the sensor. I feel it's quite inaccurate with the sensor - tracking me sometimes at an 8'30 and then the next minute at an 9'30 pace. The sensor is pretty well matched when I use my iPhone app; I find it to be a bit more accurate.

A thirty minute run when I'm by myself feels like I'm just getting started. i would've loved to get a long run in. i am also sad that I missed my monthly 13 miler run in May because of my injury.hopefully  this month I'll be injury free so I can get one in. 

With that being said, it felt good to get another short run under my belt, my ankle seemed to have tolerated the run well so far and I'm hoping to be running again tomorrow (where, depending on my son - hopefully he'll feel better soon. Poor little guy).

I Made it! Post-Injury Running was a Success!

Today was going to be my gauge on if I could continue my running habit or be thwarted by an injury and kept in limbo of waiting for it to heal. I woke up feeling positive (and better yet - no soreness from my ankle). I've been pretty diligent about icing it, massaging it and stretching it for the last few days (and even staying off of the elliptical and actually resting). So, with no soreness felt and with my husbands help, we placed my KT tape for peroneal tendonitis, slide on our running shoes, swept the babies up and we were on our way!

I can't explain the anticipation and nervousness I had felt on our drive to the park. I was actually scared and had butterflies in my stomach; conflicting feelings. I imagine much like the feeling you get when you are about to step off of the cliff with a bungie cord attached to you (well, probably not as extreme or dramatic - but to a lesser degree, that's what I kinda felt). Silly, I know. It was just the idea of getting on the trail and being so ready for a run, only to be turned back once I felt the slightest little pang. 

We got to our favorite park (with somewhat easy, paved trails and tolerable hills) and popped the babies in the stroller. I made sure to stretch well before my run. I usually don't stretch before my runs, as I read some where that the correlation between a decrease in injuries with stretching vs not before a run was really nothing to mention. Either way, I'll be stretching before my runs now (it doesn't hurt to stretch and it feels good/loosens you up a bit, even if mentally). We were on our way!

I felt great, no soreness at all, but I wasn't going to get excited just yet - as I know it could hit at any time during my run. However, at my fifteen minute mark, which I decided would be my halfway mark, I still felt great and was enjoying being out there too much to turn back just yet. Another five minutes won't hurt, will it? Dah, the runner in me speaks. I asked my husband if we could do another five and when I looked back, I could see the stroller taking a toll on him. Yep, it looks easy because it's on wheels, but that beast is pretty challenging. Not only with your running form, but the little added weight, the wind resistance, etc can add up. I'm pretty sure that's how I messed my tendon up (combined with the running trails we were doing).

We made it to twenty and before long, we were at our parking lot again. An amazing feeling to have overcome another running injury (so far). They sure are scary and hopefully, this one will stay away like my IT band injury has stayed away thus far. It was great being out there again, albeit slow paced (10'30") - it made my day.

A picture of my wrapped ankle (not swollen anymore as far as I can tell) and my two day old Bakilas. Still my favorite VFF's. I had bought two pairs of them at the same time last year and just when I broke out of my old ones and into these pair is when I started hurting (a coincidence, I'm sure). They feel like soft air under my feet. I may regret getting white. ;)

Peroneal Tendonitis, please go away so I can run!

So, I took a few more days off because I had woke everyday this week with soreness around my ankle. On (I guess?) a good note, I've been able to rule out that it is not my Achilles. To be honest, I think this long waiting for it to heal has also been a selfish delay, as instead of actually "resting", I was resting by doing the elliptical. I can't just sit around, I need to do something. However, my brain finally started working and I realized I need to *rest*. The last two days have been me sitting around, doing very minimal other than taking care of my twin babies. As I've said before, it's complete torture not running, doubled by the fact that my used-to-be-non-runner husband is going off running without us. I have to put on my supportive face, hide the jealousy and see him off every time he does though.
Today, my ankle feels pretty good though. I've been icing it at night, doing stretches and I even took out my old friend, the sport stick, and started rolling my right calve (as the peroneal tendon runs along the outside of the foot, below the ankle and on the outer aspect of the achilles tendon along the calve).
Tomorrow, I will test out it out. I'm nervous, but so very anxious to run. I don't want to be stupid about it, but I have to try. I bought KT tape in hopes that that will help stabilize my tendon and make it less of a potential to damage it more. Between the tendonitis and my previous IT band injury, I feel this injury is a bit more scary. I felt my IT band when I was not running, mainly sitting and once in awhile when I went up and down stairs but never when I ran. This injury, I feel it most of the time; worse in the morning, slightly when I walk and from the last time I ran - it had thwarted my stride to a hobble, for the most part. However, my last run, I was doing my speed run (7' pace) and tomorrow, I am going to take it easy - slow and steady and hopefully no hills (as from what I've read, hills and uneven terrain and damage the tendon). My husband will be the one to push the baby stroller (which I will miss), but tomorrow is about gauging my injury and not actually running. If it hurts at all, my husband and I have already agreed I will stop immediately and probably rest (no elliptical-rest) for a good week or so. I feel bad there is potential I may ruin his run, but he said we would both stop and he would just run by himself later in the day. Boo Hiss to running injuries! Crossing my fingers and toes to a pain free day tomorrow!

I Miss Running

Not having run for about a two weeks is really starting to effect me. I've always been a pretty-much-daily runner, save a little before, during and after pregnancy. The last injury that had me on hiatus was the longest I've endured; an IT band injury. That was in about 2009, when I was running 6 miles a day, plus the 3 miles or so with my husband at night when he was just starting running and doing the C25K program. I had to stop running for close to 3 months! Although, it wasn't completely void of running; I would still be running one day every 2 weeks or so, but for short runs. Now, with my husband running and running faster than he's ever ran, it's leaving me pretty jealous and depressed. The injury this time is Achilles tendonitis. Last week I noticed it after our trail run (the trail that I was complaining about the whole time that had huge hills and horrible terrain). This is my first time getting A.T. and apparently it comes with running too much, running faster or running with a lot of hills. It could be a bit of everything, but I think that with those recent trails we did with the hills, plus the baby stroller/extra weight and uneven terrain - that's probably what did it, as I'm totally not used to running that type of run.
So, after that trail run, I and in to end of last week, I was running through the soreness I felt. That's also when I noticed it was a stupid idea as the soreness soon became an actual pain (even when I wasn't running). I had taken close to a week off, then started feeling a bit better. I decided I would try a quick 10minute speed run on the treadmill instead of venturing off with my husband on the streets only to tempt fate and have my ankle start hurting 15 minutes in or so and then have to walk back and maybe even ruin his run. So, when I was running on the treadmill around a 7' pace, I was aware of a little soreness, but thought it felt ok. This is the problem with runners. We always notice some kind of subtle pain, but it seems we are trained to think pain can only be temporary if we don't think about it and to keep running. Well, I was only planning on doing 10minute so there was that encouraging me to not stop as well. What's 10 minutes? It's practically nothing. Of course, after my run was when I realized 10 minutes was enough to do some damage. I was feeling the pain again and realized I shouldn't have even gotten on the treadmill at all (let alone the rationalizing in my head of maybe I cold have ran on it but not so fast). Whether it was speed or distance, I'm sure I would have hurt myself regardless.
My ankle seems to be on the mend. It still feels a bit sore, but after some massage, it actually feels almost 100% better. I have been not icing it, as I should, but I will do that tonight and I have my fingers crossed to try a short/easy-paced run on the treadmill tomorrow. The true test is to see how my ankle feels in the morning when I wake up; as for some reason, that is when it is at it's sorest (other than when I'm actually running on it).