Working Through It

It has been one LONG month so far. Between my battle with my shoulder and my foot and I have surrendered to the only workout possible...pool running. To my surprise, WOW, is this a workout! The last three weeks I have been going just three times a week, at times it would still bother my ankle, the water resistance. This week I am going to try for four days a week.

When pool running I slip on an aqua belt and usually go four about five laps around the deep end side of the pool. Once those 5 laps are done, I switch it up and add some intervals of sprints and high knees. The time goes fast if I don't look at the clock and of course I have my waterproof IPOD on...by the way BEST PURCHASE EVER!

Last night I started Physical Therapy again in town and she felt my calves and immediately said they were full of knots. I have been trying my best to massage them at night and I purchased a stick which should help. She did some massage work and she is going to slowly start me off on the bike and then up to the elliptical. She is also working on exercises for my shoulder.

So yes, I have stepped back a little from blogging. It seems as when I get injured I get so discouraged that I don't want to think about working out or talk about it. I get a little depressed because my endorphin highs are being taken away from me. It has been a SLOW four weeks getting my body back into shape again. Most of all, the discouraging part is that I never actually "overtrained." This is all due to a stupid antibiotic. What can do but move on and accept it. Things could be worse. So for now, I am happy to have my pool running on my side :) I will get stronger! I have accepted that my running days are probably over for now. In the future I would like to get back to cycling/spinning and I am going to keep the pool running at least one day a week. In my opinion, pool running is a great option. No impact and you can really push yourself to the limit!

Thoughts on Pool Running?

How long have you been out due to an injury?

What Doesn't Kill Me Will Make Me Stronger!!

What a week it has been! My sinus infection has completely cleared up and for the first time in over a month I felt strong enough for a great real workout. As I mentioned the Doc put me on some pretty nasty antibiotics that just overall made my muscles stiff and sore. By Tuesday, my body felt back to normal again and I hit the pool again for an easy swim workout. Well...probably swimming for 40 straight minutes free-style when I have not completed a swim in over a month was probably not the smartest thing to do. Near the end of my workout, I started to feel a pinch underneath my collarbone and into my left shoulder. I continued my workout until 40 minutes had passed. I figured that I might have just not warmed up enough, when I hit the weight room to do some upper body lifting, the pinch continued. Later on that night I immediately broke out the ice packs and noticed I had some tingling running down my arm. Really...I have been out of the gym for over a month and the first real week back I get injured AGAIN! After talking with my husband, he said due to the tingling it was probably a pinched nerve and that I get it checked out by my chiropractor.

Thursday I made an appointment with my chiropractor that I have not seen in over two years. He did some x-rays and said due to my symptoms, most likely is just a pinched nerve. He was also very interested in my Achilles. When I told him that I have not been able to run frequently since July, he said that was absurd. I explained to him that I can go for a good two months or so with biking/elliptical and the minute I start out with some running every other day it flares up again and I am back to icing. I told him that when I had my x-ray done that nothing showed up as of tears and the doctor said it was tendinitis. When he examined my foot, he did a pull/push type thing on it. The weird thing is when he did the same thing on my other foot, I immediately felt a little pop, not bad at all in terms of pain. He said that if my ankle was normal, I would be able to feel the pop in the other foot as well. He said it might be a joint alignment problem that is causing my Achilles to hurt. Monday I get my x-rays back and I am excited to get a treatment program that might reduce the flair ups in my ankle.

So for now, I have iced and kept up on my calf raises and I can finally cycle with no pain at all. I am staying away from any upper body lifting whatsoever until I get the xrays back. The pain is no longer noticeable in my shoulder, but it is pretty stiff. I found a bunch of strength exercises that I have started to do daily to help build up some strength using a band.

So yes, it feels like my body has been through so much in the past month or so, but I think of it this way...it will just make me that much stronger in the end. I can get through this and I will get Through this whole situation, I have really learned the importance of stretching and taking it slowly when coming back to exercise. It takes time and I need to be more patient when coming back.

In other news, I am having camera issues so I downloaded a few pics of my new loves!!

The perfect afternoon snack, I love the White Chocolate ones!!

Yes, this week our school got brand new IPADS!! Each teacher received a new one to have. We are allowed to use it for personal use and may download whatever apps we want!! This thing has been a blast to play with!

With our wedding money, I told Craig that the one thing I needed was a new blender, so NINJA was the one. I used it for the first time this morning to have a protein smoothie and I loved it.

Do you prefer Apple or PC?

What is one thing you are loving lately??