Playing Catch Up... Record of the Road to Recovery

The Road to Recovery-May 11

My first day of walk-running was amazing! It felt so good to pick up my feet and move fast, even if it was only for 20 seconds. Within the week I was running for 30 seconds and walking for a minute and I felt great! My visit with Doctor Jacques went well and seemed to further progress my recovery. I love the after effects of my visits with him. He usually does some chiropractic work on my neck, back and hips. Several times my right hip hasn’t popped for him because it’s been so tight so he will bring in one of his aids to hold my arms while he pulls my leg and tries to pop my hip. It’s not the injured side, but it tightened up to protect the injured left hammie. I have also been very sick since March 20^th so Doctor Jacques used a vibrator on my forehead to open up my sinuses. He handed me a Kleenex and within minutes it became very handy!

After the chiropractic work, we switch rooms where the fun begins. Dr. Jacques always teases that this is where he gets to torcher me; I love his version of torcher! It feels so good and provides a lot of relief. Acupuncture is so fascinating to me. I always ask tons of questions and I hope Dr. Jacques doesn’t get sick of them. I usually get acupuncture on my right hip flexor, left hamstring, right thumb, right shoulder, and my left tricep. It stays in for 2 to 5 minutes, then, depending on the condition of my injuries, I’ll get ultrasound, e-stim, or a lazer on a few of the above mentioned sites. I walk out feeling like a new woman.

The Road to Recovery-May 15

It seems that I have taken a turn for the worse. On top of healing a few muscles I have been sick since the end of March. I am yet to figure out what the cause of this sickness is, but hope to figure it out because I am getting worse. I have had a cough and sinus/head cold since then, but this past week it has kept me up all night. I am extremely congested and always coughing up or blowing out thick green mucus. My situation intensified the pain in my leg and tricep and my right hip flexor got tighter. I skipped a few days of my sandwich runs and went to the doc to see if he could fix me. It was a short visit, as I was rushed through.

The Road to Recovery-May 18

I am looking very seriously at my nutrition. I eat very healthy, but may be lacking in sodium, potassium, magnesium, and other electrolytes. I started taking electrolyte supplements and have felt better overall. I still couldn’t figure out why my legs are so tight! I have been “resting” or doing light rehab since February and they feel like solid rocks!

After sharing this with Dr. Jacques, he looked at my feet and knees and noticed that when I stand, walk, or run my arches cave in which puts stress on my upper leg, especially the arterial lateral sides (IT Band and outer quad). He explained it like those muscles are working overtime trying to pull my knee back over where it should be instead of where it is. He suggested running and walking on the outsides of my feet and mentally focusing on lifting my arch. He also suggested getting a pair of shoes that are for over-pornators instead of neutral support as I have done in the past. I have never been told I am an over-pronator because I wear my shoes out very evenly. So with this new bit of knowledge I will get to work and get my knees into alignment.

The Road to Recovery-June 9

After several weeks of walking and running awareness, meaning awareness of foot placement, I have significantly reduced the tightness in my legs. I have also started stretching out my running time to 2 minutes! With Holly Martineau, I ran-walked the Race for Taylor on June 6th, a fundraiser 5K for a little girl needing heart surgery. On June 8^th I tried my very first consistent 20 minute run. It was slow, but I didn’t walk and I felt great!

The Road to Recovery-June 13

Just a quick report that I am running up to 45 minutes! And loving it. I may be slow, but it feels good.

The Road to Recovery-June 18

One month until I get married! I am running up to an hour and can run at a faster pace than before. I am considering the possibility of racing in the Dinoland Triathlon on the 27^th of June. I can run at about 80%, bike at 85%, and swim at 70%. The thought of racing makes me so happy! I am only considering it because I worry that by racing, I will do something to injure myself. I wouldn’t want to start this whole process over. So I prose myself the question: Is it safe for me to race? And if I race at top speeds, could I re-injure my leg or tricep? So many questions…

Part of me doesn’t want to race unless I am 100%. Another part of me wants to race no matter what and just “take it easy” if I’m not at 100%. But by doing that, will I get excited and competitive and push myself over the top, re-injuring myself? Or can I just race for fun (it’s always fun) and listen to my body and hold back?

I don’t know. I don’t know the answers. I do know that I have been doing very well controlling how hard I push myself in my “workouts”. I am swimming, biking and running well but I am aerobically out of shape.

Healing

Lessons-April 27, 2009

In February and March of 2009 I was involved in three different fluke accidents that led to and 11 weeks and counting “vacation”.

From this I have learned some very important lessons that I wish to share with my fellow athletes so they don’t have to go through what I have. Two of the many lessons I have learned are number one: the importance of taking time to rest and recover. Number two: the importance of stretching. Some of the other lessons I’m learning include: the total stresses of life must be taken into consideration, the powerful connection between mind and body, the relationship between spirit and body, and the virtue of patience.

Taking Time to Get Some Good Ol’ R & R

As a Division one collegiate swimmer I trained four hours a day and always felt like I was on the brink of being over trained and the edge of exhaustion. However, in the four years of swimming at BYU, I was only over trained once or twice. I had an amazing coach who could tell when it was time to back off. And when it was time, back off we did. He allowed our bodies time to recover by periodization. The following link describes what periodization involves: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_periodization

Now that I am on my own, I push my physical limits don’t allow myself enough time to recover from each workout. This is one thing that contributed to my injuries. I’m learning the importance of R&R now as I have spent 11 weeks healing. I am learning how to better periodize my season so I don’t burn out and so my body heals and recovers from workouts instead of breaking down. I’m learning that quality is better than quantity. And I’m learning that it’s OKAY to take a day off!

I am continuing to heal. I’m also learning to take an injury seriously from the moment it happens instead of learning to take it seriously the second or third time, re-injuring it and causing it to take even longer to heal. As an athlete I just want to be able to train. I want to swim. I want to run. I want to bike. And not being able to do that has been difficult. After feeling good for four days after my tricep injury, I started to push the limits. I started swimming too early and re-injured my arm. Again I reiterate the importance of healing, resting, recovering!

The Benefits of Stretching

I’m learning to stretch. If I would have stretched more often, I probably wouldn’t have the injury that I do in my hamstring. I would’ve been flexible and wouldn’t have strained the muscle by forcing it through a ROM (range of motion) that I don’t have. I’m learning the importance of taking care of myself that way. That is one big lesson that is coming up for me in these moments as I can’t exercise as I wish. Instead, I focus daily on rehab and stretching my body.

I knew I had the opportunity to learn this lesson back in February, two weeks after my injuries started. I approached my boss and petitioned to start a flexibility class at the gym where I train clients (Sorenson Unity Fitness Center, 1383 South 900 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84104). We found an open hour: Tuesday nights from 8:00 to 9:00 pm. The class started March 3rd and so far only one student has come, but I still stretch for that hour weather someone is there or not. Lance Armstrong improved his athletic career by incorporating daily stretching into his busy training schedule. I, too, will follow suit.

I am so thankful for a healthy body that can heal! I am an athlete who heals her body!


The Road to Recovery-May 4

On Friday May 1st, I went to Dr. Jacques out in Sandy just off of Redwood and 100th South. Zurvival owner, Jeremy Butler recommended him to me. He popped a few joints back in (my upper and lower back, neck, rib, hip, and elbow) and did some acupuncture on my right iliopsoas, left hammie, and left tricep. He then instructed me to rest the remainder of the day and the following day start running!! What!??? My mind was going crazy at the thought that I would be able to do more than just rehab. It was also screaming, “Noooooooo!!!!!” at the thought of running and re-injuring it. To be honest, I was scared. I was scared to run. I swallowed my fear and decided to trust this amazing man who knows so much more about the human body than I.

The instructions were very clear: Stretch lightly. Run for 20 seconds then walk for one minute. Do this for 20 minutes until our next appointment on Wednesday. I followed his prescibed routine with exactness, amazed that I was not in incredible pain during or after. I could feel, however, certain muscles tightening up and can’t wait for another round of acupuncture!