Back pain and visiting the chiropractor

I'm joining Fairytales and Fitness for their Friday link up.  I figured I'll talk a little more about my visits to the chiropractor as this was a new experience for me.

As I've mentioned, I've been experiencing intermittent back pain for around the last year or so.  It generally lasts 1 to 2 weeks and then it's better.  But it keeps coming back every couple of months.  So I finally found a chiropractor and I think it's helping.

The first visit was 60 minutes and I appreciated that a lot of that time was spent talking.  She asked me lots of detailed questions, not just about my recent back pain, but about my lifestyle and past medical history as well.  Then she felt around my back a bit and this part was painful.  Probably because I still had a lot of inflammation in my back at that point.  She also moved my legs and arms around a bit to check on range of motion.  She then did an adjustment.  This involved me lying face down on something similar to a massage table and her pressing down hard on various parts of my back.  This was painful too.

But the next part was nice.  She had me spend 10 minutes in a special massage chair hooked up to an electrical stimulation machine.  This was just placing pads on various spots on my back and turning the machine on.  It felt a little tingl-y but no pain at all.  And combined with the massage, it felt pretty good.

The second appointment was only 30 minutes since it didn't need the extensive consultation.  It was just the adjustment, the e-stim machine/massage, and talking about whether I had seen improvement.

In general, I think the appointments are helping.  I've booked another appointment for a couple weeks from now.  I felt better the evening after the appointment, I'm sore the next day (which is apparently normal), and then I feel much better two days after the appointment.

I have another pair of Oofos that I now keep in my drawer at work

There were other things she recommended as well such as icing, drinking more water, wearing more supportive shoes at work when I'm using my standing desk, and anti-inflammatory food such as pineapple.  She recommended some stretches at the second appointment and said she'll recommend some strengthening exercises once the inflammation is gone.

Me and my backpack

I've also been working on some things on my own.  The back pain has all been on the right side, which is the side I used the carry my computer bag on.  So I've switched to a back pack hoping that will help.  I've also been paying more attention to making sure everything is at the right height when I use the standing desk at work so that my shoulders and neck aren't in uncomfortable positions.  And I'm going to keep up with the yoga since that seems to make my back feel better.

I'm hopeful that all of this together will help!  Like I said at the beginning, the pain only lasts a week or two but then it comes back later.  And it feels like it's been coming back more often.  I'd like to get this taken care of and healed before I start training for my Fall half marathon.

Friday Five - Physical Therapy

This was another week that seemed to drag by.  I'm not sure why when it was also super busy.  I would have thought that it would have made it seem to go by faster.  But it may be because we've got a lot of fun plans for the weekend.  But before that, it's time for the Friday Five link up hosted by Running on Happy & Fairytales and Fitness.



I went to see a physical therapist on Monday so I figure I'd take the Friday Five to talk about that experience.

1.  So the paperwork says I have "Somatic Dysfunction."  But according to the internet, that's not really something specific and seems to just mean that things aren't working well together.  The main thing the PT commented on was how tight everything was on my right leg.  Much tighter then my left leg.  She touched my achilles on the right side and exclaimed about the tightness right away.  And it was the same problem the whole way up the knee with the calf and the hips.  The good news is that the meniscus and knee itself are fine.  She definitely said I have to warm up before running and isn't surprised that cold races without warming up resulted in everything just continuing to tighten until I couldn't bend my knee well.  She gave me some exercises to work on and I'm scheduled to go back in March.

2.  The first one deals with the achilles.  This one hurts!  I've done it every evening since Tuesday and it's still resulting in pain.  The PT did warn me about that and said it's part of the process.

3.  Then calf stretches.  I've done calf stretches after running but they're always kind of perfunctory.  And I foam roll but apparently that's not enough.  I was surprised at how long I'm supposed to hold these stretches for!

4.  Hip rotator stretch.And this is the last one I'm supposed to work on for now.  I'm surprised at how tough this one is too since it doesn't actually look like I'm doing anything.  But it's an isometric and I'm always breathing heavy by the time I'm done with this one.  I set a timer so I do it for the full amount of time and it seems like forever.

You can see that left foot is turned out but it's always been like that as far as I can remember.

5.  Weirdly, before she actually started the examination and when she had just looked at my legs, she thought it would have been the left side giving me problems.  But no, that side is fine.  That foot and leg have always turned out, I'm not sure why.  It just feels natural but she said the knee doesn't track properly over the foot, it goes toward the inside and that we'll probably have to work on that later too or it could cause me problems in the future.

So that was my experience with the PT.  Overall it was a good experience and hopefully the exercises help.  She said they'll probably get me on the treadmill at the next appointment so we'll see how that goes.

Back to running!

I've been on a bit of blogging hiatus ever since I wrote about my experience at Rock and Roll DC.  I've also been on a running break.  I had decided to give my knee a bit of a rest before running again.  So I gave it a 2 week rest and had a couple runs this weekend that went well!

While on the running break, I just did a lot of yoga and rolling with the new stick I had bought at the expo.  I think those things definitely helped.  I noticed that my quad and IT band on the right side (the side where my knee locked up during the race) were a lot tighter than the left side.  The yoga and rolling started out painful but it was much better by the end of the two weeks so I think it definitely helped.

I also went up to New Jersey last weekend to visit family and it was nice to spend time with them as well as unplug while I was up there.  I didn't mean to unplug when the weekend started but I forgot the Ipad and my niece and nephew are teenagers now and I didn't want to set a bad example by being the aunt that was always on the phone!  They're teenagers so already heading that way anyway.

 

This nephew has a while before becoming a teenager at least :)

But here are the details on my return to running :)

Saturday - short test run that went well.  I had some twinges on the hills but nothing too bad.

 

Sunday - Long run on the C&O Canal Tow Path with friends.  We went up to the Monocacy Aqueduct area which is beautiful and less crowded since it's further from the city.  It was also nice since it's not paved, flatter, and a softer surface.  We saw lots of deer and even a heron (I think... it was a tall, graceful bird with long legs).  We also had some great conversation while running.  We definitely feel like we've all slowed down over the Winter as compared to last year so I definitely need to add speed work back in.

 

So that was it.  But I think things are better with the knee and I can get back to my regular routine.  And this 10 miles on Sunday means I should be ready for the Georgetown 10 miler (also on the C&O tow path) in a couple weeks!

We had a coupon for half off on Blue Apron so we're giving that a try this week.  Our first meal was yesterday, a freekeh and roasted chickpea salad with harissa glazed carrots and lemon labneh.

 

Hope everyone has had a great couple weeks!

Race 13.1 Baltimore - training week 7

Here's to the start of a new week!  And today is my spotlight day in the blog hop hosted by Runaway Bridal Planner, so welcome to any new readers!  I'm excited to share a bit about my week with you.  But first, a bit about myself.  I live in a suburb of Washington, DC with my husband, Mike, and 2 cats.

First dance at out wedding reception

About as close as our cats get to each other

I started running in January of 2014 and have grown to love it.  Currently, I'm training for half marathons number 4 and 5.  I'll be doing the Rock and Roll Vegas half in November and Race 13.1 in Baltimore in December.

Crossing the finish line at my first half marathon

Here is the last About Me post if you want to learn more about me :)

And here's the review of my training for the week.  I've been having knee pain plus I strained a muscle in my back so it's still sporadic.

Monday - rest day

Tuesday - rest day

Wednesday - strength training, squats, clam shells, calf raises, planks and crunches.  I ended with 30 minutes of yoga for back pain.

Thursday - 40 minutes on the elliptical

Friday - rest day since the previous 2 days seemed to bring the back pain back.

Saturday - a beautiful run with a friend.  It was supposed to be 11 miles but I ended up doing 9 and then walking 1.5 home due to knee pain.  And it was super slow too :( even with taking a Tylenol in advance the knee did not feel good.

Sunday - A walk in the morning since I was still having knee pain.  I think I'm going to have too try to rest most of this week in order to hopefully let me knee and back get better.

So that was my week!  I hope you all had a great week as well and I'm looking forward to connecting with those of you from the blog hop over the next couple weeks :)  Here are some ways you can hear more from me. 

Twitter
Instagram
Bloglovin'

I'm linking up with HoHoRuns and MissSippiPiddlin for their Weekly Wrap.

 

Rock and Roll DC Half Marathon training - week 12

Well, this week did not go as planned.  It started out ok but I'm a bit worried about the state of my foot.  The same place where I injured myself training for the Richmond Half in November of 2014 is hurting again.  That turned out to be a sprain of a muscle on the bottom of my foot and it took around 4-6 weeks to fully heal.  And we're so close to RnR DC, I think discretion is the better part of valor so I'm going to concentrate on icing and resting, and see how my foot feels as far as running goes.

Monday - rest day

Tuesday - 40 minutes on the elliptical at the gym.  I meant to use the treadmill but all the good treadmills were taken.

Wednesday - Strength training at home

Thursday - This is the day my foot began to hurt so I took it as an unplanned rest day.

Friday - rest day

Saturday - we were in Atlanta visiting family.  I had asked online for advice on a place to run and was told about this 5 mile loop around a golf community.  My initial plan was to do 2 loops but my foot started hurting around mile 3 or so so I just did one lap and called it a day.  It was also a fairly hilly course and that didn't feel good on my foot either.

It was a beautiful area and there were just enough people around that I always felt safe but it never felt too crowded.  And it was a gorgeous morning.  Though there were some sections where the route was a bit unclear so I had to stop a couple times in mile 1 to figure out where I was going.  And mile 4 (average pace of 17:26!) had a grass surface instead of pavement in parts, plus a giant hill that I ended up walking after the halfway point.

Sunday - Yoga with Adriene (strengthening and lengthening) which was about a 40 minute video.  I also took a couple walks through the day.

Sadly, my foot is not feeling better.  It feels a bit worse today.  I'm planning on resting it today and tomorrow with lots of icing.  I'm going to see how it feels Wednesday and try for a short run in the neighborhood if it's feeling better.  The Pacer's St. Patrick's Day 10k is this Sunday and I was planning to run it because 6 miles seemed like a good distance the weekend before the half.  Also, I had deferred this race due to the freezing rain last year so I'm already registered without paying anything extra.  But we'll see how the rest of this week goes.

I'm linking up with HoHoRuns and MissSippiPiddlin for their Weekly Wrap.

 

Weekly Update

This is the first weekly update since I started this blog that I don't have any workouts to report.  But that is because I had hurt my foot last weekend while we were camping.  I rested my foot until Thursday when I went to the doctor since there was still some pain and I was still limping.  She indicated it was a sprained ankle and that I should be fine in 1-2 weeks.

This was actually good news since I was a little worried it could be a stress fracture.  I will take 1-2 weeks over 4-6 weeks anytime!  She recommended rest, ice and an ace bandage, all of which I did for the rest of the week.

I did probably take the diagnosis too much to heart and walked more than 10,000 steps on Thursday.  We also went to the zoo Friday and that involved a ton of steps.  We had more than 10,000 by 11am.  That probably wasn't the wisest idea so I went back to resting it more for the weekend.

The doctor also said that I could resume running once the pain was gone.  I am happy to report that the pain seems to mostly be gone (it's been more than a week since the injury) so I'm going to try running tomorrow as this week starts my training plan for the Wine and Dine half marathon in November.  I'll take it slow, and if it hurts, give the ankle a couple more days rest before trying again.

I hope all of you had a great 4th of July weekend!

Baby panda photo since she was being particularly adorable Friday :)

Weekly review

I'm definitely behind in posting this, but better late than never!  I had a mixed week last week.  It was busy at work, I had to travel to Boston for a meeting, and then get ready for a weekend camping trip.  But it was an active week, even if there wasn't that much traditional working out in there.

Monday - Rest day, but I got in some extra steps walking around the airport waiting for my flight to Boston, which was delayed.

Tuesday - Rest day.  I meant to get up early and use the treadmill but I had gotten in really late the night before due to the flight delay so that didn't happen.  I did at least walk the mile from the hotel to the meeting and the mile back.  I also walked around the harbor a bit after lunch.  It was a beautiful day and I really enjoyed the breeze off the water.  Sadly, my flight was delayed yet again and I ended up spending 7 hours at the airport.  But at least I made it home that day.

Hanging out by the water

Wednesday - Elliptical Machine

Thursday - Jillian Michael's yoga

Friday - We left for our camping trip with friends and got in a good amount of hiking around this day.

Saturday - It rained most of the day so didn't get in as many steps.  But we did have an impromptu dance party in the evening since we were going a bit stir crazy.  There was at least a solid hour of dancing.

Sunday - More hiking around, plus outdoors yoga in the morning since one of the people we were with was a yoga instructor.  I love yoga outside.

Sadly, with the muddy, uneven terrain, I seem to have hurt my foot.  I'm taking it easy this week in the hopes that resting and icing will make it better.  If it's not better by this afternoon I will probably call to make an appointment with the doctor.  I'm supposed to start Wine and Dine half marathon training next week and want to be able to start it pain free!

Update on foot injury

Well, I have some good news from my visit to the podiatrist.  I don't have a stress fracture or plantar fasciitis.  It is still just a muscle strain in my foot (specifically the abductor hallucis muscle)  and he is not surprised that it isn't fully healed yet.  He expects that it may take another 4-6 weeks to be fully healed.

The podiatrist said that he's going to give a lot of the same recommendations he does for plantar fasciitis... always wear supportive shoes, no walking barefoot, ice, stretch, massage and some strengthening exercises.

My best friends for now, a frozen water bottle, a foot massager I got for Christmas, and recovery sandals I got last year so I can walk around the house with good arch support.

As far as running, he said that I can keep doing it but that I should cut down the mileage.  The running isn't making the injury worse but it is slowing the healing. So I'll go out for the long run with the group on Sunday but I'm just going to do 6-7 instead of the 11 that they'll be doing.  Even with the cut back, I think I should still be able to do the Rock and Roll half marathon in March with a slow increase in miles and cross training.

I think this is positive news and I'm happy to at least have ruled out some more serious problems.