This could be my most exciting training post ever. It’s not many weeks you get to use a multithousand dollar piece of equipment. Does it make me instafast?
At the beginning of last week I had my foot check up. At my previous foot check up a few weeks ago, my doctor said “your foot is healing really well. You are at the point that you can try running 1 mile to see how it feels. Just one mile and go by pain”. So I did that and the next day I truly felt like I had set myself back in another week or two in recovery. So after my doctor said I could run on the alter G and “see how it goes”, I felt very indifferent. Would set me back again? Am I too cautious? I had also gotten a second opinion from another doctor who said the Alter G wouldn’t hurt.
Two doctors cleared me to run a little bit and I still wasn’t excited? That makes complete sense…When I was cleared a few weeks ago, I tried running one mile and it only ended in dramatic heartbreak. I didn’t feel as if I had made the right progress. While I felt good during my run, I did not feel great after my run. I only felt as if I had made my entire situation worse. That was close to three weeks ago and I decided to give the alter G a shot. So this time (despite not even full out running) I was very hesitant.
After my doctors appointment, I decided to go give the Alter G a shot. I knew i wouldn’t gain this much momentum to get out to Haddonfield very often. I had to take full advantage! I will be honest, I got there a bit nervous and not knowing what to expect. I’m (very) lucky to work at Haddonfield Running Co, which has an Alter G available to rent and use.
So with that I put on the jazzy zipper pants and I was zipped into place. I was told to keep my feet firm on the ground. I can stand straight (or so I thought). My legs were nearly reduced to nothing. I ran for 20 minutes with 70% body weight. My biggest worry was my foot would hurt post run. I didn’t think it would hurt during the run because it’s such a reduced pressure on your foot.
After I was done it was time to come back into real life with gravity. You don’t realize how heavy your butt is until you come back into gravity and everything comes back into true weight. I thought I had a butt that rivaled Nikki Minaj after I was done…but sadly I was just back to normal.
The big question is: how am I feeling now? Honestly I feel okay. I don’t feel like I put any extra pressure on my foot and by the nature of the alter G, I didn’t put much pressure on my foot. I will continue to use the alter G for another week or two. I do realize that I’m only running at 70-77% of my body weight right now. It’s very hard to fathom an alter G because you truly are leaving “real life”. If I tried to run on a regular treadmill the same amount of time, I would be posting about how I rebroke my foot. I really hope this is the plateau in my injury that I’ve finally broken out of. I’m ready to run. I’m hungry to run outside again. It’s hard to say how I’m really feeling because I’m running with less weight.
As far as pain while I’m walking around. I am aware of an ache but not in pain if that makes sense. I’m in no pain and it feels like a dull ache, I’m hyper aware of because I know my injury history.
Workouts-
| Monday: | 1 Hour AMT |
| Tuesday: | 20 minutes Alter G at 70% body weight |
| Wednesday: | Rest |
| Thursday: | 24 minutes Alter G at 70% body weight |
| Friday: | 30 minutes Alter G at 75% body weight |
| Saturday: | Rest |
| Sunday: | 30 minutes Alter G at 77% body weight |
So that wraps up another week. If you have questions about the Alter G, feel free to ask. It’s certainly new to me and something I hope to incorporate more of.
Questions for you:
Have you ever used an alter G?
What was your best/favorite workout this week?
I’ve used Alter G once before as a demo at an expo. I had to think hard to land on my whole foot and not tiptoe, which is what my body felt like doing because of the reduced weight and it was hot. My legs were so sweaty afterward.
I’ve never even seen an alter g before! But it looks pretty awesome!!
I’m so glad you are able to train again and I think it’s awesome you have access to an AlterG. So cool and I’d love to try one some day!
I definitely want to try an AlterG – mostly to see how fast I can run when gravity isn’t an issue! 🙂 Maybe I can see a dream pace for a mile. I’d also be interested in using it to get extra miles, which I hear some of the elites do. Maybe Santa will bring me a package from a place 30 min or so away that (after you buy the shorts and an intro session) charges $35/30min and has some packages.
I’m glad you got to use the Alter G and it looks like you had a great week of workouts, glad you can run some even if it’s on that and not your full body weight! Plus, it’s so neat that you can use one there, like purchasing sessions or however it works. I have used one, just trying it out, at a physical therapy center where TrySports hosted an event. It was a really neat run, and although I wasn’t injured when I used it, I see it as a great tool for those who are injured to get back out there.
I tried the AlterG once and it is amazing. My first thought when I got out of it was, “lard ass!” When you feel 100% of your body weight again you feel so heavy.
I am adding 2% most times and I feel like I’m gaining 10000 pounds LOL.
I used an Alter G when I was revering from hip surgery and I loved it! I was able to start running again weeks before I was cleared to run outside. I have heard a lot of good things about using it as a training tool in general, even for runners who are not injured.
Whoa, that is kind of cool, and I hope your foot heals so you’ll be able to run like normal again soon.
So friggen cool. I wish I had the opportunity to use one of these during my recovery!!!!!
You are always welcome to drive down and visit. 🙂
This is so awesome! Maybe I can talk my gym into getting one of these!
Ashley @ Kickashmom.com
Ahh I dream that one day in the future these will be in gyms all around the world…and our kids will laugh at our silly treadmills of today.
I did water running when I was injured and though it was god awful boring it helped. But it was hard to maintain a good form. I suppose nothing quite tops running outside!
Isn’t the AlterG awesome?! I tried it out about a year ago and was really impressed; definitely a great training tool if a runner is injured or super injury-prone.
Holy cow, seriously I didn’t even know those were available to people who weren’t elites! (Even though you seem like your darn close!)
That is so cool that you were able to use the Alter G, thank you for posting what it feels like. As one of the 99% who will never use on it’s crazy to hear what it feels like!
I hope it does it’s job and you are back to regular running soon.