Last week flew by. Since the Fourth of July landed on a Monday, the week felt much shorter. Which is odd because generally “short” weeks feel like they last longer. Is that the case with anyone else?
Training wise, I’m just trucking along. Right now my foot is fine, but I’ve started to worry my foot will not respond well to an increase in mileage. This stage of injury recovery is the hardest for me. I find myself questioning a lot: will my foot respond well to an increase in distance? Will it not?
I’m better at just resting and “not running”. Each time I’m cleared to run again (like now), I just constantly worry about every minor detail.
I keep questioning: will this be the run to completely break my foot?
Then I remember, I never broke my foot across the bone. I fractured it and was still running 70 miles.
So in summary, my ankle is fine now but my fear is that I’ll gradually build my mileage back, but I will still have the same pain as before I stopped running. My biggest concern is: What if we’ve never solved the problem? What if there is something else?
Moving on to workouts:
| Monday: | —– | Hike at Hemlock Falls |
| Tuesday: | 3000 meters Swim | 20 minute run |
| Wednesday: | Core and Arm Strength | 30 minute run |
| Thursday: | Core | 20 minute run |
| Friday: | —— | Complete Rest |
| Saturday: | Core | 35 minute run |
| Sunday: | 3000 Meter Swim | 20 minute run |
On Monday, my husband and I went hiking at Hemlock Falls. It was more of an outing versus an intense hike. It was not a rest day either, and my legs were fatigued afterwords. My ankle never felt any pain during the hike, and we weren’t pace pushers. We just wanted to enjoy some of the scenes of the Garden State.
My short runs consisted of a 20-minute run. Nothing hurt or felt off during those runs.
When I go to the pool, I prefer to swim laps versus pool running. Both times I swam laps I swam 3X1000 meters. One without a pull buoy, one with and one without. It felt good. It still baffles me I used to race that event. Swimming 3X1000s is what I like to do, and it’s enjoyable to deplug and stare mindlessly at the bottom of the pool with no interruptions.
My midweek “long run” was 30 minutes. This was where my ankle felt off, and it made me a little bit nervous. My ankle didn’t hurt, but it felt off. I know my ankle has made an improvement, but I’m worried it’s not enough. I guess we all have those fears, though.
Friday I needed complete rest. I needed it. Between hiking, running and swimming I was exhausted. Last week was the most hot and humid, we’ve had all summer. I haven’t missed running in that!
I decided to run my 35 minute run on Saturday because I was anxious to run, felt good and had rested the day before. I didn’t have a reason to run on Sunday versus Saturday, so I switched them. I felt a little bit of pressure on the back of my heel but nothing like before. My breathing felt awful, and my legs felt tired at the end, but I ran. For the most part, my ankle felt fine. Now we are two days later, and it still feels okay so I am making progress.
In summary, I’m continuing to run and right now my ankle feels fine. I’m a natural worrier but hopefully gradually increasing mileage keeps all injuries at bay.
Question for you:
Have you ever been hiking?
What was your favorite workout last week?
i try and hike whenever time on the weekend allows for it! love hiking and being in nature. I think you’ll be fine once you start consistently running, but you’re being smart to monitor so closely!
I’m really starting to get into hiking too. It’s a lot of fun! Now that I’m in New England I have some more options and I do want to take advantage of the mountains in New Hampshire. I feel like I’m always extra cautious coming back from an injury. It’s perfectly natural and slowly easing back in is the only way to make sure you come back healthy.
I feel like New Hampshire has a lot if trails. My college roommate lives up that direction and loves it.
Hiking is probably one of my favourite things to do ever, but I Tthink a lot of that has to do with the fact that I love the mountains and being out on the trails. Keeping my fingers crossed for your foot!
I’m glad you enjoy hiking as well Amanda. That’s awesome.
So glad to hear your ankle is feeling good! I know what you mean about being worried about it, though. Injuries always make me worry, too! I love hiking. The picture of the hike is beautiful!
Look at that swimming! I’m super impressed you’re able to pull for 1000m (wowza!), but also that you don’t lose count of laps.
So glad things are still moving forward and going well for you! I definitely also love to swim and stare mindlessly at the bottom of a pool 🙂 Keep doing what you’re doing and I’m sure your foot/ankle will continue to respond well.