I was officially cleared for running from my tibial stress fracture in January after seeing Dr. Crawford at Summa in Medina. That was my first clearance but I wasn't able to complete the "return to pounding" protocol that he gave me. Instead of walking every other day for 20 minutes, I would walk every 5 days for 10 minutes and still be in pain. I was cleared again when I saw him six weeks later. And then again in April and in May. Each time I would attempt a few runs, even string together a couple of weeks of every other or every two days. But in the end I would end up in the boot, unable to get through my daily life without it due to the pain. Constant, burning, grinding pain that worsened as the day went on. I never had new bruising, but hot spots would creep in after a couple of weeks of running. I changed my eating (more calories, higher nutrients), took prescription vitamin d for 12 weeks, calcium and phosphorous supplements, cross trained like a maniac, did specific pt routines to strengthen my ankle. None of it worked.
Every time running failed, swimming was still there for me. I competed in my first full U.S. Masters season and set prs from 50 yards to 1500 meters. I loved working out in the pool with the Medina Masters Swim Club, where I had some of the hardest workouts of my life. At my final meet of the season, Adam and the kids came to watch me. I think they enjoyed it more than watching me run!
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| "I have no idea why I entered 5 events." |
Speaking of pain, the past year and a half have been nothing but constant, chronic pain from my back and then my stress fracture. It seriously changes your lifestyle when something is this persistent. I had routines of stretching, rolling, icing and modified everything, including simple tasks like cleaning my house. I had to wear an ice cast to get housework done at the end of the day.
Starting in March, I discontinued coaching with Becki. I should have taken a break from being coached the minute I got my stress fracture, in order to better listen to my body and do only what I felt like doing. I found myself relaxing a lot more on my own. I also started my own coaching education in December and moved on to USATF Level 2 by this summer, so I now have all the knowledge I need to coach myself in the future. A little more on this topic of being coached long distance as an adult: unless you can find someone that will work exactly with your specific work schedule and lifestyle, don't do it. Only you know what you feel like from day to day and what days work for workouts and long runs. If you're like me and will do what's on the training schedule come hell, high water, all day cross country meet or a fucking herniated disc, you're better off training by feel with your own plan. And, if you're exhausted in a marathon after a 3 month training block, it's more likely that you did too much, rather than you didn't do enough. Pump the breaks before something really goes wrong, like a stress fracture. That all being said, Becki had the best road speed workouts that I've ever done and I'll continue to do them on a less frequent basis if I ever get back to serious run training.
After many failed attempts, I returned to running for good in mid-July, nearly 11 months after my stress fracture. I was smack dab in the middle of my first open water swimming season, if two races qualifies as such. I swam my first 2 miler in July and my first 5k in August. My 5k was the best I've ever felt on a swim and I smashed my predicted time by 4 minutes: Swim to the Moon 5k results
All I could think during that 5k was that I've found an activity that I love at least as much as running. I felt amazing, so strong through the miles and found myself hunting people down during the last 1k, just like I love to do in running races.
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| Feeling like a water horse! That's much beastlier magical creature than a mermaid. |
Seven weeks after I started back to running, I'm still under 30 miles a week and I have no plans to up the mileage. I have a 5k coming up and in November I'll run the Bills Bad Ass 50k for the final time. I'm upping my long run by 10 minutes every week until I hit 3 hours on the trails. I swim about 12,000m a week with the focus switching more to the pool for the 2019 U.S. Masters swim season. At first I was conflicted on which sport to choose, but I've decided that I don't need to choose. I love them both and I'm going to compete in both to the best of my ability. I don't care if it means I sacrifice future running prs, I know I have a lot to improve in the pool and in the open water and I want to see how far I can go. Of course, I'm confident enough in my running ability that I think I can still set some road prs! Especially at the shorter distances.
Over the winter I started lifting with a serious focus on Olympic lifts and single leg balance. I purchased performance training sessions from Ohio Sports Chiropractic and Rehab. Brian helped me perfect my form for the Olympic lifts and convinced me to up the squat weight to a previously impossible (I thought) weight of 105 pounds! That's nearly my weight! I have since upped it to 110 pounds and I will be adding to that this winter.
This summer I tried to actively gain weight and build muscle in my upper body. I didn't gain much weight (3 pounds) but I have built my upper body to a size that I would never have thought possible a year ago. I recognize that my genetics are going to hold me back from building to the size that I see on the women going out in the elite wave at open water races, but I know that working on this will improve my swimming and my overall physical well-being as an athlete. I also was able to come back to running with faster daily paces than when I was half-injured and running 80 miles a week last summer. Not being exhausted from high mileage has it's perks! Below I've outlined my light and heavy lifts and my daily ab and pt routines.
Daily ab and pt routine:
200 crunches
pilates 100x2
50 bicycles
50 russians
50 side crunches each side
50 sit ups
30 second bridge, 20 second each side single leg bridge
15 x ab roller w/ long holds
20 pushups
1 min plank, 30 second each side plank
20 bird dogs each side
10 donkey kicks each side
10 fire hydrants each side
single leg sequence w/ thera bands
30 second single leg hold with eyes closed
rotator cuff activation x 10 w/ thera bands
nerve flossing for bicep, rotator cuff and scapular spine
Light lift 3 days a week:
10 minute warmup on bike
20 x kettlebell swings w/ 15lbs
20 x squats w/ kettlebell 15lbs
20 x each side single leg romanian dl w/ 15lbs
20 x each dynamic single leg toe touch w/ 10lbs
20 x reverse flys w/ 10lbs each side
20 x bicep curls w/ 10lbs each side
Heavy lift 1-2 days a week:
10 minute wamup on the bike
TRX upper body sequence x 12 (2 sets)
5 x reverse pullups w/ 1-5 second holds at the top
5 x pullups on straight bar
10 x chinups on straight bar
5 x single leg toes to the bar each leg
3 x 10 straight bar squats 55-105 lbs
2 x 10 straight leg dl 50 lbs
2 x 10 dynamic single leg toe touch w/ 10 lbs
20 x eccentric heel drops w/ 10lbs
20 x calf raises
10 x single leg calf raises each side on step
pushup challenge: 35 pushups, 30 second plank, 20 pushups, 30 second plank, 10 pushups, 30 second plank
20 bosu ball squats with 14lb medicine ball
10 x dynamic single leg on soft bosu ball
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| Side plank. Okay, I feel bigger than I look I guess. |
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| I think this is supposed to be a squat but I should be looking up! |
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| Kettle bell swings. |
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