Sidelined

Well, week one of "Operation Fix Shins" is over. That means I have (at least) one week left. So far, my shins don't seem to be much better. For the first part of the week, I was starting to think that I may have caused myself some stress fractures, which I was none too pleased about... But I decided to try massaging the posterior tibialis muscles, and I found both sets to be quite tender and bumpy! I worked them out quite a bit on Wednesday and Thursday. I also had J work on both sets of calves. (Those guys were also quite tender and bumpy!)

I had been good about taking ibuprofen and wearing my orthotics, but I stopped doing both by the middle of the week. I stopped taking the ibuprofen since it inhibits bone healing. This became important, not only as I grew more and more concerned about stress fractures, but because I'm pretty sure the damage is at the muscle to bone interface. I stopped wearing the orthotics because I was getting sore from wearing them. It might have been too much, too soon, as far as they go. I'm still wearing them in my rain boots, when walking around town. My work shoes are easy spirits, so they are fairly supportive and comfortable throughout the day.

I continued the cross-training on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Monday and Friday were done on the recumbent bike. Unfortunately, on Wednesday, some lady was on the recumbent bike...forever. So I attempted the elliptical trainer. I was afraid...of gravity. This was the day I was most worried about possibly having stress fractures. My shins didn't really hurt too bad, but there were definite twinges. I ended up stopping only about 25 minutes in because I was so worried I might be causing more damage. Tuesday, Thursday, and today (Saturday) we continued with our strength training: planks, wall sits, hip abduction (leg lifts in sidelying), hip extension (leg lifts while prone), and the 100 Pushup Challenge. Here's the stat wrap up:

Monday:
10.1 miles, 16-17 mph averaged over middle 30 minutes

Wednesday:
25 minutes on the elliptical (Blech!)

Friday:
10.7 miles, 17 mph averaged over middle 30 minutes

The running break will continue through at least Thursday. If I'm still feeling twinges then, I will extend the break at least another week. :( I hope I don't feel any twinges...