Physical therapy #2

Update on the knee. It's exactly the same. My thigh is super tight. It hurst to roll it. I can run on my knee. It's 90+% for walking up and down stairs but I notice that it's not 100% And I'm using that (and work stress) as an excuse for not running.

I went to physical therapy today and they had me run on a treadmill to analyze my pronation and what's going on with my running.

Guys, I failed this test. Hard.

Good things first: My cadence is perfect. Right around 180 steps per minute.

And that's the extent of what I do right.

Pronation:
When I first started training LAST MAY, I went to a running store and they watched me run and put me in a neutral shoe.

I watched the video at Physical Therapy and I pronate. 164 degrees on my left. 172 on my right (should be 180). My ankle collapses it. It's gross. (I would like to blame the treadmill. I run stupidly on the treadmill. Also I've always felt that I wobble a bit in my first mile and my get into my stride when I'm good and warmed up after a mile or more. But excuses, excuses.)

He also says I'm a heel striker and completely lock out my knee when I run. He wants me to land on my mid foot and bend my knees more when I run.

What this means:
Last week we addressed my hip issues, so having my hips in place when I run (which my hips being in the right place has really hurt my back). So that's causing a hips down issue. (My hips are tight when I run. I understand this.)

And the pronation/ heel striking is causing an ankle up issue. So this is just bad news for my knees.

What he said to do:
Go to the running store and buy light stability shoe. This should fix the pronation. And then focus on mid foot strike and bending my knees more.

For my therapy today, he did more cupping and some muscle stem.

I honestly didn't have that great of a visit. I thought we butted heads about the shoes. He really wanted me in light stability shoes. Not moderate stability shoes. He gave me a list of shoes that would work. And told me to go to talk to the running store owner. I was trying to look up shoes on my phone and he kept insisting I talk to the store owner. I asked about trail shoes and said it didn't matter.

And I had flashbacks of the last time I bought running shoes FROM THE SAME STORE OWNER. When I was fitted. I tried on EVERY SHOE in the store. 30 pairs. I've tried some of the pairs on the list before—because they were cute. And TBH I think I've worn light stability shoes before, when I was just buying cute shoes.

And I just don't think this is a shoe issue. I've been training the same—same shoes for 1,000 miles with no issues. What changed? I went to the trampoline park. I've been slacking on my yoga.

Also, I have about 10 pairs of neutral shoes. I have backups and backups. I LIKE my Nike Pegasus. I don't like Brooks Ravenna or Ricochet. I like them better than my heavy Asics (that I also got knee issues in.) I will get inserts, but I have so much money in shoes, I'm not switching out every pair. (Currently 5 trail shoes, 2 racing flats, 5 road shoes.)

But I was good. I went to the running store right after physical therapy. And the employee said that for light stability they usually tell people to get an insert. That's the halfway point between neutral and moderate stability. So I spent $50 on an insert that I can stick in running shoes and trail shoes.

This is Hummus. She was at the running store when I went there.

Workouts this week: July 17-23

Back to running

I was reading a running book, Run the World, and the author, an elite runner, takes two weeks running off every year. And that made me feel better about my running back. I needed it.

Monday: OFF
My official weekly off day.

Tuesday: Run

I was really hesitant to go back to running. Should I take another week? Would I make things worse? But I got up and ran before work. The plan was to run 1 mile. 1 mile was fine, so turned into 1.5 mile and that was fine, so I ran .5 mile back to my car.

IT WAS FINE. No pain

Also, went to yoga class after work. I did a headstand and fell out of it and startled the teacher. Oops. I was over confident and didn't set up for it. I was fine!

Wednesday: Exercise bike at home
Exercise bike and abs at home.

Thursday: Morning run

I upped my miles to three before work today. And it was fine! No pain. Hooray. I even made it to work on time.

PM: I had planned on going to yoga or an abs class at Ramsey, but I had to work late and Matt had an appointment. So instead, I worked late and then went home and did 20 easy minutes on the exercise bike, some abs, and 10 minutes of rolling.

Friday: Yoga
I went to yoga at Ramsey.

Saturday: 4.5 miles

I got up early and had the trails to myself. (The goal was to finish running before it got too hot and humid.)

After my run, I run into my boss. I ended up walking .5 mile as a cool down with her and her super cute dog.

No pain.

Sunday

After three runs with no pain I was feeling overconfident and went out to run 5 miles off trails.

At mile 3, my shin started feeling bruised. I ran anyway and my shins didn't feel great afterwards. I don't think I'm quite ready to run on consecutive days. Now I know.

Yoga
Went to Sunday night yoga class. This class was focused on the lower back.

Runs this week: 4
Miles this week: 14.8
2 yoga classes plus some exercise bike