All righty then. I’ve just spent two hours clearing out my email boxes and catching up with things that needed to be caught up. I hate doing that. At heart, I’m really a lazy person. I’m not GOOD at being lazy, but I wish I were. There’s nothing like that message “There are no message in your inbox.” Sigh. Happiness. It’s like a countertop with nothing but a toaster. Or a kitchen table with nothing but a lamp (we’ll see how long that lasts).
While we’re sighing with happiness, I have to give a quick shout out to MJ in Nantucket, our wonderful host of two days, the woman who greeted us with hugs and the keys to her car. She just sent me wind chimes. Like I wasn’t already feeling guiltily spoiled, I just hung them in the garden, where they’re in exact tune with my first pair. Only they’re sweeter, because they were sent with love. Double sigh. This will be a short post, because I have a date with my swing in the garden.
I am a wee disgruntled today, though, because my shin splints are gettin’ on my nerves. Or on my muscles, as it were. I’ve got the classic posterior tibial (mumble something mumble) tendonitis, and the physical therapist I saw says it’s normal for a first time runner, and I just need some rest. I don’t WANT rest. (I’ve been doing everything right, though, rest, ice three times a day, elevation, ibuprofen.)
I ran four miles with my pace group yesterday in the City, and it was truly wonderful. I had a ball. It hurt some to run, but not really badly, and it just felt great to move like that. Four miles! That’s farther than I’ve ever run in my whole life. I was high off it for hours.
It hurt a lot more later, though, and I’m not going to do my maintenance runs this week while I heal up. I have, however, been reading about “pool running” and I’m going to do that tomorrow and Thursday. Being an alum, I’ve got access to the pool at Mills and I’m well prepared (and well practiced) to look stupid running in the deep end and not moving anywhere. I think I need a flotation belt, and I’ll find one of those today. They say plenty of marathoners train this way – no weight placed on the downstrike, like in running, but all the same muscles used (and the cool water keeps the swelling down). And then I’ll run again next Sunday in the pace group and see if I’ve healed enough to go back to maintenance runs…..
Oh, and might I add?
$2520.
A-freaking-mazing. I may be recovering from running, but I’m not recovering from your generosity.
Thank you. Again. Day-uhm.
As a former college runner, I can attest to the wonderfulness of pool running (or aqua jogging). It’s a great way to rehab and build up your running muscles!
Chrissie
You might want to try the *classic* therapy for shin splints…which is to stretch out a towel, lengthwise, and scrunch it up towards you, using your toes. You’ll *know* instantly if this works. You’ll feel really stoooopid, dragging a towel across the floor, a molecule at a time, but your floor will be extra CLEAN and your shins will thank you later in Hawaii….
The pool running? Brilliant.
FOUR MILES in the City, with a pace group?! Can I just say how Proud that makes me?
PROUD.
You are doing so awesome! What seems small to one can be large to another. Just remember that when you are crusing through this goal. On the shin splints front, you might want to look into better shoes (this is assuming you did not get new shoes — if you did, then maybe they need breaking in time). I wear Brooks and I swear all hint of shin splints have disappeared from my life. I love the idea of water jogging too! I love swimming and the chance to get in the water seems so nice! Kudos to you! Keep up the good work! FYI — yesterday while running in the heat (it’s 80 up from 50 a week ago), I thought about you running and knew I could do it! You were!
Running in the pool is what my friend’s dad does at the old folks community…well really they just walk don’t they. Rest and be healthy.
Please tell me how to water jog! There was a woman at University who did that but I never understood exactly what the heck she was doing.. Do you move or just ‘run’ in place. I don’t get it!! Or are you running around the shallow end of the pool.. hmm.. Sounds interesting and something I could do on those soon to be very frequent jaunts to the nearby pool with the kidlets…
Yes! Rest! Take it from a chronic splint-sufferer – don’t think you can fool your body. Rest really was the only thing that allowed (still allows) the helaing. The pool is a great option – you can still get your cardio training and the muscular training while the healing progresses… congrats on the mileage!
Wow. Just wow.
Dude, I get posterior tibial tendonitis! It’s on the inside of your leg, right? You know what works for me? Reiki. I swear. I just sit and hold my hand right above it for 5 minutes, and I’m cured. It’s a miracle. I also use Arnica Gel, which you can get at the health food store. I swear by that stuff, and I think even Hedi believes it works!
As for aqua jogging, I did that for a long time while recovering from iliotibial band syndrome. I have an aqua vest sitting in my closet that you are WELCOME to use if you’d like. They cost $50, so there’s no use buying one. I should check to make sure the foam hasn’t disintegrated first, of course, but really, you can use it, and I’m going to be up there on Thursday, so I can drop it off or figure something out. Let me know, chiquita, and don’t be discouraged (I won’t even tell you about the time I got injured and couldn’t run and got so stressed out that my hair fell out in patches–alopecia. Seriously. Oh, oops, I just told you).