I found a medical study online where they took a group of elite cross country runners with femur stress fractures and took them through a 4 phase recovery process. By the end of the 12 week process, all athletes were fully recovered, so I thought I would give it a try!
The first phase was three weeks of no weight bearing and no physical activity, not even if it didn't involve legs! The second is three weeks of upper body weights and swimming. The third is three weeks of strength work and biking. The fourth is three weeks of cross training "workouts", walking, and straight running only. Upon completion, you begin a normal running build up as when coming back from injury. The study said athletes were required to repeat an entire phase if at the end of the three weeks there was any sort of pain. Unfortunately, I do still have pain, but I think that swimming and upper body weights should not affect the healing process as long as I don't start walking like crazy!
Sunday, February 24th
20' arm cycle
30' upper body weights
Monday, February 25th
20' core and balance
30' lap swim
Tuesday, February 26th
25' arm cycle
25' upper body weights
Wednesday, February 27th
60' core and balance
30' lap swim
Thursday, February 28th
20' upper body weights
Friday, March 1st
20' core and balance
30' lap swim
Saturday, March 2nd
Off - Sick, traveling, and rushing around The Woodlands Marathon course to cheer on Jake! Top American and only American to place! :)
2.27.2013
2.22.2013
For those who read this,
I want to stop in for a quick update, and to make some things clear. :) First off, recovery is going 50% fantastic, 50% ehh. After three weeks of ZERO exercise at all - and by zero I mean no swimming, biking, walking, weights, core, etc - my ankle has no pain at all. My femur, however, is taking its sweet little time. I still can't sit cross legged or on the edge of the chair, and if I spend too long walking around the grocery store I have a solid throbbing ache for the next few hours.
That being said, I want to be sure I make it clear that it is not my training plan which has caused me to get injured so much over the past several years. I've had several people call me out saying I ran too much or too hard or I came back too quickly from other breaks. That is simply not the case. My husband and coach is very knowledgeable, experienced, and well-versed in the proper way to progress training safely. Likewise, I'm not some crazy reckless running addict. :) I know when to push and when to back off; but based on my experiences I've found that sometimes it's worth it just to run on and take the risk that comes with it. It all comes down to what's important to you at the time, what's on the line, and how far-reaching the consequences are of taking that extra risk.
So for those who have taken the time to read this far, I'm going to share with you a tiny bit of what's been going on in my body the past three and a half years. :) Simply put, many systems have kind of gone kaput. :) In 2009, several of my blood levels randomly dropped, I lost about 30 pounds over three months or so, and a slew of other symptoms came along with that. After years of poking and prodding and tours of new medical offices, we've had a handful of successes. First off, my absorption of nutrients is very minimal. Meaning, vitamins, supplements, minerals, food nutrients, etc are not able to do their job in me. As a result of this my ferritin is very low. Additionally, my reproductive system shut down altogether when everything started. Another star on jacket is osteopenia. Sounds like a recipe for a running prodigy! :) Thankfully, though I have a great team of doctors working together to at least put pieces back together, even if we don't find out what caused them to fall apart. I'm getting Iron Sucrose infusions weekly and using an intradermal form of birth control to increase estrogen and strengthen my bones. These are both perfect for me since they do not require absorption orally. The hope is that once I get the Ferritin levels up, the WBC and RBC also go up, and hopefully, the bones will build back up with this new birth control!
This was a bit of a different post for me since I generally use this strictly to record my training, but I want to be sure no blame for this gets tossed in the wrong direction. :) I hope everyone's training is going fantastic! I'm planning to start some upper body weights next week, so I will be back soon! ;)
That being said, I want to be sure I make it clear that it is not my training plan which has caused me to get injured so much over the past several years. I've had several people call me out saying I ran too much or too hard or I came back too quickly from other breaks. That is simply not the case. My husband and coach is very knowledgeable, experienced, and well-versed in the proper way to progress training safely. Likewise, I'm not some crazy reckless running addict. :) I know when to push and when to back off; but based on my experiences I've found that sometimes it's worth it just to run on and take the risk that comes with it. It all comes down to what's important to you at the time, what's on the line, and how far-reaching the consequences are of taking that extra risk.
So for those who have taken the time to read this far, I'm going to share with you a tiny bit of what's been going on in my body the past three and a half years. :) Simply put, many systems have kind of gone kaput. :) In 2009, several of my blood levels randomly dropped, I lost about 30 pounds over three months or so, and a slew of other symptoms came along with that. After years of poking and prodding and tours of new medical offices, we've had a handful of successes. First off, my absorption of nutrients is very minimal. Meaning, vitamins, supplements, minerals, food nutrients, etc are not able to do their job in me. As a result of this my ferritin is very low. Additionally, my reproductive system shut down altogether when everything started. Another star on jacket is osteopenia. Sounds like a recipe for a running prodigy! :) Thankfully, though I have a great team of doctors working together to at least put pieces back together, even if we don't find out what caused them to fall apart. I'm getting Iron Sucrose infusions weekly and using an intradermal form of birth control to increase estrogen and strengthen my bones. These are both perfect for me since they do not require absorption orally. The hope is that once I get the Ferritin levels up, the WBC and RBC also go up, and hopefully, the bones will build back up with this new birth control!
This was a bit of a different post for me since I generally use this strictly to record my training, but I want to be sure no blame for this gets tossed in the wrong direction. :) I hope everyone's training is going fantastic! I'm planning to start some upper body weights next week, so I will be back soon! ;)
2.04.2013
Well, I made it 6 weeks this time....
My bone scan today showed signs of a stress fracture in my left femur and in my right ankle.
You know things had gotten really bad when you're not upset by a diagnosis like this. On the contrary, I'm somewhat relieved. Running had become so painful and, as a result, it was a battle mentally each day deciding whether or not I should try again. At least now I can rest and take a break from all of that.
Bye bye running and Woodlands Half. Hopefully these will be quick healers!
Sunday, February 3rd
resting - hurting
Monday, February 4th
20' light strength work - AKA resting
*signs of stress fracture in left femur & right ankle in bone scan today
Tuesday, February 5th
20' steady fast bike (115+ rpm)
20' random strength work
You know things had gotten really bad when you're not upset by a diagnosis like this. On the contrary, I'm somewhat relieved. Running had become so painful and, as a result, it was a battle mentally each day deciding whether or not I should try again. At least now I can rest and take a break from all of that.
Bye bye running and Woodlands Half. Hopefully these will be quick healers!
Sunday, February 3rd
resting - hurting
Monday, February 4th
20' light strength work - AKA resting
*signs of stress fracture in left femur & right ankle in bone scan today
Tuesday, February 5th
20' steady fast bike (115+ rpm)
20' random strength work
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