Let's get this SI joint moving already!! :)

Last week was the start of my physical therapy sessions. I'm definitely confident in my therapist and am super impressed with how knowledgeable and professional she is. She and I are close in age and she ran for Baylor in college. On my first visit, she had me explain all my symptoms, checked my alignment, and then had me move in certain positions while she felt a few joints. It turns out my sacroiliac joint on the right side isn't moving. This fits in with everything else because it basically stops your glute and hamstring from firing properly, which means my hip flexor and quads were working overtime. The most obvious sign to me was when she applied pressure to the side of my leg and asked me to resist it. No problems at all on the left, but I had NOTHING on the right. And yes, I do the same leg lifts and lateral lunges on my right side that I do on my left side!! You can read more about sacroiliac joint dysfunction here. Looking at the images and reading about it a bit more, I have no doubt this is a big part of my problem. I have pain in my groin, glute, hamstring, and on the SI joint, and it's definitely worse with prolonged sitting. In fact, we just got home from the movies and I'm in considerable pain smack-dab on the SI joint. It definitely doesn't feel like this when I'm standing at my desk during the day!

After warming it up on Tuesday, my therapist tried mobilizing the joint but it wasn't budging. I'll be going back at least twice a week for a while, which means lunch-break workouts probably won't happen as much, but I'm looking forward to getting it fixed. Both times I went in last week, my legs were significantly out of alignment, so I'm hoping that maybe correcting this will help me stay in alignment better as well!!

Jake and I before seeing Lone Survivor. Not one I would want to see again, but it was fun to spend the time together! :)

Here is the spot that's actually hurting me as I type this! Funny because I complained about this exact spot back in December, and that's actually why we requested a bone scan! We thought it was maybe a sacral problem!

*Picture Source

Anyways, here's the outline for this week! By the way, just so there is no confusion, this is really just a time blocker and way for me to choose workouts each day for now. While I'm not running, I don't have any structure with my training... and I thrive on structure. Even with work and regular life, I like to have an idea of what I'm going to be doing and when. That being said, since I start my weekly post on Sundays, I use this as a way to block off chunks of my time for each day. It also helps me know what type of workout to pick when I get to the gym! SO, if it says 1 hour of strength, chances are I am only in the gym 45 minutes or so, and I probably spend a third of that time stretching and warming up and walking through drills. By the end of each day, I log in and update the details for that day with what I actually did! :)

Sunday, January 26th

30 minutes of PT exercises. Same exact ones I did at physical therapy, plus a few extra core exercises. The physical therapy exercises are unique and would take a lot of typing to explain, so if anyone is curious, let me know. I can film it when I do them tomorrow to save my hands and some time. :)

Monday, January 27th

Before work: Around the World core routine.
During lunch: Full body strength circuit (below). Didn't go to the gym before work due to ridiculous winds (26 to 50 mph all night and morning) and I thought the strength work was more important than lap swimming, so that's what I did!

Tuesday, January 28th

During lunch: Leg day! This is one of the shortest (written) leg workouts I've ever done, but I was literally shaking for the entire round of deadlifts and calf raises! I will definitely keep this one in the mix! I actually planned on doing leg press instead of deadlifts, but the machine was being used and I didn't have time to wait. The trick to getting the most out of this workout is going slow! Pause at the peak of each movement and slowly return to the starting position! I only had 35 minutes and used the full time up (that's how slow each movement was!), but if I'd had more time there are a few more exercises I would've liked to do. Next time I'll probably add hamstring curls and lateral lunges with dumbbells. FYI, no swimming again today. I keep waking up with nasty green mucous (sorry if that is TMI!), and until that trash is gone I don't want to be back in cold water.

Wednesday, January 29th

Lunch: 20 minute yoga workout from Yoga Centre. It's a nice website that provides yoga videos for you to do on your own at home. I really enjoyed the one I did today, and will want to do longer sessions more often now! 
Afternoon: Shoulder workout from Cathy Savage's Warrior Guide workout book. Shoulders/ upper back is definitely my weakest muscle group, so they deserve a full day dedicated to them more often! My legs are crazy sore today and I forgot to drink my Ionix last night, so it's my own fault, haha! Definitely will be drinking a double dose before bed tonight! At least I know yesterday's workout is a keeper! :) Still battling the sinus pains, but my nose is runny this afternoon which I'm hoping will help it pass more quickly!
After work: Physical therapy visit #3!!

Thursday, January 30th

Before work: 45' of full body strength. This was a weird one! I made it the through the first set of an upper body circuit before I realized that it was my full body day!! Ooops! So then I switched to a full body circuit, but skipped some of the arm exercises, haha! Still good though and my leg soreness is going down some! :)
Lunch: 35' yoga session. This was a frustrating one! I was fully dressed and packed for the pool at 11:55 and then had to take a random work call at 11:59 and didn't get off the phone until it was too late to make it to the pool! Booo!! I did enjoy the yoga, but it's certainly nothing like the thrill of getting your heart pumping fast.
*No PT exercise video yet!! So sorry! I will have more time tomorrow so hopefully I can fit it in! :) 

Friday, January 31st

1 hour of lower body strength. PT during lunch.

Saturday, February 1st.

Rest day - My family is coming to visit!! Woohoo!

Life's curveballs... Gotta love em!

Well, I had a couple curveball's thrown my way last week.

Curveball #1: I left my keys in Jake's car one night, so I had to bike the crazy big hills in our neighborhood and at DBU to get to the gym!! Pretty sure I looked like this little guy here...

Curveball #2: I officially have a small labral tear in my right hip and a stress fracture in my right femur.

Curveball #3: I am no longer going to be able to race my big spring goal race, the Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Half Marathon on March 2nd. If you are a runner and looking for a spring half marathon - Definitely check this one out! Sugar Land has GREAT racing weather in March, it's a fast course, and the staff is super great!!

Curveball #4: Because of my anterior pelvic tilt (tight hip flexors), I need to stay off the bike when possible... AKA, I need to get in the pool so I can aqua-jog! This means working out at noon and being limited to 30 minutes of cardio per day.

So, what do all my crazy curveballs mean for this week's training? They mean that for the next 4 to 5 weeks I won't be "training"... The focus now changes to being as fit as I can be without prolonging the healing process! Lots of strength work and as much aqua-jogging as the combination of my work and pool schedules allow!

Sunday, January 19th
Rest day to kick off the week!

Monday, January 20th
*Chiropractor appointment
AM: Strength work (full body day). Awesome new workout!! I got this one from a ebook of workouts from Cathy Savage's page.. It's called the Warrior Guide. It took me around 45 minutes start to finish, but my HR stayed high the whole time, the recoveries were so short they really didn't count (haha), and I definitely feel confident I'll get stronger if I add this to my weekly schedule! Today's workout went as follows, the part in parenthesis is the settings/ weight that I used:

Noon: 30' aqua-jog with intervals. Pool is closed for MLK day! No cardio today afterall!

Tuesday, January 21st
**1st day of Physical Therapy**
AM: Leg strength circuit. Today's circuit only took about 30 minutes, which I figure is a good thing since I don't know what they'll have me do at PT. Circuit was as follows: 4x12 of [stability hamstring curls, stability ball back raises, leg press @ 30, sit-ups on bench], 3x12 of [squats w/ 10lb weights, reverse crunches, 1-legged RDL's, captain's chair straight leg], 3x12 [good mornings w/ 20lb weights, side lunges, calf raises w/ 10lb weights]
10:00: Physical Therapy. Great start! I really respect the girl that's working with me (she actually ran for Baylor so I know she "knows" runners). It turns out my right SI joint is completely immobile and even after her working with it for a while today, she couldn't get it to move, so we're trying again on Friday. Apparently while that joint is stuck, the muscles on my backside can't fully fire, which would explain why my hip flexor and quad were giving me so many problems... they were doing double work! I also now have three new exercises to do each day!
Noon: 30' aqua-jog. Until today, all of my aqua-jogs were a fartlek of some sort. Hard for a period of time, then easy for a period of time. Today I decided to spend the full thirty minutes just working at a good steady effort. I wanted to put more focus on which muscles I was activating and my form as opposed to just moving as much and as fast as I could. Got it in!

Wednesday, January 22nd
11:00: Upper body strength day. Workout below! :) You can ignore the "First" part. I cropped this out of a larger workout plan. :)

Noon: 30' aqua-jog with intervals. Skipped the aqua-jog today. I made it halfway there and decided to turn around. I've had a earache and halfway stuffy nose for a couple days and decided now is not the time to push my body... That can come later when I'm truly training. :) Came home and sprayed some Isamune on my tongue, ate a healthy lunch, and am now diffusing On Guard in my office while I work!

Thursday, January 23rd
*Chiropractor appointment
11:00: Full body strength circuit. This went well again. I was very surprised because last time I could barely do the diamond push-ups, but today they were actually pretty good. I'm sure it's mental though because I don't think your strength actually changes over the course of a week! :) Workout was as follows:

Noon: 30' pool workout. I spent the first 9 minutes aqua-jogging in pain with my flotation belt on. It broke last time but I kept using it, and for some reason today it was just jabbing into my stomach without the padding on it anymore. Then, from 9:30 thru 22:30 I proceeded to aqua-jog without a belt on. Not a huge deal, but it did put more strain on my hip flexors and forced me into a less than ideal posture. It got my HR up, but wasn't as "therapeutic" of cardio as I would have liked so I switched to lap swimming. From 23:00 to 33:00 I swam laps freestyle. I was really surprised by how great of a workout it was and how much it challenged my legs and lungs. I will spend more time doing laps next time, even though the aqua-jogging is more running specific.

Friday, January 24th
Noon: Physical therapy. Originally when I scheduled my first PT session (the one I had on Tuesday) they said I would need to come three days per week, but I could come at 7AM. That's a big plus for me because I don't have to miss any work! Turns out my therapist doesn't arrive until 9 and she leaves at noon on Fridays, so I'm going be missing work and swimming on all my PT days now! The good thing is that I really like my therapist and have a lot of confidence in what she's doing. Still trying to get that SI joint mobile again. I told her how my entire right groin area was super sensitive and painful to touch and she compared both sides and said it was really inflamed. She suggested to swim laps or bike for a few days, but I am going to stay off the bike since originally that was something they told me to avoid. Lots of new exercises to work on, but she only wants me doing four of them on the days I don't go in. Also, I was back out of alignment when I went in. How do we go out of alignment so fast?!?!

Saturday, January 25th
Rest day! Originally I had planned this being a lap swim day, but somehow between 8:15 and noon I got completely lost in my classwork and On Call duties. I had a crazy request come in that I couldn't carry out and let's just say I made a lot of OT money this weekend!! I'm taking it as a blessing in disguise and hoping it let's some of that inflammation go down!