anterior tiba stress syndrome

I went to see the sports medicine physician on Friday. He diagnosed me with tiba stress syndrome basically a real case of shin splints. Thank goodness it was not a stress fracture or even worse anterior compartment syndrome. I think he thought I was crazy or overly-cautious for even going to see him for some minor pain. I had a hard time reproducing the same sharp pain, so I get the sense he thinks it's a mild case. He recommended only running 4 miles and see how my leg felt. Since I took a few days off and couldn't really reproduce the pain, I ran 10 miles today instead:). I'm usually good about following doctor's advice, but at the same time, you know your body best. My leg was bothering me just a twinge, so I ran 10 instead of my scheduled 13. I iced it when I got home.

Learned a few things from the physician's visit. If you are able to hop on the injured leg, squat with both legs, or squat with injured leg without any pain or little pain, then it's not a stress fracture. Anterior compartment syndrome say on the right leg is more the muscle on the right side of the leg next to the bone. I did not have pain there, so I could rule that out.

I probably will not do trackworkout for a few weeks, but run flat for a few weeks and of course if possible avoid concrete. They say running is easy, just go out and run, but there are 2 factors you have to consider, which can limit your choices drastically: safety and surface.

Overall, I had a good run today. Oh, I also learn I need to take a longer stride and strike my foot more heel to toe. Ah, so many things to consider, but it does take your mind off of running.

stairmaster

I went to the gym today and skipped trackworkout in case the pain in my lower right leg is serious. I got a recommendation from our running club coach to see a sports medicine physician. Our coach said it's mostly likely shin splints. I read in the Sports Medicine book that shin splints is an outdated diagnosis. There are so many parts of the lower leg. If the pain is localized, what part of the leg specifically, etc. From what I felt and what the book says, it sounds serious, but of course I'm no doctor. Thankfully, the recommended physician is covered by my insurance. I'm so glad I didn't select Kaiser. Kaiser is so limiting.

Back to the gym, I tried doing stairmaster for 35min. I was huffing and puffing and I could feel my heart rate increasing. I did the unthinkable. I stopped and got off the machine and my vision got all blurry and I thought I was going to vomit. I remember someone saying, you should never stop all of a sudden b/c it could cause a heart attack. Thankfully, I didn't have a heart attack, but I definitely had to sit down an rest for a good 15min. And of course this has happned to me before. Exercise is good, but over-exertion is not. I think it's called venous pooling.

stress fracture?

I ran from my house to the dentist this morning. I had an appt at 8am and I wanted to get my run done in the morning. I thought the best way would be to run there and take public transportation home, so that's what I did.

date: 01.22.2007, Monday
time: 7:10am
weather conditions: sunny, windy
clothing: black tights, long black sleeve, jacket
shoes: New Balance 1010
route: from my house to the dentist
distance: 3.6mi
time: 42min
pace: 11:40
meal night before: chicken noodle soup, made myself:)

So my front leg is hurting. I had a few stabs of sharp pain when I was running on Saturday. I felt it more when I was going downhill. This morning it was a bit tender. I've been reading The Sports Medicine Bible It's says it could either be a stress fracture or an anterior compartment syndrome. Either one is not a good. I'm going to make an appt with my sports massage therapists and see what he says first and then make an appt with an orthopedic surgeon. I guess that's the type of doctor you need to see. I'm not sure. I'm thinking I need to do a bone scan to confirm if it's a fracture or not. Ah drats! If it's not one type of pain, it's another:(.

Big Sur bound

I offically signed up for Big Sur. I met a new person in my running club a couple of weeks ago. She has run Big Sur twice and said it was a beautiful course and that I would have no trouble finishing the race in 6 hours. I emailed one of our coaches to confirm. He said I should have no trouble, but of course I'll need to train hard. I've been training consistently. I did miss trackworkout last Tuesday b/c I went to a photography class at REI. Oh well, I'm not going to stress. I had a good run on Thursday. I did some hill running and felt good.

This morning I ran with Orange. They are a little faster than the previous group I ran with. Actually, I felt they were running a lot faster. I was able to keep up, but the pace was not consistent throughout the 12miles, so I felt a bit frustrated. I think I might end up creating my own pace group. I don't want to run too fast and risk getting injured.

date: 01.20.2007, Saturday
time: 8:00am
weather conditions: cold and sunny, not too cold
shoes: New Balance 1010
route: with running club
distance: 12.1miles
time: 2:17
pace: 11:19
meal night before: spaghetti w/meatballs and a few bites of Luke's pizza, an maple nut oatmeal in the morning

happy new year!

date: 01.01.2007, Monday
time: 3:30pm
weather conditions: warm and sunny
clothing: black shorts, long blue sleeve, too warm
shoes: New Balance 1010
route: near my house
distance: 5mi
time: 50min
pace:?
meal night before: leftover potatoes, 2 poached eggs, 1 slice of toast, apples

I got up around 10am:). It's always hard for me to get out the door. I did quite a bit of chores this morning. I was procastnating with running. Once I'm out the door I'm usually fine, but a lot of times it's hard for me to get out the doors. Stay focused and motivated! I'm off to a good start! Tomorrow, I'll attempt the HILL. It's a pretty ugly hill! I'll try to take a photo of it.

exhausted run

date: 12.30.2006, Saturday
time: 7:45am
weather conditions: cold, but sunny
clothing: long leggings, my black REI turtle neck, club long sleeve shirt, REI light blue fleece jacket, needless to say, I was too warm after about 20min of running, oh well.
shoes: New Balance 1010
route: started at Sports Basesment
distance: 10 miles
time: 2hr 6min
pace:?
meal night before: made my own pasta with salmon and roasted veggies(brussel sprouts, zucchini, sweet potatoes) I actually cooked!!

I was sore from yoga. My entire upper body was sore. I was tired. Yes, I was probably a bit hungry too. Didn't eat my oatmeal that morning. I had a banana though. The route was a bit hilly. I felt scared and discouraged by what I will face at Big Sur. Hills, gotta to train on hills!