I think I have PR'd in boot wearing compliance!

Well, another week almost done. I think it's been 3 weeks total since my grade 4 tibia stress fracture. This week enter----> the BOOT

Yup, so much for the fancy custom cast I was promised. It never happened. So I alternate between the boot 90% of the time and when I can't take it anymore I switch to crutches. The crutches are hard because I have been swimming my ass off and my arms are too beat to support myself. Enter----->the one footed hop. UGH!

At first I embraced the boot. I fought the idea of being laid up with a broken leg.

Yes, not ideal. But I'm not losing the muscle tone that I've worked so hard for!

first hour with $325 boot. Still happy.

I took that shit shoppin'!

I took that shit to the pool...everyday...

even the neighbors pool...

 

 

And of course the bike..

a horse farm on my bike route

So this week looked like this:

MONDAY: 60 minutes of aqua jogger and a 22 mile bike
TUESDAY: freestyle swim 60 minutes
WEDNESDAY: 15 min preswim, 60 min. aqua jogger and 22 miles on the bike
THURSDAY: freestyle swim 60 minutes
FRIDAY: 15 min preswim, 60 min aqua jogger, 20 miles on the bike
Saturday: freestyle swim 60 minutes
SUNDAY: long bike scheduled.

TOTALS: 62 BIKE, 3.5 HOURS OF FREESTYLE SWIM, 3 HOURS OF AQUA JOGGER. About 11 hours of working out.

That's a little more time than I'd spend in a week of running. But feels about the same effort wise.

So next week I have a bone density scan, my first PT appt and all the shit above. But there are PERKS to the boot!:

I get free shit everywhere I go. Total pity swag. A comped dessert here, a free bag there....."oh just have this..." is what I hear often. Then there is the BOOT POSSE. Other boots wearers will chase me down and we'll share boot stories. One dude lifted his leg from a mall kiosk waving his busted up ankle. Boot wearers unite! Not to be confused with this CRAP:

*Hi, I'm an AD. I see the boot a lot. Can I try and guess your sport and injury? Actually, this dude was right on.
*Hi, I sprained my ankle once...(shoot me)
*Can I get that for you? --I don't like help from strangers. Too creepy

So, hi-ho. It could be worse. I can do this. In fact the idea of wearing a boot on both legs crossed my mind. Could I theoretically run then??! Hmmm....

Adios friends! Run one hard mother, fast ass mile for me. I'll tread water for you ; )

Laura

Being injured is a lot of work!

Hello and welcome to Laura's OCD fitness train! Gone are the days of sweat soaked mid week 12 milers. Instead, welcome to the land of the brick: swim/bike. I'm sure the cyclists and swimmers out there are saying, "you're not going hard enough." I will work on that, but for now I feel that to get a good workout I need to do extra. Running is harder. I'm gonna say it loud and proud!

Also, I love the water and the bike simply because I'm not limping or on crutches. I feel like a regular person. As soon as I pull out of the pool or unclick my shoes from the bike reality hits that I still am a busted up mess. I can't even unclick my broken leg out of the peddle. I have to bend over and use my hands. Ugh.

My schedule has looked like this lately:

Friday: 1 hour aqua class followed by 1 hour of free style swim. This = 1 COLD Frey.
Saturday: 35 miles on the bike.
Sunday: 1 hour of freestyle swim
Monday: 1 hour of aqua jogger and 22 miles on the bike.

The aqua class I take is awesome. Basically, it's aqua running and arms at the same time. Lots of sprints etc. I can feel "a little" pressure on my Stress Fx so I'm not going to bust too much ass too soon as far going solo with the aqua jogger and strictly running. Maybe in a week or 10 days.

Here are some pics:

Yay Mom!! Thanks for coming out!

NOT NIKE'S...

ahhhh yeah...a sneak peak at my new MIAMI bikini!! The official FAN photo is still in the works. ie my tan line

s suck!

Well, my Ortho just called and said my BRACE is in...aweeee shit. Brace?

Later Taters!
Laura

Is this a bad joke?

I'm not trying to milk any more pity out of you guys, I swear! This is just getting ridiculous.

I finally had my appointment with my Ortho. He says I have a grade 4 tibial stress fracture (the worst). I am on crutches and a special compression type of aircast was ordered and should arrive Tuesday. I have to wear the cast for a month 24/7 unless I'm swimming or in the shower. 

He said he couldn't give me a time frame of healing because it may never heal. It may require a metal rod in my shin. Is this a bad dream??? Am I being punked here? 

In the mean time I am getting a bone density test and doing PT to make sure my legs and hips are not causing this.

It is very important that I don't walk through ANY pain. When I looked at the MRI with him it looks like my leg is shattered. He said if I would have pushed it one more run with pain it would have broken completely.

The leg on the far left (my right leg) shows the fx. The white part is the fx and the surrounding swelling in the bone.

  This picture doesn't show it as well as in the drs office. Seeing the fracture line is freaky. I'm happy I have 2 legs at the moment.  But CRUTCHES??? CAST??? I don't have any tears left but I seriously wanted to puke upon hearing this. I went from:


1. being upset I was missing my marathon
2. being upset I had to reduce my training
3. VERY upset I couldn't run
4. Mad I had a stress fracture
5. Now afraid my damn leg is gonna break off and/or I'll never heal and need a fucking rod...

As crazy as it is I'll be in the pool by 7am tomorrow. I am not going down. I am obsessed with getting this healed. But still wow....

Run one for me friends!! Down but never out!
XOXO
Laura

Day 1 of my Fitness Palooza. GO!

I'm happy to report my day-o-moping is over and today is a new day. A chance to keep my fitness! I am alive and healthy (minus broken leg) so I need to buck up. Bitching is over and I have a schedule in the works. Thank you as always for helping me keep my chin up ; )

Today I did something totally new. I took a deep water aqua class at Pullen Pool. It's kinda trippy being suspended in 15 feet of water and then running and shit. (that sounds so Bevis/Butthead lol). But it was a great workout. And more importantly I learned how to use the aqua jogger floatation belt. Totally weird when I am used to swimming in a pool. It is not a natural feeling at all. Trying to haul ass and only do a 30 minute pace is humbling!

The class had about 10 LOVELY seniors who were honey badgers themselves. They flocked to me asking a million questions. I felt like the new kid at school. So sweet. I promised I'd do their class again. These ladies were age 65+ and kicking ass. Some said they did back to back classes. That will be me at their age!

60 minutes in the aqua jogger was a great workout. Most people would go home and eat a bagel. Not me. I took off my belt and put on my cap/goggles. Before I started shivering I pumped out an hour of freestyle. I used the hand paddles off and on to change it up some and work on my guns. Ok, now I was done. 2 hrs later..jelly legs and arms achieved!

I was freezing after all of this. I took a hot shower and noticed I forgot a towel. Great. But I had a wadded up XXS T shirt in my bag that would have to do. Nice. I won't go over the logistics of walking back to my locker from the showers wrapped in a wadded up shirt. Briskly, eyes down. lol.

Megan H, Jim M. and a few others have convinced me to do aqua jogging. If Jim can maintain a sub 2:40 marathon with aqua jogging I can certainly try! Meghan was kind enough to send me this schedule which is now on my fridge:

Nine-week Training Schedule
	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Week 1	5:00 warm-up 2 sets of 5 x 1:30 hard (:30 easy recovery; 2:00 easy between sets) 5:00 cool-down Total workout: 32:00	5:00 warm-up 6 x 2:30 hard (:30 easy recovery) 5:00 cool-down Total workout: 28:00	5:00 warm-up 5:00 stretching 30:00 steady	30:00 to 45:00 flexibility	5:00 warm-up 1:00 hard, 1:00 easy, 2:00 hard, 1:00 easy, 3:00 hard, 1:00 easy, 400 hard, 1:00 easy, 3:00 hard, 1:00 easy, 2:00 hard, 1:00 easy, 1:00 hard 5:00 cool-down Total workout: 32:00	5:00 warm-up 4 x 5:00 hard (1:00 easy recovery) 5:00 cool-down Total workout: 34:00	30:00 alternate crosstraining or rest

 
I am very schedule oriented. I need to see my workouts in writing. So I am going to see how I can do this schedule, my swimming and some bike. I'm not loving the bike but dude, I need to talk. The pool is like being on chit-chat restriction. So assuming I bike with others I'll actually have some social life back in my routine. Or I can talk to myself...lol....

So, hi-ho off to the Ortho I go. I haven't seen my doctor yet. I am praying I don't get put in the BOOT. The only reason I have my MRI results before my Ortho is because I harassed the Radiologist. I'm hood like that. lol ; )

Happy Running friends. I'll hold down things at the pool for now.

XOXO
Laura

Here we go again.

Well, in true Honey Badger style I was clearly oblivious to my broken leg. Dragging it around and referring to the pain as swim related.

I have a Grade 3 Tibial Stress Fracture. A microfracture. This is per the radiologist who reviewed my MRI. I haven't talked to my Orthro yet so I'm not sure what he wants me to do. Of course no running. I'm praying I don't get put in a boot. Well, it's not a complete break. That's about the only good news. I have no idea how in one run I go from fine to almost breaking my leg in half....shit.....

+/-11 weeks off from Running.....

So of course I'm a googling fool until I see my Ortho. I tried to see what grade 3 is all about. This is what's out there:

- progression of stress fractures:
           - stage I - crack initiation: areas of stress concentration
           - stage II - crack propagation: no repair or more damage than repair
           - stage III - final fracture: cracks coalesce, enlarge, ultimate failure 




Well, I'll just wait and see. I've got plenty of time for that in my schedule. Looks like I will be in the pool a lot.  I plan of getting some pedals for my sister's extra tri bike. I'm not going out just like that! I'm taking today off to mope but tomorrow I have work to do...


Laura

MRI time!

Happy Wednesday my Friends,

Nothing like some Backspin on Sirius Radio drowned out by insane clacking!

I haven't been running in THREE WHOLE DAYS: DUH, DUH, Daaaaa. Sorry, I'm a little loopy from the MRI machine banging over my leg for an hour! My Ortho ordered an mri and my insurance paid for it so I gladly hopped in. I hope to have the results later tomorrow.

I've had other mri's for other stress fx's and I knew I was broken. But this go round I am not sure. My legs are absolutely fried from my obsessive 2 miles a day swimming habit. I look injured. My walk is very tentative. But I also feel productive. Like I did something. However, tomorrow I'm skipping the pool to sort of taper off it in anticipation of the green light to run.

I just have to throw a bit of swimming advice in here. If you guys ever want to kill your arms and shoulders to the point of being numb. Try these Speedo hand paddles.

I swear a few days of using them for maybe 15 minutes at a time is giving me the Linda Hamilton a la terminator look. And don't scroll down and look at my other wimpy picture! lol..





So, swimming is fun. It's a great workout but I am absolutely dying to run. I still have my sports bras hanging off every door knob hang drying. I can't put them away. They will hang until I put them on again. Hopefully, tomorrow!! I plan on camping out at my doctor's office until he receives the radiologist's report. If it is positive I suppose I'll swim some sick 5000 meter-until my rotator cuffs fall off-type of swim.

Well, fingers crossed!
Night!
xoxo
Laura

Down but not out...

I need a moment of mushy love for my friends! You guys totally rock. Thank you so much for the support, advice and helping me deal with this shit-fest of crappy luck.

I took 4 full days off from running because of my possible stress fracture in my right tibia. I tried to get some cardio in so I went to the pool everyday for 1.7 to 2 miles of freestyle swimming. It takes forever and is no where near what I need to feel like I had a workout. Just boring as hell. But it's a great arm workout!

Welcome to my gun show. haa..that looks so wimpy!

I tried to make it hard. I never stopped until the workout was over. I doubled my average workout length. I chased people in neighboring lanes. It's not easy but I would say 80 minutes in the pool felt like a 7 miler on the road, cardio wise.

After an hour of swimming I started to get loopy. My flips would be a little too close to the wall. One time I swam right into the wall. Not hard but enough to feel like a dork and scratch my cap. I busted out laughing so I had to back stroke to get the giggles out for a few seconds. At that point I was the only one in the pool and in the lane by the life guard. I call it the Laura Show. ha.

So, by Saturday I felt like I should try running Sunday morning. I had zero pain except in the areas where I had electrical stim, Graston Technique and Ultrasound. So I tried to mentally weed out the deep bruise pain and just run. These are the tools used to more/less break up scar tissue against my bone with Graston. Scrape, scrape...Ouch.

Easier said than done. The first few minutes I was stoked. I actually yelled expletives and raised my arms  like Rocky at 6:30am at Shelly Lake. Finally! But then I tensed up. I was afraid the pain would return.  I noticed I was not relaxed at all. I was analysing every step. Not fun. I kept telling myself:

*put your foot down.
*use your calves
*lean forward
*Toe, LaBella, toe, use it..

It took me 8 miles of nit picking to finally forget about it and just do an easy run. I did 10 miles total at 8:39 pace. It never really felt easy because I don't run that pace but I knew that was best for me right now. Somewhere around mile 7 someone on a bike went by me and yelled, "Hey Honey Badger!" I later learned it was Ben (thanks ; ) but I thought, ya know what I need to stop staring at my legs and just go. So I did.

One thing I think jacked me up physically was the obsessive swimming. Switching over to running uses totally different muscles. I went from not bending my legs at all to the complete opposite. But I kept my sanity and got some good workouts.

My marathon is in 3 weeks. I'm not calling it off yet. I don't think I lost all of my fitness in 4 days. I will do a few more slow runs and see how I feel. I hope it happens. But if I don't feel 100% I will choose a back up. I'm just going to chill an see what happens. I'm not out yet!

Thanks again!!
XOXO
Laura

Shit...

I feel a blog post soaked in profanity and f bombs coming up.  I *may* have a stress fracture in my tibia. I'm in that in between stage where it's too early for an x-ray and not quite MRI territory. Bottom line is I can't run at all. I am limping.

I am 3 weeks out from the marathon I trained for all summer. 5 am wake ups and 95+ degree temps. I have busted my ass with exact precision. I did every run I was supposed to. I even wore heavy trainers to protect myself. I didn't ramp up my mileage too quickly or make any mistakes that would put me in jeopardy for an injury. I even fucking stretched before and after! It makes no sense.

I have had 2 other (tib/fib) stress fractures over the years from running. Those I deserved. I made every newbie mistake there was to get a stress fx. So now, when I feel a twinge of anything I get it checked out right away.

Initially, I went to a runner friendly, highly recommended Chiropractor. She does not feel it is a fracture but said I have a lot of scar tissue in the area and did ultrasound therapy. OK, 2 points for team Laura. Then, I saw my Ortho. I wanted  him to agree that it was soft tissue so I could feel better. He seems to think it is most likely a stress fx but said it's not acting quite like a fx so give it a few days and call on Monday.

So I did what any obsessive runner would do:

-cried
-went to the pool for 100x25 meters of nonstop freestyle swim. Very bad ass for me.
-cried
-started planning how to keep my fitness if this is a fx.

Maybe it's soft tissue and I'll be fine tomorrow. Who knows. I couldn't walk on Monday and it has slowly felt better when walking but still hurts to run.

It especially sucks *extra* ass because tonight I planned on bringing my 7 y/o daughter who loves to run to a social run in Umstead Park for a slow 5k. I wrote this on her napkin in her lunch box to which she had clutched when I picked her up from school:

UGH. She bounced in the car saying Umstead tonight! I pursed my lips and tried to not cry for the billionth time. She said, what's wrong? I said, I think I broke my leg. She said, ughhh, no Umstead huh? It made me laugh.

So, I think I'm almost done feeling sorry for myself. I plan on swimming daily and probably picking up a spin class. I've worked too hard to see my muscles atrophy to shit. My fingers are crossed for the next few days though. Hoping it's soft tissue and feels better!!! Please!!! Until then I will relish in my vague diagnosis and keep my head in the sand.

xoxo

On your Left. On your right. Everywhere! More mileage!

Another week down! Yeehaw! I am just trying to stagnate (as fast as possible) until the heat subsides. This week was good.

Monday: totally off. no swim. I regret it now but I was too tired after a weekend at the beach. And 26 miles.

Tuesday: 10 miles at 7 pace descending to 6:28 pace. See above. Day off. lol.

Wednesday: Track: 5x1000 600 jog recovery. 3:36, :38, : 38, :38, :36. Auto pilot. That's what came out. Wasn't really into it.

Thursday: 14 miles @ 7:30 pace. That was tough. VERY hot and legs tired.

Friday: 8 at 7:08 pace. Last 4 miles sub 7. Ending on a 6:28 mile.

Saturday: 5 miles. Supposed to be 8 pace. But it was thunder and lightening so I ran it down into the 6's again.

Sunday: 20 miler on deck. 8:15ish pace is the plan. I have friends this time so it WILL happen. YAYYY! However...

     I feel an ode coming on:
          Please see my first ode to the Taffies. I still love this one:

         On my honor, I will try:
    To run with the TAF'ies on their "easy" run,
     And not pretend it's my own Olympics,
     Not try to relive the first 400m of mag mile with Meghan,
     Or wreck my legs trying to outrun Brian Douglas.
    
I promise:
     I will not toe the line and gun a 6:30 pace,
     I will not attempt to prove my 91minute Half was bullshit,
     I will be nice and friendly and not try to "represent"

I will:
    Stay in the back,
     Jog accordingly,
     And be a gracious for the nice invite.

I wrote that like a year ago and it still applies all the time. Imma tryin'! 


Happy Running friends!
xoxo

Worst Day turned best Weekend

To follow up on my FAIL on Tuesday I am happy to report that I finally made it to the track on Wednesday morning and did my workout:

5x600: 2:04, 2:06, 2:06, 2:06, 2:07. Those times mean nothing to me. I don't do 600's. But they were close together so that's good.

Because I'm an emotional runner I decided to go to Umstead the next day, Thursday and pound out 7:35 pace on dead legs on the hills for 9 miles in bad heat. link here. That hurt.

So now it's time for tempo Friday. Clearly I did a good job this week and I should feel fresh, ha! Firstly, it was 100 degrees when I ran and secondly, I was beat up from the hills yesterday but I don't care. I had 9 to do with 5 faster middle miles. I planned on doing them betw 6:20-6:30 pace but that didn't happen. I did 3 @ 6:35 pace. AND CRIED, yes cried just for a minute but tears came out. I was LIVID that I bombed my workout and annoyed that I cried at Shelly Lake. Tighten up!

So I called my mom and we decided to go to the beach for the weekend. I wasn't sure if I was going run on Saturday and if I did it was gong to be slow. I woke up and decided I felt okay and left at 6am for an easy 8 miler.

Of course it's never that easy. I was on flat land near the beach and there were tons of new runners to chase! I love chasing people. Here's how my thoughts went on that run:

Mile one 7:44 took a few sunrise pics. This will be a nice easy run.
Mile two: 7:23 hmmm, I better slow down.
Mile three and four: 7:12 & 7:14. Oh shit, I bombed the easy run. Let's turn this into a slight tempo but not kill my legs for tmrw.
Mile five: 6:55 I got some water and took some pics
Mile six and seven: 6:56 & 6:52. I could do this flat stuff forever. But I have 18 tmrw. decision decisions....
Mile 8: 6:20 compromise. I did the mileage just spazed out at the end.

So now I'm happy. I had a half way descent run and was looking forward to my 18 miler in the morning. It was hot at the beach and the only way to not choke on this run was with a 5am start. That was hard. I didn't have my running handheld bottle. No gatorade. No jack juice. I had a bottle of Dasani. Let me say, running with 17 ounces in a plastic bottle SUCKS. My arm still hurts.

I planned on 8 pace. That lasted a mile. garmin here. It ended up being 18 @ 7:30 pace. I didn't have any issues until mile 10. My shoes were soaked. Partially because I ran through every sprinkler I saw but also because it was 90 and very humid and I sweat a lot. So every foot step made a loud slap and water would fling out and leave a shoe print. I had my heavy trainers on and now they were easily triple the weight. It was horrible.

I decided I would not stop on this run. I had to just get it done. I drank from a twist cap bottle ON THE RUN! That was pretty bad ass. But towards the end I ran out of water and stopped at a fountain. I was drenched. It was awesome. I finished up with the last 200 on the sand running towards the ocean. I kicked my shoes off and dove in. That got some looks. lol. I did not care. I stayed in the water for a few minutes and then headed back to the hotel.

2 good rums to end the week. 64 miles this week and one swim. Yay! here are some pics:

post 18. No energy

also, post 18. So steamy out.

So happy Monday! I'm worn out from the beach. I may not do my swim today and that's fine with me. 68 on deck for the week.
Later taters!
XOXO