February 5, 2009

Red the Reluctant Convalescent

It's been 4 whole days with no running at all. It has seemed like an eternity. And the convalescence is far from over. The first 48 hours saw the greatest amount of obvious recovery. I finally got to the point where I could walk almost normally and relatively pain-free. Now the recovery seems to have plateaued. My heel is still tender and swollen and there is a palpable knot where I first felt the pain. I'm sure the fact that I work on my feet all day does nothing to help speed recovery. *sigh* Each night when I get home I ice the heel and have been taking ibuprofen regularly.

My first day at the gym after the injury I spent 45 minutes on the stationary bike. I was quite proud of myself! That's the longest I've ever been on one of those machines! And if you think treadmills are boring... Today I again got on the bike and tried one of the pre-programmed workouts. That made all the difference. It was far more fun! I stayed on for 50 minutes this time and got a great workout. Perhaps this recovery time will make a bicyclist out of me! In fact, I started wondering if bicyclists ever get overuse injuries like we(runners) do and if so, what are they? They obviously do not get the same kind of pounding on the joints like we do, so I'm betting they get injured far less frequently, but I could be wrong! It's happened before. Really. Once or twice.

I've kept up my strength training. I'll probably do it more often now. Might as well. I actually enjoy lifting weights and have had to hold back while training for races so I don't burn out on fitness in general. Don't want to spend all my free time at the gym. Okay, maybe I would like to spend all my free time at the gym, but I shouldn't. Gotta make some semblance of an attempt at being a well-rounded person! haha!

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