It could be worse! ;)

I decided to make an appointment to see a sports medicine doc after my fall two weeks ago jumping up the stairs at track practice.  A week after the fall I tried to run and I pushed myself more than I should have.  I ran 16km but it was a very painful 16km.  My right foot felt like it should not have been in the shoe and I resorted to walking the last bit home because it was hurting too much.   I gave it more rest and tried to run again.  Same thing but this time I did not run as far.  Ok...I fully admit that was not a smart thing to do which got me into trouble in the first place.  To stop this practice of testing it out each week and potentially making it worse I decided I should see someone to make sure nothing serious was done.  And at the same time I figured I should get my left foot looked at as well as the pain in my heel has been getting worse.  After getting assessed and being told I was like a typical health care practitioner who leaves things for a little too long, lol, the conclusion is as follows.  I have been diagnosed with plantar faciitis in my left foot and a sprain at the 4th tarsometatarsal joint in my right foot.  So I now have physio prescribed and I'll see how that goes.  Not exactly the way I want to start the new year but it definitely could have been a lot worse.

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!

I would like to wish all of you, your families, and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas!!!!!!

And here is one of my baking creations from this year!  The M-dot! Lol!  I made a batch of Ironman shortbread cookies along with my other varieties that I have gifted up for this year.  I didn't take a picture of them though but it is pretty much the same spread as last year!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!  Cheers and be merry!!!

Keeping my fingers crossed!

I have been very lucky in the injury department the last couple of years.  And I really hope my streak continues.  My last serious injury was back in late 2009 around the time of IM Cozumel when I had a possible back stress fracture.  It was painful to just walk and after the Ironman I took two months off to heal and I was successful.  I have niggling stuff now and then with muscles and the latest is a sore right hamstring and quite possibly plantar fasciitis in my left foot which I have yet to confirm.  Based on the symptoms I am 99% sure I am dealing with that and maybe I should get proper treatment before it gets really bad.  But last night I did a good one.  I was debating about even going to the track workout because I came off of my night shift that morning, then went Christmas shopping during the day (which I am happy to say I am done!!!) and then decided to go to track with no sleep!  Not smart of me at all.  Worse is that I have been up since 6:30am Wednesday morning!  I never take a nap on my first night as I am up and training and doing errands.  Well, I was up all day, worked all night, and then was up all of the following day.  I should have known better and stayed home and go to sleep.  But I was feeling ok and decided to go and just run the 600s easy.  And I did exactly that.  I did not go hard because I did not want to injure myself and held a good pace and was consistent for all the intervals.  It was after the repeats that did me in.  We do circuits which include jumping up the stairs on one foot and two feet.  On the best of days I am not the greatest but I have improved tons since I first joined the club at jumping up the stairs.  But my coordination and balance was so off and I was all over the place.  On the third set, I was doing the one-footed jump on my right leg and instead of landing straight on my foot I landed on my toes unbalanced and then straight onto my ankle also hitting my left shin onto the concrete stairs.  And the pain that shot through my ankle left me on the stairs unable to move.  I have a high pain tolerance to begin with but I was actually brought to tears  I have sprained my ankle before in ballet class when I was a teenager and did not feel what I felt last night.  It was so painful I was afraid I actually broke it because I couldn't even move it.  After a couple of minutes I slowly tried to move it again and it was a lot better.  I was afraid to get up and put weight on it but I did and was relieved that I could move it and put weight on it.  So I followed coach's orders and iced it right away.  Now about 24 hrs later I have a swollen foot.  My ankle is not too bad but my foot is quite sore.  My range of motion is not the greatest and walking does hurt.  I am not limping though.  I actually even tried out yoga and swimming today (ok....again, not smart of me!).  I was a little tentative at yoga as putting weight on it does hurt but I managed ok and swim was fine; I just didn't push off the wall with that foot.  I am still icing it and I am hoping for the best.  If it is still bothering me a week from now I have decided I will get it checked out.  Lucky for me it is the off season and I can afford time off.  I just hope it really is nothing and just a freak accident that hurt at that moment and nothing else!

Santa Shuffle

Saturday I ran the Santa Shuffle 5km in Sunnybrook Park raising funds for the Salvation Army.  This was a different run from what I am used to.  This was more of a fun run and fun I did have.  We got bibs but no chip times.  There was a clock at the finish but no finishing times or results were posted.  I went into this trying to run a 22:30 for 5km but just missed the mark.  I was wearing my Garmin and realized midway through the run that the course was longer than 5km.  It was about 300m long.  That was ok except for that I did not press the stop button hard enough when I crossed the finish line so I really had no idea what time I finished the run in.  And I ran back to find a friend to help her run the last part hard so that was all included in my total time.  So based on my Garmin I hit the 5km mark in 23:10.  Not bad!  If there was a finish line at this mark I usually try to kick it into high gear and could have maybe brought this time down.  Something to work towards!  I did learn that I am not a good 5km runner! Lol!  I went out too hard and was slowing down considerably at the end.  I think right now I am better at pacing a 10km than a 5km.  I also believe I was 5th woman overall.  I noticed right off the bat two women were ahead of me.  I passed some early on but at the last km I had two women pass me.  So I figured that gets me 5th.  But since no results or awards were posted I really am not 100% sure.  It was a fun Saturday morning though and technically another PB for me! Yay! Lol!!!  I would like to try some more 5km races and see if I can get even faster! ;)