Update on my leg/knee

I am slacking again! I am picking back up though as things have been going crazy.  I am preparing for a trip to Hawaii next week and all the logistics going into that are making me a crazy lady!  Anyway, I just realized I never did an update as to what was going on with my knee!

Last I posted, I saw the Sports Med doctor and he told me it was IT band but it, in itself, was not tight.  It would get tight in situations where my weak hips would tire, shift, and cause it to tighten due to lengthening.  He set me up to meet with a physical therapist and have a couple sessions for at home instruction and a biomedical assessment to check it was the only issue.  I found out a LOT during that biomedical assessment.

I went in and he twisted me in all sorts of directions, had me walk up and down a hall regularly, toes out, toes in, windmill and drop back step type exercises, etc.  A whole gamut of strange things and he told me a lot about why my leg is hurting.

I had a suspicion that it was NOT my IT band because the spot it was hurting was about 2 inches below my knee and not on the side of or above my knee.  It was hurting in a spot that your IT band doesn't even touch.

 

 

 

(Source)

I was hurting more in the area of where the 8 is on that diagram.  Since it has been awhile, I will post the things I can remember him telling me are affecting my running.

1) My peroneus muscle along the outside of my left leg is incredibly tight.  To the point that it will randomly ache and feels ropey when it was manipulated.  Problem is, this is not really a muscle that can be stretched.

2) I tend to walk toed out a bit and am slightly bowlegged.  This causes me to land strange and alignment to be off when I am running.

3) My hips are indeed weak

4) my left hamstring and calf muscle are tighter than he would like them to be

5) I do not use my big toe like I should.  I tend to land on the ball of my foot up and hold my toes up like I have a hammer toe though I do not.  This causes my outside toes to go numb as well as  messing with the all important alignment while running.

6) My femur and tibia-fibular head do not rotate the way that they should.  The t-F head is where my pain was coming from.

I ended up going to PT twice a week for 4 weeks to deal with these issues.  He gave me shoe inserts to work on supporting my low arches as well as helping me to use my toes more efficiently.  I have not had the courage to run in these yet... I wear them during the day but the fact that my arch is not used to being held up yet causes some discomfort there sometimes.

I have a HUGE (or what seems huge) list of exercises that I am to do daily until I hit 10ish miles again and then I can split the list and do them 2-3 days a week after to keep things going.

He did a lot of massage and manipulation on that peroneus muscle to attempt to loosen it.  He told me that is likely going to be an issue for me forever and suggested a percussion massager to use after runs.

I am supposed to direct ice my T-F head after each and every run to the point of numbness to fight swelling and irritation in that area.

I do have to say that I am doing these exercises (not every day- BAD, Cassie) and I am now running pain free again! Last time I ran I went for 6 miles and had some pain, 7 miles and was almost unable to finish, and 8 miles that turned into 3 when I could NOT push through the pain.  I am back up to 5 miles pain free and though I am nervous it will come back this weekend, I have a 6 miler scheduled.  Hoping all goes well!

So, there it is! My stupid leg hates my running but it has to get with the program =)

Happy Running!

Why I don't think runDisney is for me

I am seeing TONS of posts lately about all the Disney races: Tink, ToT, Princess, etc and I started to get VERY hyped up! Told the husband that next year or the following I think I want to do Dopey and started research.  The medals! The characters! The fun!! I LOVE Disney and was so excited to take my kids for the first time and we are already intending to go back next year.  We are not the "go the same place every year" type so it is a very big deal for us to plan 2 Disney trips within a few years of each other.  Well, the more I researched, the sadder I got, because I am coming to the realization that I don't think that runDisney is for me.

1) The cost:  I cant seem to justify spending $495 for registration.  I just cant!

2) The early, early wake up call:  I am not a morning person so getting up when there is a 2 on the clock doesn't seem like something that would make me happy.  I have 2 small kids so getting them to sleep in enough time that I can get decent rest doesn't seem possible.  On top of that, I am a night owl so falling asleep before midnight is almost impossible for me!

3) The crowds:  This is a double whammy for me.  The crowds during the race would make me crazy.  I have run in large crowds before but it normally tends to clear out so you have some room to move.  The pictures from the Disney races make me shiver.  It looks like shoulder to shoulder the whole race.  Also, I have read that there are lots of instances of people walking/running in a long line and blocking the course.  The Happiest Place on Earth would quickly turn me into Road Rage Monster =).

On top of that, if I am going to Disney I am going to stay a couple days to enjoy at least one or two parks.  I have a feeling this would be the general consensus and I would think the crowds would be even worse than they normally are....

4) The Characters: Now, don't get me wrong, I love the characters as much as the next gal but I don't think I want to stop my groove right in the middle of a race to take pictures with them.. Stopping/starting to wait in line a million times just doesn't seem enjoyable and would take the challenge out of the race to me.  My whole desire to running is to push my limits, see how much better I can do this race than last, see how far I can go and stopping a million times isn't going to give me any of that satisfaction.  Then I feel like that if I don't take advantage of the characters I might as well be at any old race, ya know?

I know that I am in a very small group of people who feel this way about the runDisney races and I am so glad that they are involving families in active pursuits who may not normally be involved in something like this.  I also know that the lure of a Disney event has gotten many a person out there running to participate.  I am actually kind of sad that I have discovered that it is not going to be something that I will enjoy once I got there because it IS something I was very interested in.  I am very excited for all the guys and gals who are going to be participating and love seeing the pictures and hearing accomplishments.  I just have to slowly back away from this one and enjoy from afar.

Happy Running!