My latest physical therapy appointment was quite interesting. Dr. Rogers asked how things were going since I last saw her about three weeks ago. She was a little surprised that I was still having some pain around my knee – sometimes above, sometimes below, it just varies really – so she put me on the treadmill to analyze my gait and try to figure out what was going on. After a few minutes of warming up, she told me to run the way I normally do although she set the treadmill to 5 (I have been running at an incline of 10) and I set the speed at 4.2. Shortly after I started running, I felt tightness along with minor pain at the back of my knee and top of my calf muscle.

So, she says….are you ready for this???

“RUN FASTER!!”

I was so confused….and a bit scared. She asked me to explain my hesitancy and I admitted that I was so afraid of making things worse and being out of running for another 6 months or even longer.

So, she says….

“That is not going to happen!!”

So, I trusted her, and I did what she said and guess what????

The tightness and pain went away!!

Okay, maybe you are not as blown away by this as I am, but I was so shocked. At one point she even put me on the treadmill running barefoot, and I felt that I ran even better. Now, of course I live in Alaska so running in my bare feet is not going to happen here, but I thought it was interesting how I was able to run without pain under these two conditions.

So, to put this treadmill trial into a little bit of perspective. I was running in Saucony’s Liberty Iso running shoe. It is a light weight moderate stability shoe with a 4mm off set. These are the shoes that I was running in when I became injured. And I had increased the speed of the treadmill from a 4.2 to a 6 with an incline of 5.

At the time of my injury, I had just returned to running after a couple of months layoff from the Chicago Marathon. I had started out super slow and I was only running a couple of miles at a time. I thought a slow progression to return to running was the best strategy to prevent injury.

I remember screaming at saying to my husband: How can this be happening, I am barely moving! How does anybody get injured this way. I couldn’t have progressed too much slower. Apparently, when I run slower I put a little more bounce in my step and that just intensifies that already 250x my body weight overload on my muscles, tendons and ligaments. Something had to give, I guess. And here I am.

But, I have an awesome physical therapist who is getting me back on track. She actually has a plan.

And here it is:

Return to running uphill or elevated treadmill @ faster pace; every third day.

Rules of progression:

• No soreness immediately and for next 24 hours after a run
• Change only one variable at a time (speed vs incline)
• Cross-train on non-running days

1. 1 min run, 1 min walk
2. 2 min run, 1 min walk
3. 4 min run, 1 min walk
4. 8 min run, 1 min walk
5. Continue to advance to run 10 minutes without pain on incline
6. Once running at least 10 minutes without pain, repeat sequence running outside (off treadmill)

Each running session is for 15 minutes after a warm-up and I do 5-10 minutes cool down followed by stretching.

I am also continuing strengthening and stretching exercises. Banded feet pull aparts were added along with walking on the insides of my feet:

It’s amazing what you can learn through injury with help that is. In my case, every time I got injured, I would take time off only to return to running the same way….slow and conservative instead of at my normal easy pace. Who knew that was part of the problem. I am so thank-full to have found a physical therapist that has taken the time to really examine and evaluate what is going on and coming up with a plan to fix the problem.

I am so happy to be running at all! I will have another appointment in a couple of weeks. Dr. Rogers said that once I am completely back to running, she would get me on a marathon training plan!?! I have never had a physical therapist or any medical provider to tell me that. I am more than excited. Hope all goes well!!

When I’m not trying to figure out this whole running thing, I try to find some time to hang out with this precious little girl.

She is the sweetest little baby.

 

 

Happy Running!