Hello! I hope everyone had a great week! Mine was filled with…. lots of water. I’m linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Rundown! Let’s dive right in (get it… DIVE… oh wait… that’ll make more sense in just a minute.)
Monday
Day off, and I was really worried about my hip flexor. It had been a week since I hurt it and five days since I last ran. It hurt SO MUCH. I was on my feet all day at work, and by the evening I was limping. Every single worst case scenario went through my mind.
Tuesday
Started the day with pull-ups, and then a 40 minute pool run. While I’m not happy about this situation, I realize how lucky I am to have a pool in my backyard (it’s a Florida thing) so pool running is a convenient option for me. I use a flotation device and run in the deep end, and my feet don’t touch the bottom.
Later in the day I went to the doctor, which I discussed here. He dismissed all of my worst fears, adjusted my low back, loosened my hip flexor, told me to continue to rest it and take some anti-inflammatories. He also said the bike might stress it too much, so I knew I had a week of pool running ahead of me.
Wednesday
Another pool run, of course! 45 minutes this time. I followed this with Amanda’s Stability Ball Core Workout. WOW. This was hard! I thought my core was strong after all the plank gauntlet workouts I’ve been doing, but no. Just goes to show, you have to switch up your workouts. My body was good at the planks, but horrible at balancing with the stability ball.
Thursday
I stuck to my usual Thursday schedule, which is lower body weights. My hip was still really sore, and I had another busy day at work. I took my doctor’s advice and started pounding the Advil. Not to make light of a very serious problem, but I can see why people get addicted to drugs. Two Advils and an hour later, I was a new person. NOTHING hurt! As a matter of fact my whole body felt amazing. A few hours later, when I started to feel a slight pain in my hip, I took two more magic pills.
Friday
Back to pool running! For this one, I did a guided run from Tina Muir’s podcast. She guides you through a warmup, workout, and then a cool down. She has a 30 minute option and 45 minute option- I did the 45 minute, because the only thing better than pool running is MORE pool running, right??? Ha ha. Just kidding. Obviously.
I went down to one Advil every four hours on this day, and still felt great. Since I didn’t want to OD on it, I switched to turmeric both Thursday and Friday nights. I just mix a teaspoon of turmeric in some water and drink it down. Not only is turmeric an anti-inflammatory, it can also help relieve pain. Maybe not quite as effective as Advil, but it still took the edge off.
Saturday
Yet another pool run. I relieved the monotony of this run by creating my own little workout- I “run” in circles around the deep end of my pool, so I did two fast laps, then one lap with legs only (which makes it way harder) and then one recovery lap. I repeated this… oh I don’t know, about nine thousand times, to make a 40 minute workout.
Later in the day I did Amanda’s stability ball workout again, and some more lower body. I only took one Advil all day today, and my hip felt pretty good!
Sunday
Unfortunately no fun adventures for this Sunday, unless you count the hour I spent running in circles in the pool (no? I didn’t think so.) I did another guided run for this one, with Kelly Roberts from Run, Selfie, Repeat. I didn’t like this one as much as Tina Muir’s. It wasn’t bad, but I liked how Tina really kept the focus on running, whereas Kelly meandered from topic to topic- all good topics, but I found it to be distracting during the workout portion. I had to tune her out in order to focus on moving fast. Her warmup and workout took 30 minutes and then I switched to music for the second 30 minutes. Done!
Moving forward, I’m hoping to run somewhere other than the pool this week. We will see!
Anyone have big plans for this weekend? – I work tomorrow during the day, but I think my husband is going to grill up some Impossible Burgers for dinner.
What’s your favorite type of cross training if you’re inured and can’t run?
26 Responses
I think its good news that your hip is feeling good even as you have cut back on the Advil! Hopefully all the time off will really help. Its definitely nice that you have a pool in your backyard. I have a spin bike so thats usually what I do as cross-training when I can’t run.
Yeah, a spin bike is perfect. The thing about our pool is it’s not heated, so we can’t use it in the winter (even in Florida, the nighttime temps get too cool for the pool to be warm.) Lucky this is all happening now, when it’s nice and hot here!
How I love to swim . . . alas, no pool. A lot of people actually do have them up here, but I insisted on a 2 car garage, which is oddly hard to come by here. Go figure.
Sorry about all the pool running, but really hope that does the trick for you & you’re off and running pain free soon! Good luck!
Thanks Judy! Our pool is great for pool running but (oddly) not great for swimming. I mean, you couldn’t swim laps in it- you could paddle back and forth but you wouldn’t get much exercise. Luckily it has what I need right now.
Glad to hear that your hip is feeling better! A little time off is just the thing. I think I told you that I had to do pool running for an extended period of time when I had unrelenting plantar fasciitis. I didn’t love pool running, but it was something, right? I take turmeric for inflammation (I have RA), but it’s more of a daily thing for me, not as needed. Glad it helped!
No big plans here–it’s too cold to waterski, so we came home after a night at the lake house. Next weekend it’s going to warm up!
Why does the phrase “unrelenting plantar fasciitis” have such a familiar ring to it? ARRRG!
I’m glad your hip is responding to Advil. I should try that for my Achilles …. That core workout looks tough – especially the bird dogs!
Coco, the bird dogs are literally impossible! I’m trying to work my way up to them.
Love your kitty supervisor. Glad your hip is responding and doctor addressed the fears.
If you can find the Advil cream, it’s so worth it to put it right on the hot spot.
I didn’t even know there was such a thing as Advil cream! I’ll look for it.
That’s great news that your hip is feeling better!
No plans this weekend as it has rained since Friday, but it’s a great time to catch up on reading and TV shows!
I know it’s hard to imagine but we really need some rain down here! A rainy weekend spent reading sounds amazing. I hope you enjoy it!
You’re doing great with the pool running! It will pay off! Sorry your hip flexor is still so painful. My dentist wanted to prescribe Vicodin for my tooth pain but I refused. Way too strong for me. A combo or Tylenol and Advil worked wonders. We had my sis over yesterday and we saw the in laws today. Tomorrow is a work day for me.
Yes, when I had my wisdom teeth out they prescribed Percoset. I never filled the prescription and just used advil, which worked perfectly well.
I have had recurring hip flexor issues. You really have to stretch it and take time to rest when it hurts. Doing lots of warmups and stretches post run seem to help. If you are going to do a lot of pool running this summer-check out fluid running.-they have great workouts to do. I enjoy them!
Okay, I checked it out and Fluid Running looks pretty cool. HOWEVER, I’m hoping NOT to do a lot of pool running this summer! But we’ll see. If this issue doesn’t clear up soon I’ll consider the fluid running. Thanks!
I have never tried pool running (but have done some pool walking). We don’t have a facility conducive for that here (indoor pool at the college is still off-limits for non-affiliated peeps, and the outdoor pool is far too crowded and does not offer anything other than lap swimming during non “in-use” business hours. That said, I think I’d like it (if it was available) just for the change of routine…though, I fear I’d get bored with it. I hope your hip starts to improve and you’re able to return to traditional running, but at least you are fortunate to have easy access to a pool 😉
Yes, I definitely have a love/hate relationship with pool running. Grateful that it’s an option, but it’s so boring, especially if you do it every day. Once in a while it’s a nice change of pace.
It’s great that you are able to do some pool running. Hopefully the time off and pool time will help! Great idea to switch to Tumeric – I’m not a fan of too much Advil either.
I learned about turmeric when I had my wisdom teeth out- I took advil for two weeks straight and then HAD to do something different. I found that turmeric worked just about as well.
That is good news about the hip flexor! Your comment about being addicted to drugs made me laugh. I try not to take too much pain medicine either but I know how effective they can be. 🙂 I tried pool running a few times when I had a calf strain. Luckily it wasn’t a serious one but I did take a few months off from running.
Yes, it’s a little scary when you realize taking a tiny pill can solve all your problems! The thing is, I know it’s only effective if you don’t do it all the time. I try to avoid it unless I really, really need it.
I hate cross training, so… I guess I will go for something like HIIT with lots of variety. I used to do kickboxing, but that’s not so great for my ankle. Boo.
I hope you are recovered soon.
Thanks Jenn! I don’t like cross training either. I wish I were one of those people who actually enjoys cycling or swimming, but I’m just not.
That’s funny cuz all my friends and relatives in Florida do have a pool.
I hope your hip is feeling better.
I would go nuts without running because it’s the only activity that I really enjoy. I tried to like cycling like everyone else. But nope. I even find yoga very boring
Yes, I feel the same way- running is the only thing I really enjoy. Anything else is to keep myself from going insane until I can run again.