Don’t overdo it while cross-training

I’ve been cross-training to building my endurance. I hired a trainer and we’ve been working on strengthening my core and glutes, as well as my endurance. Two weeks ago we did planks. I’ve never been very good at planks or push ups because I have a weak upper body, but I know that planks are a good way to strengthen my hip flexors. Well it turns out I was very good at planks that week. So good that the following week we did them on only one leg while doing knee-ups with the other leg. And surprise to me, I did those great too. So great in fact that I ending up hurting my foot. How? Probably from the ego of a 46-year old who said “no problem — I got this”. Actually I don’t know what specifically I did but it seems it resulted from the way I had my foot supporting my body weight, but I’m pretty sure that my ego contributed.

Anyway, I’ve been limping around for the last week and a half. Dr. Cheryl Lee-Pow has been working on it doing Graston, ultrasound, and electrical stimulation and it’s getting better. The biggest problem for me right now is I’m supposed to run in Cherry Blossom 10-mile race on April 3 and I’m not ready for it. On top of this the weather is getting better and I’m going stir crazy from not being able to run. In the meantime, my trainer Sedric Otuya, who works in Dr. Cheryl’s office, devised a way for me to get an amazing cardio workout without my feet leaving the ground! Plus they have an amazing cycle that has paddles like an elliptical rather than pedals so there’s no pressure on my forefoot.

Fast forward to yesterday and I’m begging Dr. Cheryl to let me run. Sure my foot still hurts, but it’s better [flashing a huge grin at the doc] So I got clearance from her to test drive my foot today as long as I promised to stop running as soon as my foot hurt. I went out this afternoon and it wasn’t a bad run, but it’s a good thing my foot is taped. Downhill was harder on it than the flat road or up hills. On top of it correct form means landing on mid-foot which is exactly where the injury is. However, I was able to maintain a nice consistent pace and did the first mile in 13:51 and the last .3 miles in 4:11. I had to quit at that point since it was clear that any further would take me into the land of the stupid.

I decided to focus on endurance since the doc said speed is a no-no. Stats for the run/walk ratio (in minutes): 2:1, 5:1 7:1 plus one minute walking warm-up. I can live with this, but I think it may be a while before I can do any real mileage. I’ll just have to see what happens in the next couple of weeks. I’m not concerned — yet –since I did a 5 mile race on a hurt hip.