It Worked for Me....or so I think....

Something has happened that most people who know me didn't think could happen.

I've been humbled.

(Yes, sing along with me....Oh, Lord it's hard to be humble....when you're perfect in ev...er...y way.")

But, the torn fascia I suffered during the running of the 2014 Boston Marathon has brought me to my knees. Literally. 

But, once again, I will not allow myself to be easily defeated.  

For, you see, I worked so hard at training for the marathon that I'm petrified of losing my gains.  I do not want to start out at Square 1 again, so I've opted to throw myself into a new training regimen of whatever I can do while (mostly) maintaining non-weight bearing status. 

And, believe it or not, I'm excited about the challenge.  My goals after the marathon were to reduce my running for a short time and focus more on building core strength.  So, thanks to the injury, I have had to do just that. 

That means I have had to be flexible and seek out alternative ways of working out.  And, I'm finding some things that I love. Therefore, I thought I'd share with anyone who might be in (or one day find themselves in) this same boat. 

First up is aqua jogging.  Luckily, I have access to a deep pool and I already owned a water belt so this one was kind of easy.   Competitor.com offers a great article on the finer points of aqua jogging  and some sample workouts.   I haven't tried all of the workouts, but I have done the interval one and am happy to report I was able to get my heart rate way up there--enough to make me a cardio happy girl.

I also love, love, love yoga.  Even when I was running my 50-60 mile weeks, I tried to incorporate regular yoga.  So, now I am focused on daily yoga sessions, including a very gentle warm up by HalfMoon Yoga Project.   I often did this 45 minute hip opener from Do Yoga With Me and was happy to find that I could still do this one in its entirety.  This one--also from Do Yoga With Me needed a few modifications, but generally worked well.

And, this workout for seniors really helped get to most of those stiff or achy areas from everyday stuff. 

I wanted to do more pilates as well and have tried to incorporate this daily stomach series pilates moves  from Alisa Wyatt.  I also could do most of this pilates butt workout from eFit30. 

On the days I couldn't get to the pool for cardio, I've found that I CAN get my heart rate up by staying seated.  This upper body cardio workout by Happysexyhealthy is a great place to start. 

Once I got  comfortable with this format, I borrowed some of the moves (and created some of my own) to use with these high intensity interval training workouts by Fitness Blender, including:  Upper Body Strength and Cardio Training Workout,   and Cardio Kickboxing Workout. 

I also have worked out to Denise Austin's Arms and Upper Body Workout--High Intensity and this video of Upper Body Workout from a Seated position by hiitschool.com. 

And, finally, I've gone to exercise class with my trainer Elizabeth, who excels at modifying workouts for injured runners.  You can find out more about her at Facebook.com/personaldesignfitness

At this point, I am still in a boot and on crutches, so I have tried (as faithfully as I can) to do these exercises without putting any weight on my foot.  Often, I wear the boot as I exercise (for protection and a reminder!) but there have been times when I have taken it off.  I've thought about wearing 1 pound ankle weights (modified from wrist weights) on my good leg, but haven't done that yet. 

Please remember:  I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV so I can't tell you whether or not any of these exercises will help or harm you in your recovery.  But, it was a bit of a challenge to find good videos for the periodically incapacitated runner and I offer these to any of my compatriots as a starting point to find your own recovery mojo. 

Good luck as you work to maintain your own fitness level.

Catch you later at the back of the pack...hobbling, hopping or limping...but hopefully, not for long!