Back to the Grind

At the end of my first week back to work at almost full-time, I am exhausted.  Between hauling myself around the hospital campus and the general work of showering and dressing, I might sleep until Sunday.  It does feel good to be getting back to normal, however, and I have made huge strides in comfort and recovery over the past week.

Last night, I decided to try a Pilates exercise video and was surprised to find that I was able to do it with moderate modifications.  My hamstrings are incredibly tight on both sides; touching my toes was impossible.  The stretching and strengthening, however, felt great.  One of my goals for recovery is to increase core and hip strength.  While I am an efficient runner, I tend to turn side to side, especially as I get tired.  I also tense my shoulders the longer I run.  In the marathon, this can make minutes of difference.  So as I have the time to work on my foundation, I am focusing on improving hip strength (to improve my knee drive) and strengthening my shoulder (an old injury) so that my arms swing forward, not to the side.

As for walking, I am starting to be able to move very well with crutches and improving without them.  I am noticing, however, that I am rolling off the outside of my foot, as opposed to landing in the center and rolling off my big, second and third toes.  This is definitely something I need to bring up in PT on Tuesday; I'm very nervous that any biomechanical shift in my stride is going to cause a chain reaction of injury.

My goal for this weekend is to continue to work on getting the swelling out of my "cankle" and ride the bike for 15 minutes a day.  Even though there is no resistance, the act of getting dressed in workout clothes is very comforting.