I did it! I ran again! Ok, so it was only 1 measly little mile, in air conditioned space, on a treadmill, at 0% incline and I was extremely slow… But hey, I ran!
For those of you who didn’t know, I have been recovering from a hip flexor injury I got a few months ago when I was training for a half marathon. I was up to 10 miles, running strong and running fast. Then it all plummeted. I missed my half and have been extremely reluctant to even try to run again. I still want to complete a half before the end of the year so time and more training will tell if I can.
Back to this one silly mile run… as I was running (maybe we should call this a fast walk instead). So as I was fast walking, my hip surprising didn’t hurt! I could feel my muscles engaging again but didn’t have pain! (hallelujah, praise Jesus, yes, yes, yesssss)
Once I reached that 1.00 mile (which felt like a marathon) I decided to stop and work on some stretch and strength exercises. Note: I’ve noticed I spend far more time stretching than actually working out these days — could this be a sign of aging!!? Feeling pumped about my fast walking mile, I thought – hey why not try some lunges? BAD IDEA.
I have this issue where I get these intensely-painful-want-to-cut-off-my-foot-drop -to-the-floor-in-pain foot cramps every so often. I also will get cramps in my calves in the middle of the night where it wakes me up and I feel almost paralyzed with pain. I’ve done some research on this and these two links below are great resources if you are experiencing any of these too. My favorite remedy – foot massages – any takers out there want to endorse this and support my foot healing with your massage skills?!
Livestrong: How to get rid of foot cramps
Runner’s World: How to prevent foot cramps
The calf cramps haven’t happened in a while (actually, I can’t pin point when the last one was but I also try to block out that painful episode from my mind…). However, as soon as I started doing lunges, my left foot started spazing! I couldn’t believe this. I thought “really?! You mean to tell me I successfully ran fast walked 1.00 mile and now I get a foot cramp! What in the world?!”
So I stretched. And stretched. And stretched. It didn’t go away so I called it a day and headed home. With my foot still cramping, walking to the car was tough and luckily it was my left foot so my 40 minute drive home was do-able.
Experiencing a mini runner’s high from my run fast walk was very short-lived by my foot cramp. However, it was just long enough to remember the feeling of the road/treadmill under my feet and the fresh air/recycled gym air on my face. I love that!
Feeling productive (remember 1.00 miles is a HUGE accomplishment for me), I decided to reward myself with my favorite-at-this-moment-cookie, dark chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. I have 2 secret tricks that I think make these amazing… grind up the oatmeal in a food processor or blender (if you broke your food processor, like I did) and grate extra chocolate in the mix…
Pair with a big class of Almond Milk (or Merlot if you had a fabulous workout) and enjoy!