Hi there!
It’s been 6 weeks since I shared with you guys about my foot injury, so today seemed like a good time for an update post + to chat about my workouts lately! I’ve been kicking my exercise routine up a bit in the last few weeks since taking it easier for a solid two months after getting my foot injury diagnosis. Some recent workout highlights lately include:
My first (baby) hike in months! When my cousin was in town last week, we went to my favorite nearby park for an hour-long walk. I’ve been taking my pup there and just doing the trail around the lake and skipping the little mountainous climb, but this time we went for it. Even though it was just an itty bitty hike, it felt great! I miss hiking so much and it just makes my soul happy.
Getting back on the bike. Not only did my hubby and I go for my (only) second mountain biking excursion of the year a few weekends ago (and I had no weird foot/calf pain afterwards!), this week I hooked up my bike to my indoor trainer to test out short cycling workouts again. I had given pretty much all cardio a rest while trying to heal my broken foot bones, and now I’m trying out 20-30 minute rides to see how they feel. We shall see how it goes!
Tennis. Since I’m testing out bringing back some cardio, I’ve played tennis twice in the last couple of weeks. It’s more casual tennis in that I don’t full-blown run since I’m still trying to minimize jumping around, but it’s been fun! Just a few nights ago, my hubby and I had an impromptu short tennis session before it got dark out. I learned that casually volleying back and forth is a good stress reliever and positive way to end the day!
Ommmmm. I’ve been doing a lot of yoga lately – mostly on my own for fast-paced at-home sessions. It’s such a nice way to start my mornings and focus my energy.
Last night I attended a donation yoga class benefitting a local nonprofit called Yoga 4 Homeless. Attendees donated money and gave yoga mats and sleeping bags to support the cause. It was a lovely class, and I loved being part of an event that supported an organization that’s making a difference and positively impacting homeless people in the area through the practice of yoga.
In my last post about my foot injury, I shared my rehab remedies. Here’s where I’m at with those things:
- #1 – No high impact exercise. With starting to do more cardio, I am adding in some higher impact movements than before, but I’m still not really doing plyometric moves. That means none of my beloved HIIT workouts lately… but as you can see, there’s been plenty of other movement.
- #2 – Ice, ice baby. Yes, there still has been lots of icing! I’ve been really good about doing it usually 2x a day.
- #3 – Stretching & rolling. I haven’t been quite as on the ball about foam rolling, but I’m still doing it often. It’s a never-ending battle to loosen up my calf, but I continue to use my muscle flushing kit. I’ve also added in a couple of yoga moves that really stretch my calf on the daily.
- #4 – Monthly massages. Check! I’ve gone for a deep tissue massage 3 months in a row – and I’m not complaining about it! I go to a Thai massage place and have the masseuse focus a lot on my calf and foot to work out the knots and scar tissue. It’s definitely a “hurts so good” kind of massage when I’m cringing half the time. The woman told me that next time she wants to walk on my calf… so I’m a little scared for this month’s massage!
Since sesamoiditis is a chronic condition and chances are I could break my sesamoid bones again, I’ve really just been trying to heal the current breaks and get the inflammation and soreness under control. Unfortunately the cortisone injection I got in March didn’t have a positive effect, but it didn’t hurt to try it. While some days it feels good and some days it’s a bit achy, I definitely feel better than I did at the end of February! I’m trying to be mindful about resting when I’m in pain. It remains a challenge to rest for someone who likes to go-go-go, but I’ve been working on it.
Tell me… What kind of massage pressure do you go for – deep, moderate or light? What do you find to be the best stress relief workout?
That’s great you’re getting to do a little more! I’ve been an elliptical queen and it’s kills me. 😛
Have you ever considered gelatin and collagen to help with bone density? I know gelatin isn’t vegetarian… but it’s really good stuff. I have a serving daily for it’s digestive benefits and noticed that my hair and nails have gotten crazy strong.
Massages – super, super hard. I have an insane pain tolerance and can never find someone to go deep enough… maybe I need to check out your lady!
Ha, oh the elliptical! I actually have super strong & fast growing nails & hair, and never have had a problem with bone density at all. This is probably the first time I’ve ever broken anything, and that’s from chronically putting too much pressure on it ya know!
I’m so glad that you’re getting to incorporate some other activity back in! I wish there was more hiking super close to where we live! I miss it!
haha Oh gosh I’m a total wimp with massages! Light light light!!
Has it really been 6 weeks since the injury update? Man, time flies! That is crazy. Oh well, it sounds like everything is moving along well…so yay for that! Your chat about tennis here makes me want to get out and play. We used to play tennis a couple times a week when we lived in Atlanta, but that was several years ago now. And we’ve yet to pick up our rackets again. I think we need to bring little Robbie along and let him sit in his stroller while we play tennis. Perfect for this weekend, too! Keep healing up over there, Nicole! 🙂
It sounds like you are being really smart about caring for your foot! I can imagine it’s really hard to give up those beautiful hikes but it’s better than not being able to do anything at all.
I’m also curious about the walking on your calf…hopefully the masseuse is a small girl! Lol.