A Vacation and A Staycation

I'm going to apologize in advance for this very long post--I missed last week while I was out of town attending Brooks' Hype Fest, so you get a 2 week recap. With Michelle as my witness, I did bring my laptop to California, with every intention of posting last Sunday. But in the evening when we returned to our room, we were both so exhausted that we literally passed out. I shared a daily recap on IG and even that felt inadequate--we just did so much in the 4 days we were out there. I recapped it all on a blog post, which you can read HERE. My RHT teammates continue to post recaps on IG and while I am amazed at everyone's creativity, looking at their posts, I can hardly believe everything we packed in those 4 days!

The smartest thing I've done in a long time was to work up until the day I left for California and then to take the week off work after returning home. This gave me a chance to rest and regroup. It was really nice to have time away from work to focus on other things--and there was a lot going on that needed my attention. 

Most importantly, I came home to a sick little pup. Cocoa is going to need surgery on that other ear and I am bringing her to the UW Madison vet school for her appointment on Monday to discuss the plan. I'll share more details next week. 

I had my foot ultrasound on Thursday. The pain has been improving and I can run on it, but it still lets me know that it's not right. Interestingly, the radiologist who scanned it told me that there was no plantar plate tear (woot!) and no neuroma (double woot!). There was some fluid around the joint and he suspects a bad bone contusion from when I landed on the rock a few weeks ago. I still need to talk with my ortho to confirm, but this is very good news. Obviously, I would have liked an answer, but at least all the bad stuff is ruled out and hopefully, I'll be back to normal soon. 

Brooks Hype Fest 2023 recap

Disclaimer: As a member of the Brooks Run Happy Team, I received a trip to Brooks Hype Fest and Brooks running gear. This is my recap of the event, but all my opinions are my own. This post contains an affiliate link.

After my experience at last year's Brooks Run Happy Camp, I didn't know how Brooks could top it, but--spoiler alert-- this year they did better by a long shot. The organizers said they took all our feedback from last year to make this year an even better experience. They also changed the name of the event to Brooks Hype Fest, which I just realized as I was writing this, as a way to tie the event in with the launch of their new Hyperions. All the RHT members were receiving a pair at the event but had to work for it, as I'll share below. 

Let's get to the recap!

A Little Bit of Running

I did a little bit of running this week. No, my foot is not better. But I'm finding a way to run with it. 

Running the trails gives me very little pain. I think this is due to the softer surface of the trails but also the stiffness of my trail shoes. Running on pavement gives me a little more trouble. I had the idea that maybe splinting my foot where the toes meet the forefoot might be helpful. To do that, I used a thin elastic headband and wound it around that part of my foot. Voila! Landing on the makeshift splint took some of the impact off the ball of my foot. It wasn't perfect, but at least I could get my miles in. 

Since there's no pressure to train for anything right now, I'm freely taking walk breaks when I need to. It feels good to be back out there and I'm hoping that I can continue to do this while I wait for the tear in my plantar plate to heal. 

Will it heal? I may as well pull out the Magic 8 ball. There's very little research done on the treatment of this injury. For now, I'll continue to splint the foot and hope for healing. 

Shifting My Focus

Disclaimer: This post contains an affiliate link. 

Until this week, I have not felt like myself since returning from Leadville. I have never had to take so long to recover from a race. I am sure that the altitude was a big part of my fatigue. Between that and my foot injury, I haven't run in 3 weeks. In fact, until this week, with the exception of waterskiing, I hadn't done much activity at all. 

I returned to CrossFit on Monday and felt as if I hadn't missed a beat. That made me happy. Without running on my schedule, I found other activities to keep me busy, and on Friday, I laced up my running shoes again. 

The first six months of this year were very focused and intense as I prepared for my goal race in June. For the rest of the year, I am looking forward to just having fun with fitness, getting back to running, and not training for anything. There are some adventures planned, including Brooks Hype Fest in LA in 2 weeks, a GoRunTour with Erica after that, a sister trip in October, and the Mammoth Challenge on the Ice Age Trail in October. But it's all about having fun and dialing back the intensity, something I am really looking forward to!

Mini Book Reviews: July 2023

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of The Many Lives of Mama Love from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my review. This post has affiliate links.

What a great month of reading! Last month, I complained that I couldn't find much good to read. Well, that all turned around in July. For one thing, all my library holds came in at once. What to do? When this happens, I usually prioritize which book I'll get through the quickest, to get one off my list. Sometimes I have to return one to the library and get back on the list. Fortunately this month, I had a week off work plus I was traveling, which gave me a lot of downtime to read. 

Although I do admit to watching Cocaine Bear on one flight. I couldn't help myself and it was entertaining. 

Anyways, I read 7 good books this month, and August is starting off on the right foot as well. Two of them, The Seed Keeper and The Many Lives of Mama Love, were 5 star reads for me. The rest garnered a 4 star rating. Let me know if you find anything interesting here!

I Wish My Foot Was Broken

Before you ask me if I'm nuts, let me explain. As you know, I've had mild pain in my left foot for about a month after landing on a rock on the trails. I ran Leadville with the pain, which didn't bother me at all. I waterskied all last weekend with the pain, again, very mild. Yet, I have this point tenderness around my second metatarsal and the ball of my foot. My foot swells at times. As I always say, I know enough to be dangerous, and based on my symptoms, I thought this was a stress fracture.

Turns out, I was wrong. It's most likely not a neuroma either.

I saw the ortho on Thursday. He did an x-ray and an exam and thinks that I have a plantar plate tear. I need to schedule an ultrasound to confirm the diagnosis. But basically, there's not a whole lot to do for this injury except wait for it to heal. This is why I would have preferred a fracture-- I'd already be halfway to being healed. Believe it or not, my ortho said the same thing.

My doctor did tell me to 'let the pain guide you' when it comes to activities. So nothing is forbidden--I just have to be smart and listen to my foot. I have some metatarsal pads to put in my shoes, which should help support the ball of my foot.

I probably will start some run/walk intervals in the next week or so. Otherwise, I have my arsenal of activities to keep me moving--pool running, cycling, waterskiing, CrossFit, and strength training. As always, I am so grateful for what I CAN do.

I'm not doing anything tricky here, just hitting some rough water. 
I thought it was a cool shot, tho!

On the Road Again

No, not that road. I'm still sidelined from running, nursing my sore foot. But as you read this, I'm in Alabama with Holly, spending a lot of time on the water. It's always great to reunite and we always seem to pick back up as if we just saw each other yesterday!

I hate to admit this, but since Leadville, I've struggled to bounce back. Besides feeling fatigued, on Monday I woke up with severe pain on one side of the base of my head. I'm not sure if it was due to my sleep position or the virus I've been fighting, but the pain made me feel queasy. I took ibuprofen and used a heating pad and by the end of the day, it was down to a dull roar. I still had residual neck stiffness on Tuesday. So for the second time this week, I bailed on CrossFit and took to my yoga mat.  

I'm also concerned about my left foot, which was bothering me prior to my race. I knew that I would pay a price for running on it. My second toe is stiff and swollen and my third toe won't bend unless I do it manually. There is pain in the ball of my foot. My differential diagnoses: stress fracture vs neuroma. Hopefully, I'm wrong with both. I had my annual joint ultrasound at my rheumatologist's and all she could tell me is that there is no inflammation in the joint. Seriously not helpful, so I made an appointment with the foot ortho for next week. 

Meanwhile, there is still no running. I think I poked the bear enough and I'll wait to see what I'm dealing with. It's a good thing there are a lot of other things to keep me active!