It's been over a week since my last blog post. Monday, the 6th, was my birthday. (The big 3-6, if you must know. I've designated this Year of Kim, Part 2.) Wednesday, I had a great, and I mean frickin' fantastic 6 mile run! To put that in perspective, it was (according to RunKeeper), 14 seconds per mile faster than my 10k race that I won in March! You don't believe me, do you? Proof, you want proof? Ok, take a look-see at what's below.
Frickin' fast, right?! Had I known that I was just 3 seconds per mile slower than a personal record, I would've worked just a bit harder at the end. (I'm "mathy;" I can't help it! Numbers are my thing!)
So in between kicking ass with my runs and starting to know that I won't suck for Ragnar, I've been doing exactly what the title says: icing my crotch and soaking my feet. Did you think I was using that title just to get your attention?! Well, maybe just a little, but it really does describe what I do on an almost-daily basis. Here's why! During my physical therapy, right when I thought I was getting toward the end of it and inching back up toward my full body weight on the AlterG, I had a day where I woke up and something didn't feel right. I'll admit, I went into panic mode and was worried that my stress fracture wasn't healing or that I had aggravated it again. After a quick trip to Wellington to see Dr. Norris, he assured me that my bones do want to heal and that whatever pain or discomfort I was feeling might just be a "training effect." (Interestingly enough, this article gives some insight to that.) His advice was to take 2 Aleve, morning & night, and to (wait for it...wait for it...) ice my crotch. Now, of course, being a doctor, he didn't quite use those words. Dr. Norris was a bit less, shall we say, blunt, but you know that's what he meant. Believe it or not, that has helped. Maybe it's mental; maybe it's physical; maybe it's a combination of both. Either way, I've been doing that as soon as I get back from all of my runs since about the end of November. (As much as I love including images in my blog, you can bet your bottom dollar that I will not be doing a Google search for "icing my crotch.")
While I'm not icing, and actually, sometimes when I am icing, I've been soaking my feet in warm water & Epsom salt. Why? Well, Epsom salt is actually magnesium sulfate. Magnesium, as I've learned thanks to my stress fracture, is helpful in promoting calcium absorption. I've been taking a magnesium supplement for a while, but Colleen (an acupuncturist from Broward County) said that this is also a great way to get magnesium into your body. My wonderful, thoughtful, health-conscious friend, Judy, got me a bag of Epsom salt for my birthday. (She also got me a bottle of wine! I told you she was good friend!) So starting on the 6th, I've been soaking my feet. It has felt great, and I've had some pretty excellent runs (including last Wednesday's run) the day after I soak my feet at night. Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, I'm not willing to take chances.
Tomorrow's a run day: 7 miles. I'll give you one guess as to what I'm doing right now...
You just figured it out, didn't you?! :-)
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