It is indeed equally overt, however: It's the distance I finally managed to run last Saturday. I know it might sound ridiculous for a 26-year old to be happy about it (especially one who is going to attempt to run 19 additional miles in October), but after 4 months dealing with that horrible tendonitis, I can tell you it's a legitimate milestone.
How to treat a tendonitis injury? I have found the winning solution (remember I tried them all?).
The first step is to find the right shoes for you. See that post.
Then you need to mix up the following ingredients: Stretch, Massage, Ice, and Resume Training. Let's call this therapy SMIRT (© Noé De Saint-Imphal, 2013). But be careful, don't overdo any of SMIRT items:
- Do not ice more than 10-15 minutes at a time.
- Do not massage all day long; the tissues need some rest to heal. I used Tiger Balm for the massages, I'm pretty happy about it despite its reeking of menthol, and it burns the shit out of your eyes if you rub them before bed because it stays on your hands even if you wash them with soap. But muscle wise, it's a great product.
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| You want it to do this to your aching, sore muscles. Not your ojos. Lavaros las manos! Oh...that does nothing either...? Well at least you'll be able to run a few more miles tomorrow...blind... |
- Do not resume training too quickly. I stopped myself at 2 or 3 miles for many weeks because the pain was starting to come back. Now that it finally feels better, I'm increasing the distance of each run by about one mile per week. And every other day I do not work out. I realized cross training like cycling or elliptical-ing are almost worse for my foot than actual running. So I prefer to skip cross-training (although I gave a try to hot yoga, and the stretches felt good. But that event was more to acquiesce my girlfriend). From the thousands of websites I've read, it seems that working out every other day is pretty close to the optimum training if you want to increase your cardio. It probably gives the best "bang for you dollar", or rather "fitness for your minute of exercise".
Apart from running, what's going on with me?
1) Credit cards: I finally decided to apply to the Discovery card after they sent me over 40 pre-screened offers in the mail... If you wanna apply to cover your physical therapy expenses, you can use my referral link (click here), and we BOTH get $50. And you get 5% cash back on gas. What a fucking good deal. I'm obsessed with credit card rewards and benefits, and the concept of spending unearned money. America's the best.
2) Work: Hmmm. I haven't been that efficient at work lately, and also, I'm leaving the country for...
3) Four weeks of vacation! I mean, technically, I'll be working the last 2 weeks, but at least I'll be working from my home town!
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| Working from home... |
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| With this as my backdrop... |
Stay tuned for the next blog post regarding marathon training while on vacation. Traveler/ Runners: Any tips/ methods for training whilst vacationing?
