Drum Roll Please...

Remember this?

That was me last Friday; lying up in bed with a wicked pain in my calf.  Yes, apparently my Boston education is rubbing off on me with the use of "wicked" not to mention the Red Sox pillow.  Thanks mom! 

Anyways, I knew the pain was in my soleus based on stretching and ice seemed to really help the pain.  So I had that ice pack attached to me quite a bit!

SATURDAY - Day 1 with No Training
"It's ok.  It's just like a rest day."

As I told you before, I luckily had a trip planned to my mother's for Easter which allowed me to easily avoid the trainer, my running shoes, and anything else exercise related.  We hung out, laughed as one of my mother's dogs barked at me like an intruder, and went to look at one of the local historical site; the Saratoga Monument.

My mother has a growing interest in history and insisted that I see this.  There were three statues of American Generals in the monument, each facing their own cardinal direction.  However, the fourth direction, South, is empty, left that way because the fourth person, General Benedict Arnold turned traitor during the Revolutionary War. 

Take THAT General Arnold!

SUNDAY - Day 2 with No Training
"Starting to get itchy from the extra energy."

On Easter morning, we went to church and then spent brunch with this guy.

We went to an Easter brunch where I hobbled around and managed to eat WAY too much food.  Typical family gathering!  Other than a greek yogurt, I didn't eat anything else until breakfast Monday morning.  I drove back to CT Sunday afternoon and stayed off my foot as much as possible.

MONDAY - Day 3 with No Training
"Officially starting to bug out.  I need my fix!!"

I hobbled around coaching and then hobbled around some more at work.  I started looking up calf strains after a tip from Peter at Yadda Yadda Yadda: My Boring Triathlon Blog who has torn his calf before.  It started looking like I'd be out of running for 4-6 weeks.  With Rev3 closing in on 8 weeks away, I was getting nervous. 

I decided that despite the improvement, it'd be best to get it checked.  Luckily I'm good friends with a doctor at the gym.  I asked him if he had a sports medicine doctor he could reference me to.  After explaining my symptoms he turned to me and said the following.

"Haha!  You're looking at the guy who can get rid of that in a week!"

That's all I needed to hear!  I took his office number down and was in high hopes.

TUESDAY
Dr. Salomone is a Chiropractor and Acupuncturist and he walked into the room already knowing what it was I had and how to get at it.

Official Diagnosis 

Pulled Soleus

Official Treatment 

Soft tissue mobilization using Graston Tools and acupuncture

Official Advice 

"Stretch and if it doesn't hurt, bike every day." 

That certainly isn't too hard to follow!  The Graston Tools, however, are quite painful and that's what they're meant for.  They're used to get soft tissue to move around, breaking up scar tissue and allowing blood to get back into the affected area so that repair can be sped up and movement can be restored. 

And then some Nazi Shock Therapy.

The best part of the whole thing is that we tested a few movements both before and after the treatment and there was improvement already.  Yay!!

While I'm still not back to running, I am walking perfectly fine and back on the bike!  I've also done yoga four times this week already.  I have this month's monthly challenge already lined up!  With some hope, I'm looking at another week of recovery and potentially light running workouts and then by the 15th I'm hoping to start getting back to running. 

It's a good thing I trained all winter and already have multiple big mileage runs under my belt for the year!  I'll be relying on that big base for the next couple of months.

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Questions
1.  Have you ever had an injury surprise you out of the blue?

2.  What do you do to recover from your workouts and races?
I'm a fan of contrast showers/baths, foam rolling, the magic stick, self massage, regular stretching, and yoga.

3.  Have you ever been to a Chiropractor or Acupuncturist?
I hadn't before and as the stereotype goes, my parents were very skeptical of the whole thing.  I've always wanted to try it, but I never had a reason (nor the expendable income), but now I'm VERY glad I've done it.  If I had any skeptical thoughts beforehand, they're gone now!


Dream.  Believe.  Achieve.