Barefoot Running?

No, I’m not racing out to the park without shoes, although I run around barefoot in the apartment all the time. But recently, the New York Times ran an article on barefoot running, “The Once and Future Way to Run, ” which included a video of two exercises to help you run barefoot. (For the video, you click on the picture at the top of the article.) They immediately clicked for me. For one thing, they were a lot like the exercises I thought up for myself after I finished PT. Then, later in the article, the author references a barefoot running system called the Pose Method. So I looked up that on YouTube.  I really liked the exercises, and I have started doing some of them to help strengthen my mid-foot.

Mind you, I am already running barefoot on the mat, and I don’t intend to start barefoot running in Central Park. And I’m not suggesting everyone with a Lisfranc injury start doing them! My physical therapist had lots of tortuous exercises for me to do. But I am interested in getting my foot stronger than it was before the injury, so for me, they seemed just perfect.

I’ll see if I keep doing them, and if they seem to have a good effect.

Van Cortlandt Park Running Trail

Yesterday I went to check out the Van Cortlandt Park Cross Country track that will be used for the 5K race I was hoping to run. Whoa, not so fast!! It’s a beautiful trail, but the hills are just too much for me. I actually managed to slow jog a lot of it, but ended up walking a lot, too. Some of the hills made me breathless just walking up them at a good clip. Maybe next year…

Van Cortlandt Park Running Track

Fortunately, there’s another race the same weekend that I might be able to do. I’m not sure yet if it will work out. I think I found out another reason why I am having such a hard time getting back in condition. The night before my pre-op, so long ago, I went into atrial fibrillation, and kept it up all during the next day. They had to admit me into the hospital to get my heart back to normal so they could operate, and after the operation, I did it again a few times, though never for more than an hour…so I got put on medication to keep it from recurring, and never got taken off. I just realized how much it slows down  the heart, which means your muscles don’t get blood! So I have an appointment next month to discuss training and heart medication, and to see if I can be weaned off at least some of it.

Stiff toes…I have found that my toes on the foot-previously-known-as-broken are getting stiff, so it’s back to foot exercises. I’m also using a toe stretcher (in moderation) and interlacing my fingers between my toes when I do a foot massage. I’ll see how it goes…

I Made My Goal!

Yesterday I made my goal of run/walk at 5 minutes jog/1 minute walk 10 times. Or maybe 11, because, of course, I lost count, and my method of keeping track didn’t work. I know it was at least 1 hour, though, so it counts. Yes, I could have walked it faster, but that’s not the point! I learned more about pacing…at the end, I actually had something left, so I could run a little bit. I was especially happy because I had to get up at 5 that morning to go to the airport, and when I got home, I took a “nap” and slept all morning! At least I got something done!

I did have a setback. I had planned to do a 5K in mid-October, in Van Cortland Park, but when I looked up the course, it’s a real cross-country, with lots of hills, so I don’t think I will be ready by then. Flat, I can do, but hills wipe me out. Even penguins have pride, and the idea is to run (jog) it, not crawl! Bummer. I was really looking forward to it. But there’s another one in November…

Wish me luck!

Bouncing Back

Over the weekend, I was halfway down the building stairs when I realized I was bouncing down without even thinking about it.So then I ran (sort of) down the hill to the supermarket. I was so excited!

So today, since I didn’t have to go to work, I cut the gym and ran/walked around the Central Park Reservoir–60-70 steps running, then about 80 walking. It felt really good, so the workout at the gym is really helping!

Here’s the proof! I took a video!

A few days later: Well, I did overdo it a bit…but it isn’t the foot that is giving trouble, it is the same place that’s been bothering me…the point where the leg joins the torso. It’s really sore now…only if I am bent over and straighten up…so I have to give myself a few recovery days!