A new year, a new you!
I'm now 41. I'm trying to get back to where I was. I have identified some weaknesses and issues in my lower legs/feet that I believe have been holding me back! With the help of Derek Clark of Mountain Ridge Physical Therapy and Jen Sober from Fit with Jen, I am well on my way back!rough
Sometimes you just need a reset button!
Although I did have a pretty good year at 40, my times were still well off of where I was just a few years ago. I've been struggling ever since having Tyler (child number 3). I did win Memphis Marathon in December with a time of 3:00:20 (wanted to break 3), but when your PR is 2:45, you wonder if it's possible to be so far removed from it even though you feel you are working hard!
True, I have not been running 90 mile weeks like I was when I was 28, because I'm not 28! I now have a job and 3 kids, and I have been running for just about 30 years!
I don't know exactly why my calves started to bother me so. I blame it on Crossfit, but who knows. I've been running while injured for 3 years now hoping that it would just go away on it's own. There would be weeks and even months when I would not have pain, but one workout or race in a pair of racing flats would send my calves into heart attack mode. The past 6 months or so the calves have been pretty good, but now my feet (or foot really) has begun to take the brunt of my negligence.
After being evaluated by Derek we found that my right calf is much smaller than the left. I have more issues with that calf than the left. I'm guessing that when the calf is in pain and I refuse to take time off I just run without using it. So I have lost muscle mass/tone.
Dry needling and some cushy Skechers GoRun Ultras have been getting me through the past 3 years! Now that I have identified the weaknesses I am working on getting my feet and calves stronger. Slowly but surely the pain is getting better.
With the help of some great coaching from Jen I'm hoping my upcoming spring/summer racing season will be good and the fall marathon will be a sub-3!
