still waiting...impatiently!

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. I was waiting to hear back from the Dr. office about my shin, no such luck. I saw my Dr. on Monday and had an x-ray of my shin to see if I had a stress fracture in the middle of my right shin from running too hard. I am very sure it is a stress fracture and not just shin splints. I have been wearing a walking brace on it most of the day since Monday. It does help a lot with the pain when I walk but it is a pain to walk in. Maybe get a call back on Monday...

Until I find out how long I will have to recover for sure, I have been riding the bike, doing the elliptical and weight lifting on my upper body at the gym. Our gym just put in some new equipment this week and the elliptical that I used Thursday night was one of them. It was much different than the regular ellipticals and kind of hard to explain. It has a much higher vertical incline that your legs can go if you want to (kind of like stepping up but gliding) and it has a little lights on it to show what part of the legs it is working depending on the incline you are at...if that makes any sense. I will have to take a picture of it some night to show you. WOW it was a booty and hamstring burner!! Since I can't put pressure on my shins, it was perfect! I also decided to bump up my weights on my upper body weight lifting. The weights that I have been doing for the last few months, was just getting too easy. I bumped up each machine setting by 5 lbs...felt good! It was challenging no doubt, but I didn't feel like it was too much.

85 lbs at 2 sets of 10 on Lat pulldown
30 lbs at 2 sets of 10 on shoulder press (this is my biggest challenge, have a shoulder that is weak!!)
55 lbs at 2 sets of 10 on chest press
80 lbs at 2 sets of 15 on back extension
65 lbs at 2 sets of 15 on ab crunch machine
55 lbs at 2 sets of 10 on the machine that I can't ever remember the name but it is an upper body pulling the bar towards your chest in 2 different ways.

When I get to do Leg press again I am up to 155 lbs at 12 reps and do 2 sets. When I started this over a year ago I could barely do 70 lbs at 8 reps!! HUGE improvement on my leg strength.

I do free weights when the area is not too busy with the young guys. This last Thursday only one kid was over there but he was annoying with his grunting and hollering. Seriously?!?!?!

Today my legs, hips and low back are feeling the affects of walking around a lot yesterday and today with my walking boot on and then the workout. I don't wear the boot on the equipment because of the difference it gives in the height of my legs. The boot has a rocker bottom and makes my right leg about an inch higher than my left in a regular shoe...as you can imagine that does crazy things! I can walk at a pretty good pace in it except when going up or down stairs or curb. When you can't flex your foot up and down or bend your ankle it is not easy to do either one! Oh and driving is interesting too since it is my right leg. I don't even wear it when it comes to driving on the highway back and forth to work. I see a lot of deer and I know my reflex is going to be using my right leg to hit the brakes, if I did that with my boot on I would hit the gas and the brake at the same time! When I am just going a few blocks around town I use my left foot. Today is going to be a rest day from workout. I did 30 minutes on the elliptical last night at a cardio burning speed and intensity along with the weights shown above. I am going to do some yoga stretching and then ice my shin before bed.

I am so thankful I got into the Chiropractor this afternoon!! My stress level has been high and my body was all out of whack. I am sore but feels good to get the pressure released in my back and neck. Thanks for reading and wish me luck on a quick recovery. I need to be patient (very difficult for me) and let things heal right so I can get back to running and training this summer. I will keep you updated on my progress.