Fitness: Week 8 Down Time

So… what happened to week 8?

Week 8… basically didn’t happen. :\ Unfortunately, real life is trying to crush my fitness, and it’s obnoxious. Really, really obnoxious.

This tale starts with one week ago, last Sunday. Pete and I went out for a walk/run, and I was like “awesome, getting a jump-start on this week since last week I missed a day!” We did 2.25mi, and I got down to a 16min mile. That’s pretty good! However… I did notice near the end of it, on my last bit of running, my right shin was a little painful. Nothing bad, but I was noticing it. Cue to Monday and I realized that yikes, the shin is sensitive to pressure, but just in the middle aspect (both side-to-side and up-and-down). Feels like it’s right on the bone itself. Minor concern of possible shin splints.

That evening, after a wonderful massage trade with my friend Tom, I noticed that my right ankle, on the lateral (outside) aspect is sore right above the malleolus (that’s the little bump that sticks out). Again, mostly pressure sensitive. Some inflammation, based on my palpations I’d guess that the peroneal muscles’ tendinous attachment is inflamed. So okay, no big.

Tuesday I realized that if I sit wrong, my leg and ankle bug me. Now I’m annoyed, because this is more than I bargained for. Pete and I laid low on Monday, we laid low on Tuesday, and now we figure we’ll have to lay low all week. I was not happy.

Wednesday it wasn’t as uncomfortable, awesome. On the mend!

Thursday we went and toured some property we’re considering. There was a lot of walking, and much of it was a steep grade. Definitely irritated the ankle again, but it still wasn’t as bad as Tuesday. So that’s good at least, it has to be getting better. And hey, it was some minor exercise so yay us!

After that, laid low the rest of the weekend. Tonight, one week later, I still have some tenderness, but it’s a lot better than it was. I’ve made sure to keep it mobile and stretch it so that as it heals it doesn’t tighten up on me. Nothing strenuous, just mainly some ankle rotations and heel presses, aside from walking in general.

On top of all this though, my body is fighting having a menses. Everything is pointing to it being here, getting started, and getting over with… except my body will not bleed. If I wasn’t 150% sure I was not pregnant, I’d be concerned. However, it is absolutely not a possibility. Not even for a moment. So it’s just my body doing what it does best… being a problematic fool. However it means that my water weight is ridiculous (seriously…), my desire for chocolate is elevated, and my level of fatigue is nuts. Aside from just being uncomfortable with PMSing in general. So fingers crossed that it comes and goes this week, or I will not be pleased.

Week 9 I will be skipping an update for, because I’m off to camp with the family. Thankfully this means a lot of biking, walking, and my favorite, swimming! Oh, I am so excited to get in the water! ♥ So I will be active despite what my leg is doing (and swimming is so gentle on the body but such a good workout, yay!).

For those who are wondering, no, I did not go to the doctor about my leg. As it is presently, it’s annoying but not debilitating. If it gets worse, persists, or otherwise becomes more concerning than the mild annoyance it is now, then I will go. Until then, I’m just being mindful not to overdo it. Part of the reasoning is that we are going to camp and I do not want to be potentially immobilized during this time. The other reason is that I am still working to build myself up as a massage therapist, being taken out of the game potentially at this stage would be devastating. So until it’s actually a problem, I’ll just be careful. It’s not impacting my ability to walk, stand, sleep, etc. It’s just enough for Pete and I to say “hmmm… probably shouldn’t run or put serious impact on it for a bit.” So I didn’t.

That’s it. That’s life for me right now. Onward to another two weeks, I’ll be back come week 10 and I’ll try to recap two weeks since I’ll miss one while I’m away. 🙂