The Light!

I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's been 11 weeks since I've been able to do any run training. My achilles tendon feels stronger than it has over that time. I had a great week of physical therapy with Kevin Swanson at Plaza Physical Therapy and also a good visit to Kaminski Pain and Performance Care. Two weeks ago at PT I did 30 toe raises with only 80 pounds and it hurt really bad. On Monday I was able to do 3 sets at 120 pounds with minimal discomfort. On Friday I did 150 pounds with no pain at all. This weekend I rode 30 miles on Saturday pain free and then followed it up with 32 miles on Sunday also pain free. I can do toe raises and eccentric strengthening excercises pain free. On Tuesday I will walk into PT with the hopes of running for the first time pain free since early March. I'll be running on the treadmill under Kevin's supervision. By the way I feel I expect it to go well and I can set up some kind of gradual plan of increased mileage and interval work. I'm excited about Tuesday. If I can run pain free I'll expect to compete in the QC Triathlon on June 19. Although it will take me some time to get back to the level of fitness I had in early March I'll be perfectly content to race pain free on June 19th just to celebrate being healthy and able to compete in a sport I love. If Tuesday goes well I will probably begin adding interval work into my bike workouts by the end of the week. For now I have to work hard and use my head to get back to "fighting weight". I haven't been on the scale in awhile and I don't even want to know what the damage is right now. I lose weight quickest when I am able to run so maybe I'll work up the courage to check in a couple weeks if I'm able to run. I had a great time yesterday for Payton's 2nd birthday party. We rented a bounce house that I was using with her before Jen "politely" reminded me that jumping around in that may not be the best thing to heal my achilles tendon. With each day I feel better and my confidence of a return to regular training grows higher. I have lots of work to do but school is now out and that gives me an extra 40 hours a week to work in time to get back to ridiculous shape. I plan to do just that! Thanks for reading and all the support I've received over these tough weeks. I'll update quickly Tuesday after running and I expect to write good news. It has not been easy posting depressing updates over the past 10 weeks. DREAM BIG!