Not a duck

Anymore. Oh yeah, I'm running too. It's been a long time coming. Fear maintained a good grip until a week ago. During an active release session, I pointed out what was tight or hurting and made a comment about the pain indicating more tearing. The doc looked at me strangely and walked me through a mini anatomy lesson. Turns out my brain has exaggerated the peroneal tendon to take up my entire foot, ankle and leg.

The doc knocked a finger at my head, told me I needed to work on the mental aspect of recovery, and explained overcompensation of other muscles, tendons and ligaments because my brain refuses to use the injured area. My prescription for the next two weeks was to begin the return to previous activity. Exciting right? Tell that to my freaked out, obsessive brain.

BUT, I followed the doc's (aka psychologist) orders and finally returned to a semi-hopeful outlook. The plan:

1) Gradually, build up my running. Right now, I'm at 40 minutes of a 2:2 ratio of walking/running.

2) Continue to build strength in my butt and hips so that I can run with my
feet straight. No more duck walk for this former dancer.

3) Run on non-consecutive days. Cross train instead. On my brand new road bike! Haven't named him? her? yet, but working on ideas.

For the formerly injured, were you freaked out by the return to running??? How'd you get over it?

Oh, and for the peroneal tendon tear people. Turns out, I had an avulsion tear. Right from the bone. Explains a lot. Recovery estimates with or without surgery is a year to 18 months. So, I'm pretty stoked to be doing as much as I am. For the person who asked about surgery...I'm happy I did NOT have the surgery only because of my RSD risk. However, if I did not have the family history of RSD (or had been clueless about its existence) I'd probably have gone under the knife. Why? Recovery could have been much faster.