What a great week! Minneapolis had a bit of a late autumn warm-up, which made for great running weather. Even better, my achilles is feeling decent, still a little sore in the morning, but overall not bad.
I am feeling good enough that I registered for an in-person 10k on Halloween! Twin Cities in Motion (the organization behind the Twin Cities Marathon) is hosting a 10k that runs around Bde Maka Ska and Lake of the Isles, with a start line less than 1/2 mile from my house. I hope I continue to stay injury-free to actually run a race in 2020! (Well, there was the Atlanta marathon, which seems like a lifetime ago!)
Here’s how things worked out this week:
Monday: I switched my physical therapist to a place called Viverant, which has two locations very close for me, one right on Excelsior Boulevard in St. Louis Park and another right down France Ave in Edina. The St. Louis Park location is less than a mile from my house, so I jogged there, had the appointment, and then jogged home, picked up Ruth and ran 4 miles with her, for about 6 miles total for the day. Awesome 70 degree day for a sunny lunch run.
This new physical therapist dry-needled my calf; anyone had this done before? It was a very strange sensation, as she also use “stim” or electric stimulations on the needles when they were in my calf. She told me it was okay to run afterwards, but after the run, my calf was quite sore. Fortunately by the next day, the soreness was gone and the achilles felt pretty good. (Tight calves are often related to achilles issues.)
Tuesday: 8 miles before work with a few friends, 9:15 min/mile average. It’s pretty dark when we start, so I wear this headlamp and this Noxgear vest!
Wednesday: 7 miles before work, 9:15 min/mile average. 1:1 Virtual Discover Strength session after work.
Ruth and Matilda love these sunny fall days too!
Thursday: Another PT appointment, this time at the Edina location of Viverant, which is exactly two miles from my house. I jogged there, had dry-needling again, and then jogged home for 4 miles, easy pace.
Friday: 4 miles before work with Ruth, 8:40 min/mile average. We had a sub-8 in there and I still felt okay; it’s nice to see some of those pop up again! We also saw an albino squirrel on this run. Oddly enough, we have quite a few of these in my neighborhood.
Friday was 83 degrees in Minneapolis. So warm for mid-October! I drank plenty of Nuun after my run to stay hydrated.
Virtual 1:1 Discover Strength after work.
Saturday: 11 mile long run with two friends, another picture-picture fall morning! 50 degrees, sunny, fall colors on full blast!
Saturday evening, our friends hosted a little socially distanced backyard Oktoberfest. And my friend Christie brought the most delicious cake from The Copper Hen for my birthday (which is the 14th). Thanks Christie!
Ruth played SO hard with the other dogs that were there, and at one point, she had some sort of accidental collision and cut her eye. Party over for Ruth! It seems to be healing up okay, but we will definitely bring her to the vet if it doesn’t.
Sunday: 5.4 miles with Ruth and Dustin, 8:30 min/mile average. I wore some new fall colored pro compression socks!
Summary: 45 miles of running, 2 virtual strength training sessions. Two PT appointments. Lots of fresh October air!
I’m linking up with Running on the Fly and Confessions of a Mother Runner Check it out!
I was not the biggest fan of the dry needling. I did not think it did anything and it felt weird. Glad you are continuing to feel better and able to keep up your running mileage. An in person 10K? How exciting!
It definitely feels very weird! I’ll try anything though to get back to running 100%!
Oh no about Ruth’s eye! At least it wasn’t her actual eye. We’ve been having so much fun (NOT) trying to contain Lola — who is almost 15! She doesn’t realize it.
83? That’s nuts! We hit mid 70s yesterday. I wore a skirt . . . possibly for the last time this year, although you never know, we’ve had some dec days that are warm enough for skirts.
That cake looks amazing! Happy pre-birthday!
Yes, so lucky the cut wasn’t an inch to the right!! She’s healing up quickly.
cheers to the October air. That photo with the sun over the water is stunning. happy October!
Thanks Stephanie!
Nice week of miles for you! I’m interested in that dry needling. Did it hurt? Excited for your live race. I loved mine!
Poor Ruth! Cocoa had an injury by her eye too and it wouldn’t heal up. We finally got some antibiotics for her and it’s gone. Don’t we just love them so much?
Hey Wendy- the dry needling hurt a little. In my calf, it feel like a weird muscle cramp followed by twitching when she used the stimulation. In the Achilles, it was a bit more painful. Not as painful as the EWST though.
Oh poor Ruth! Glad your achilles is feeling so much better 😉 This past week was so perfect, weather-wise…it got up to 89F on Friday here #happydance I hope you have a great birthday celebration this week!
I love a heat wave in October!
Aw yes that you get to do an in person 10k this month! I just did my first “real” race and it was so nice to be back.
Yes! I’m excited to race!
Glad your achilles is feeling better! I’ve had dry needling a few times. Its weird but it can really help!
Good to hear you had positive results!
I did not like the dry needling with stim – which I had in my calves too. It just felt too strange to me. I’d rather suffer through a tough massage or Graston. Love those fall colors — in the trees and your socks. 😉
Graston hurts too..but agree that dry needling is very strange.
I hope that you will be able to run the in-person 10K on Halloween – that would be so fun!
Happy early birthday and hope you enjoyed that yummy looking cake!
Thanks Kim! The cake was delicious!
Nice week of mileage for you! Those are cute socks. I have a few pairs of compression socks but don’t wear them as much. Sometimes I wear them during the cooler weather when I am wearing shorts.
Poor Ruth. Hope it doesn’t get worse.
I’ve never done dry needling.
Her eye is healing pretty well, thankfully! I wear my compression socks a lot more in the cooler transition temps too, instead of capris. I feel like shorts + compression socks works well in the fall!
Oh poor Ruth. I hope her eye heals up just fine. We had a warm week but did not hit 80. Wow! Happy Birthday week!
Thanks Marcia!
Great that you’re feeling better! I’ve had dry needling a few times and I think it’s helped. How fun to have an in-person race on the horizon!
Glad you had success with dry needling. It’s a weird one!
Like a zombie out of the blue, the Monster Dash emailed to share that their 5k/10k/HM is still happening on the 31st. I had a free entry from last year, but had assumed it was cancelled. Nothing public-facing on Facebook, etc, and the announcement says nothing about their COVID plan. And they changed the half marathon course, which was the only remaining redeeming feature. Sounds like a mess and will pass.
Glad you are able to race, and that TCIM is doing things the right way.
I saw that! I couldn’t believe it. Is Team Ortho still around? I am so curious what their plan is…TCM is keeping things VERY small.
Hey, happy birthday! Mine is the 13th! That is a good birthday week. 🙂
Happy birthday TODAY Sara!
Happy early birthday! I’m so glad you had such a nice party!
The pups are so cute! II’m sorry Ruth cut her eye!
I’ve heard of dry needling but never tried it. I hope it works for you!
Thank you Jenn!
White squirrels? How cool! We have brown/red in our area, but a little bit away we do see black squirrels. I always think it’s so odd to see squirrels in colors other than brown! I just bought a TENS unit, thinking it would be helpful for some of our pains. I’ve only tried it once on my hamstrings, and the verdict is still out on how successful it was. I think that might be similar to the stimulant you had? Well, kinda related maybe.
Yes, white squirrels! It’s always a treat to see them, I say they are good luck!
I think TENS is similar, from what I understand!
Lovely photos. My husband had his ITB dry needled; seemed to work anyway. it was years ago so I don’t remember specifics. And hope Ruth is feeling loads better by now.
Oh interesting, I didn’t know they did it on the IT band!
You definitely had some great workouts last week and those beautiful leaf colors and cool crisp air must have made your runs near perfect! I’m so happy that your Achilles is feeling better. I had dry needling with electric stimulation last year in my lower back/upper glute area, and yes, it’s a very weird feeling. Hope it’s exactly what you need to heal!
Thanks Debbie!