Triathlon Mom...

For those of you who've been reading for a while, you know that I am relatively new to being sporty.  While I have always been active, in the past 5 years I have pushed past merely active and into athletic.  The adventure has been fun and interesting.  I am amazed at how much more capable I am physically then I ever thought possible.  The learning curve on athletic is also impressive.

Over the past month I have been plagued with blisters, sore knees and IT band aches.  Here's the thing, it was never an all-on onslaught.  One day my knee would hurt a bit...one evening my IT band would be uncomfortably achy...I realized I had blisters on my arches that never quite healed.  Each ache and pain was acknowledged but I thought that they were all things that I needed to push past...get through...achieve a new level of endurance and strength.  For me athleticism is much more mental than physical...my body is capable but I am still convincing my brain!

The conversation with my husband started with the blisters.  Several weeks ago I did a swim-to-run brick and inadvertently forgot my socks.  I knew I wasn't going to do a long run, so I thought, "What the heck...I'll run barefooted!" DUMB! Bad Move!  I felt the blisters forming and kept running.  It was a week before I could put my running shoes back on.  Fast forward two weeks...I had a long run planned but ended up cutting it short because I could feel blisters forming and I didn't want to be out of commission for another week.  Kyle asked about the blisters and I said, "You know, I am just waiting for them to callous.  It's just something you have to grit your teeth to get past!"  My cute husband immediately started Googling blisters...

About the same time, I emailed my cousin regarding the IT band.  She's an Occupational Therapist, so the email was along these lines, "I know this is more a PT thing than an OT thing...but what do you know about IT bands?  I don't want to be whiney but I can't seem to get mine to toughen up."  After several emails back and forth, I came to realize that I had an IT band injury...that I was actually making worse by trying to toughen up.

The blister issue came to a head on the same day...they're an injury...one that I was making worse by trying to toughen up!

So...ice and stretching for the IT band...Body Glide and new socks for the blisters...but the biggest thing for me to learn was...it was time for new running shoes!  I had actually run so much in the past few months that I needed new ones!

One week into new shoes...no blisters...pain free IT band and knees!  I am really figuring this sporty thing out!