Saturday, August 29, 2015

Training to Tolerate the Torture...

I've been a bit sporadic with my blog posts for the past few weeks <sorry guys> because things have been hectic. And to be completely honest, when you have a blog about running and you can't run because you're injured it just simply sucks to talk write about it.

I'm still injured but I'm off my "woe is me" soapbox <kind of>. I spent the past week trying to refocus and adjust my approach to Chicago so that I can make it across the finish line...without hating running. I anticipate that I'm still going to have some hip and knee pain but I'm hoping to maintain a pace and approach that will keep the pain within a tolerable range...

Sunday, August 23, 2015

The Week Behind & What Lies Ahead...

In the past week I've been to my Chiropractor three times and my Sports Medicine fellowship trained Orthopedic Surgeon once. They both have given me the "ok" to run (yay!). My Chiropractor said "just don't overdo it" and when I responded with a blank stare he clarified and said "start with 3 miles and slowly increase from there". My Sports Med doc said "no long runs". He didn't catch the blank stare so he offered no further clarification...but he did say I could run every other day.

In addition to mileage reductions I have to start "intense physical therapy" for my current injury diagnosis: Right Trochanteric Bursitis and IT Band Syndrome. That starts on Wednesday of this coming week. And there was also a change in my prescribed anti-inflammatory medication. Sigh. It sounds like a lot doesn't it?

I'm approaching this whole thing with renewed focus and determination. I will be running in the Chicago marathon this October. End. Of. Story. In keeping with my renewed focus I was trying to find motivating stories of marathon runners to keep me from getting discouraged and came across this one...

**If Fauja can do it at age 89, then I can do this at age 35 right?**

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

"Rolling Hills" & "Pizza"

That moment when your doctor says "I'm going to need some time to study your case and come up with a treatment plan, so don't run until then"...

The appointment actually went better than expected. It was the first time I've ever been to a Chiropractor (which is probably kind of shocking considering my scoliosis) so I wasn't really sure what to expect...
(Turned sideways the x-ray of my spine looks like "gently rolling hills" doesn't it?)

Sunday, August 16, 2015

The Elephant In The Room...

It's been over two weeks and I still have lingering pain from my last long run. Being the typical runner that I am I haven't really wanted to talk/blog about it. Runners rarely want to acknowledge that they may have overdone it and need to take a few days off...
I don't think I've done a lot since my 20 mile run, but whatever I've done has clearly been "too much" because on Monday I could barely get through a mile without pain...

Saturday, August 8, 2015

The Random Report...

As promised, I kept Thursday and Friday as rest days. I did a lot of stretching but not much of anything else "activity-wise" because I wanted to give my joints a break. When I ran on Wednesday evening, Niqui and I were talking about my heavy footfall. She told me I should try "running like a gazelle" and "lightly bounce" from one foot to the other...
That's what I try to do, it just never quite works out that way. 
Well...the falling happens for sure but not so gracefully ;)

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

84 Hours...

It took me 84 hours (approximately) before I was able to do any significant running after my 20 mile training run on Sunday. I tried to run for a bit yesterday evening after work but I was only able to do 1 mile. I ran "support-free" i.e. with no ankle or knee brace...
Which in hindsight was probably premature (as demonstrated by the need to stop after 1 mile)

Today I ran a 5K and felt a little better. I still have some residual pain and muscle soreness so I stretched a lot after. I ran with my friends Niqui and Maggie and we kept up a pretty decent sub-12 minute/mile pace (not super fast but we were glad we got the distance completed).

The week so far...
Unfortunately I may not be able to run again until Saturday. And I will probably have to split my long run between Saturday and Sunday (I'm aiming for a minimum of 5 miles each day). I will be away from my normal running spots so I'm hoping that I'll find a nice safe route to run and that the weather isn't too horrible...
(The forecast doesn't make me feel very optimistic though)

Sunday, August 2, 2015

A First Time For Everything...

It takes a special kind of crazy commitment to get up at 1:30am to prepare for a 3am run (especially when you're not getting paid). But sure enough that's what I was doing at 1:30 this morning. I also wanted to give myself extra time to get ready because I wore my new compression running pants and didn't know how long it was going to take to squeeze myself into them...

The early mornings don't bother me because, as you probably already know, I would rather be running at 3am than dealing with the Summer heat and humidity later in the morning. And since the humidity seems prevalent regardless of the time of day, the only way to avoid battling both is to run before the sun starts blazing.