Little breakthroughs

Well, I didn't expect this.... probably had the most encouraging run I've had since last summer just a few moments ago. It was an unassuming jog-- I didn't really have time for an hour+ on the bike so I wanted to try running again. Things started off slow and steady but I had practically no pain at all on either side today. The biggest difference I think was that I rolled out my adductors a lot and did more active type stretching of my groin than I typically do before running. Not only did I have minimal pain, but I felt like I had something left at the end of the run-- a big contrast to the past couple weeks where I practically feel like walking by the end of a four mile jog. You just never know.

I was bolstered by the lack of a twinge in my side and picked up the pace for the last mile or so and covered 6 hilly miles, averaging 6:46 pace. The fact that picking up the pace slightly and mixing in hills didn't even cause pain made me even more happy with myself. I ran into the Coastal group running from Runner's Alley towards the end and seeing them was a huge emotional boost too. For a few miles in there I felt more like myself out there than I have in so so long. Best run in over a year. End of story.

AH  

Status quo

Another five mile run today in about 35 minutes where I focused on keeping my cadence nice and high. It was much cooler today compared to yesterday's run when I basically did the same five mile course. My heart rate was lower than yesterday and my pace was quicker, but I think that was more due to temperature. My body is feeling ok. More or less, it's status quo right now-- same slight discomfort on my right side that still feels somewhat manageable at this point. For the first few minutes I can't feel it at all but it pops up around a mile in and stays pretty steady through the rest of the run. I'm curious to know how it'll react when I increase my mileage or speed. No real point in thinking about that right now though. I'm just happy to be out there putting some reasonable mileage in.

I need to keep working on getting my real running legs under me. It's nice that now I've established some kind of baseline on which to build. I think the next step will be to hit some 6-7 mile runs in the coming weeks.

AH

Biking

Went out for a bike ride yesterday--planned on going about 15 miles but 1) didn't check my tire pressure before leaving and 2) blew a tire about 5 miles in after accidentally running over a small rock. Luckily, I was only five miles in and was able to jog home to get my car and pick my bike up. It would've been interesting if I had gotten further out before that happened. Lesson learned... tire pressure is important.

So today I went out and tried again and had much better success. I mapped my route out to 16.5 miles, which took me a little over an hour. I felt like I was moving along pretty quickly, especially out in the back roads of Pease. I was channeling my inner Jens Voigt (sp?) out there on the roads hammering the flats. Super nice though. This was my first time biking out that way. I'm used to running it.

Before the biking I did 15 minutes of hip strength aka squats and standing lunges. Those are getting easier but only slightly. 

Back running again tomorrow. Looking at a schedule of 2 days of running, 1 day of biking/cross training. I'm pretty happy. Long way to go but the hips are feeling strong at the moment with very minimal pain.

AH

Core + Trail running manana

Another run yesterday with similar success to the day before. I did four easy miles and kept my heart rate in check below 158. That was three days of running in a row, the most days I've managed to string together in a while. Today I was considering biking, but it's been raining very steadily all morning and I decided to dedicate myself to a good 45 minutes of core work instead. I hit all the key exercises including some pretty intense planks that basically left my body at complete failure. Not to be dramatic, but I maxed myself out doing those planks. Felt borderline pathetic but satisfying.

Tomorrow I'm going to try and get on the trails and do a slightly longer run... hopefully 40-45 minutes. I wrote about running on trails a while back, and the plan is still to do a lot more trail running in the latter parts of the summer as I (hopefully) keep increasing distance. I'll try and go somewhere local tomorrow like Urban Forestry or Stratham Hill Park.    

AH

Going rogue

I had a good feeling about the day as soon as I woke up and started moving around. Yesterday SC dug like hell into my quads in addition to some pretty intense hamstring stretching/strengthening, so today I could feel the lingering soreness for sure. This soreness acted as a distraction from my typical right sided pain, which I think was the root of my positive outlook on the day. SC had some biking on the schedule but I elected go rogue and run, based mostly on this whim that I might feel pretty good today. 

So I set out and did a comfortable 5 miles, very happily clicking along at about 7:00 average, slightly quicker on the second half. The pain on my right side had shifted ever so slightly to my groin and hamstring, and felt more like a stretch than pure discomfort. It's a strange thing to describe, but the junction of where my hamstring and adductors connect up into my groin was gliding more fluidly and independently than usual. I have become so used to a pulling sort of sensation that reveals itself as pain in the front of my hip, but I had much better luck this time around. 

I'm very happy with how that went. I hope it continues. I really really hope. Tomorrow might be terrible and bring me back to square one-- I have to remember that's always a possibility. That's how fragile I feel! I try and stay level headed even when I have a mini-breakthrough like this but it's impossible not to let my mind wander at the possibility of really training and increasing mileage and intensity. And of course I did The Countdown, backwards from February, assessing how much time I really have until the Trials.... Always a scary thing to do. 

Good thing I have the cat here to take pictures of. Perfect distraction. 

AH

Core work with the cat

Today I focused more heavily on the strength side of things than I can usually tolerate on my own, which was a good feeling. It's difficult for me to generate the focus to work through, say, 60 squats followed by 60 stationary lunges still knowing there's a lot more to do... Not to mention I'll hop on my bike right after and ride for a while. It's a time intensive process and all the individual steps bring out a certain loathing in me. I'm so used to going outside and just running. One step, done. It's an interesting change and a different mindset I'm not used to. 

So after going through a series of core strength exercises I popped outside and rode my bike for about 30 minutes worth of hill repeats up Sagamore. I did five repeats at a steady but not all out pace, seated, to try and engage my core and glutes as much as possible. This was the second time I've done these hill repeats on my bike and it's been enjoyable. It doesn't take as long to feel like you've gotten some work in. Next time I ride (Thursday) I should go on a longer one. 

Tomorrow I'm slated to run four miles and meet with SC for more core and massage. My right side has been bothering me on and off today and I've been going through the typical mental hoops associated with that feeling. I play tricks and little mind games to convince myself that it's not really there or that it's changing or somehow different. And many times, especially recently, I do feel like it's different. Occaisionally I become self aware of the mind games I'm playing-- I realize, yes, it's all mental smoke and mirrors and self-induced Jedi mind trickery. But then I step back even further and remember that that's how I have to be in order to stay sane. It sounds weird but I think of it as a healthy cycle of self preservation. It is also much easier to stay positive now that I'm feeling little hints of progress. 

Addiecat managed to get her head completely through the sleeve of my shirt this morning (which I dramatically and unnecessarily took off while doing that core stuff). It cracked me up and gave me a quick break between squat 22 and 23 to snap these pictures. She's more flexible than I am, that's for sure. 

AH

Progression to butt running

Admittedly, it's been a few weeks since my last post. I don't want this to become a habit as part of the point of this whole blog is to expose all the menial details of the daily grind of running. I'd like to be clear that I a) haven't been sitting on the sidelines eating Twinkies and b) have taken my butt walking to a whole new level and implemented it into my running gait. This has been a fairly recent development, but I went out for a short run (25 minutes) about 6 days ago and felt that familiar pain on my right side once again. This is the "mirrored but not as bad" pain I have been dealing with on my non-surgical side for the last month. It's still fairly unclear what overcoming this pain will require: more strength training, another surgery, more time, it could be a number of things. Anyway, the moment the pressure/pain started to creep up, I immediately shifted my focus to pulling my right leg back with my butt and almost forcibly overextending my back kick. It really felt like I was yanking my leg back with my butt. This, magically, took the pressure off that spot and shifted it out and to the side of my hip and even up my side.

Any small shift in an injured spot is an amazing feeling. Your brain gets so used to dealing with such a specific pain that the notion of it moving around and changing is like a new lease on life. That's how I felt when I finished my slow 25 minute jog that day, and I've been able to recreate that sensation in the 3 runs since.

In other news, I've continued to do a fair amount of strength work (although I skimped while on vacation last week visiting my Grandparents-- happy birthday Grandma!!!) and am back meeting with SC on a thrice weekly basis. Our meeting yesterday was optimistic. I'm definitely getting stronger and more flexible and I can see it in the exercises I'm doing. Much like it was when I was running, the moment I feel comfortable doing something, he pushes it one tiny step forward. I feel like I'm actively moving in a good direction though. Mentally, I'm putting all my chips in the "getting a really strong core = no more pain on either side" scenario. Even if I have a small tear on my right, people can apparently overcome it with dedicated core training, enough to make it a non-issue. That's what I'm going for right now.

As a part of my slow but steady mental shift away from the utopian "only running more will make you a better runner," I participated in my first spin class a couple weeks ago and am going to another one tonight. The college runner version of myself just turned in its grave. I will freely admit that I got a lot out of it the first time. It was legitimately the hardest I've worked since my surgery and felt good to suffer in such a satisfying way. I missed that feeling.

Looking ahead, I'll keep doing my every other day 4 mile run (~28 minutes) with lots of core strength in between and keep on walking with my butt. Seriously, I recommend it to anyone. I heard it can help with your lower back too, if you have lower back pain, which makes sense. Hopefully in a couple weeks I'll be able to start really increasing my distance and get back into running shape.

AH

Sis (flew all the way from Portland OR!), Bro, Mom, and me

Wanted to share some photos from my Grandma's birthday party. Tons of fun and great to see the whole fam!