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!