Thursday, January 22, 2009

me vs. my greater trochanter

One of the reasons I think it would be cool to be a physical therapist is that you get to hurt people all day. I'm pretty sure my PT's favorite pastime is using a rolling pin-like device to "massage" my IT band into submission like a stubborn peice of sugar cookie dough. Did I mention it hurts?? Particularly around the greater trochanter, a nubby part of the hip bone that is truly the bane of my existence. Supposedly, my condition is fairly common in distance runners and sometimes the IT band get so tight that it makes a "snapping" sound when it rubs against the trochanter, i.e. snapping hip syndrome. Gross!! I'm fine with my trochanteric bursitis, thank-you-very-much.

Speaking of which, I did some more intervals this morning. Yep, I said morning! I snuck a nice workout in before dragging myself to the office. It helps that I didn't have to go in until 10:00 because I'm working a bit later tonight but still...I could have slept in. :) Self-congratulating aside, I ran 10 sets of 3/1 intervals this time for a total of 40 minutes and 3.9 miles. Yippee! Again, a little bit of discomfort toward the end of my run but I wouldn't necessarily call it pain. I even ran a bit closer to my usual 9 minute mile pace. These are all good signs, but I'm not celebrating quite yet. I'll be trying 4/1 intervals on Saturday...

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Slow and steady.

Yesterday, I ran. Actually, I ran/walked. Three minutes of running, one minute of walking per my PT's instructions. I did 7 run/walk intervals for a total of 28 minutes and 21 laps. So, a little over 2.5 miles. It was awesome! Even though I kept myself at a turtle's pace it still felt good to get out there. I only felt a tiny bit of tightness in my hip after my last interval, along with the normal "I haven't run in 2 weeks" aches and pains. It sounds weird, but my legs and glutes actually felt stronger. I can't think of better motivation to continue strength training after PT! I'm going to run some intervals again tomorrow and see what happens.