long time no post

I see that it has been a while since I've posted on Team Frye's blog, so here's an update. Last Saturday we ran a ten mile jaunt around the track at WCC, for those of you not in the know, the track at WCC is 1/8th of a mile so 10 miles is 80 times around that thing! Hopefully the snow melts soon because I don't know how many long runs I can do around that track. This week is a relatively easy week, five miles yesterday, three on Thursday and Friday, and then a seven mile Saturday. The body's a little sore, but for the most part I'm feelin' good.

an excellent reason to run today

Paczki! Even though our spinning instructor, Lea, made us all promise to have a "Fit Tuesday". Yeah...that's what the running's for!

(Bonus reason: because I can. Yay!)

believe in your dreams

I guess I forgot to post last week. What a crazy and confusing week it was! Almost as crazy as my favorite digital short (just watch it, I promise the zombie dance interlude at the end is worth it):

Saturday (2/7): I ran with the orthotics on and didn’t notice anything special – just some tightness in my ITB and that nagging pain in my hip flexor. I had gone to yoga a few days before which really helped ease the pain in my lower back. Saturday’s run was pretty successful – I ran just under 5 miles! I took stretching breaks every 1.5 miles and that seemed to really help. So of course I'm feeling all proud of myself and looking forward to running again on Tuesday morning before PT.

Tuesday (2/10): Here's where it gets confusing: I could barely run a mile without taking a stretching break. So, I abandoned my plan to run 4 miles and ran 3 instead because my hip flexor/inner thigh area was throbbing with pain. Looking back, I realize that I took a pretty intense spinning class at 6 p.m. the night before, so attempting to get out and run at 6 a.m. was probably not a good idea. But, I wasn't thinking so clearly at the time! I slogged through the run and went to PT during which I nearly cried when trying to explain everything to Dawn. She found that my hips were slightly out of alignment, probably because of the orthotics, so she fixed that. Although my overall core and lower body strength is really good because of all the exercises I've been doing, she found that my left hip flexor muscles were weaker than the right. So, we did some new hip flexion machines and I left feeling rather hopeless about the whole thing.

Thursday (2/12): Even more confusion! I ran a solid 4 miles, with stretching breaks every 1.5. I tried to keep the pace slower than normal but still ended up running under 9:30. It was a good run, which I was happy to share with Dawn. My hips were still properly aligned so we focused on doing some more hip flexor stuff. Talk about pain!! Those muscles definitely need some work.

Saturday (2/14): A long run with my valentine! 7 miles, with stretching breaks every 2. It felt great and I had to really stop myself from going the full 9 with Fred. The last thing I need is to overdo it when I'm making some real progress. Got a hot stone massage afterwards. It was heaven!!! Things are looking up...I think.

losing steam!

I'm thoroughly miffed. I don't even know where to begin. Well, for starters, I feel like crap. My hip still hurts, the injection site hurts on and off, and I'm feeling a whole new pain in my hip flexor area. The thing is, I HAVEN'T EVEN BEEN DOING ANYTHING for the last 7 days. My lower back is hurting, and my ITB feels super tight. Even sitting in my desk chair hurts right now. Yes, I'm whining!!! I think this lack of activity is messing with my head and making everything eleventy billion times worse. I'm definitely going to spinning class tonight.

In the latest chapter of my running injury saga, I got hooked up with some custom foot orthotics today. My PT was able to sneak me in during the guy's lunch break, avoiding the usual 5-8 week wait for an appointment. Nice. If only my PT would have warned me that I would be parading around the office in spandex shorts and a dinky camisole all bunched up so they could check out my "rib and hip alignmnent". Sheesh!! If the orthotics work, my IT band issues could have more to do with the way my foot strikes the ground than my leg length discrepancy. I'm still holding out a little hope that all of these different treatments will add up to some relief for me. Until then, I've been prescribed another month of PT!!!! Oh, the humanity.

trochanteric burSUCKis

Cue the suspense/thriller soundtrack: today I made a last minute appointment with the sports doc and he gave me...the Shot! It pretty much hurt like hell. But, considering the pain I've been feeling every stinking time I run, the Shot was no big deal. I must have done a pretty good job practicing my yogi nasal breathing because I heard the nurse tell the doc that I was the best patient they'd seen in weeks. Yeah, I'm "one with my body" and all that.

However, there's really no guarantee that this is even going to work which is just craptacular. In fact, the doc said the cortisone could even make things worse. Superb. He cut me off from my last two sessions of PT (oh, darn!) and said I need to rest for as long as possible, as any activity could lessen the effects of the cortisone and cause damage. I'm going to give it a week. No running, spinning, cross-training, strength-training, nada! Just lots of stretching and icing. This would probably be a good time to finish watching the Pride and Prejudice A&E miniseries.

I'm trying really hard to be cool about it, but the fact of the matter is that I might have to stop running for a while. Like, weeks. Or, months. In which case I could pretty much kiss the Bayshore Marathon goodbye. Detroit, anyone?

Oh! I almost forgot! A little treat for the visual learners:

in case this "marathon thing" doesn't pan out...

I've got a plan B: the Krispy Kreme Challenge in Raleigh, NC!! Dash two miles to the donut shop, slam a doz, and dash back. EASY. I could totally wear one of those paper hats, too. The scary thing is that over 1900 people have registered already. Do you think people have to clean up their own vomit or do they have volunteers for that?

rundown for the week of January 19, 2009

And I ra-a-an, I ran so far away-ay-ay-ay-ay, I couldn't get away. Seriously though I ran 4 miles on Tuesday, 4 miles on Wednesday, 4 miles on Thursday, and 4 miles on Saturday. We'll see how this week goes seeing that I teach a class Wednesday night at LCC so I'm going to have to juggle my running schedule.

on the verge of meltdown

Got a massage on Saturday. It was good. Ran on Sunday. Not good. I increased the intervals up to 4/1 and was able to run for 35 minutes (3.75 miles) before the pain really kicked in. I felt some tightness during most of the run but then it started to actually hurt so I figured I better stop. So, I've improved a little bit considering I could barely run 2.5 miles before I started physical therapy. HOWEVER, eking out a measly 3.75 and spending the rest of the day in PAIN isn't going to cut it when I'm trying to train for a freaking marathon. Gimme cortisone, doc!! I just hope I can get through this next week of PT without going seriously insane.

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...

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.

weekly rundown

Luckily my IT band has not been stricken with the same disability as my partner's, so I've been able to run. This week I ran 4 miles on Tuesday and 4 miles on Thursday. Next week starts my Hal Higdon's training program so the miles will begin to increase.

let's get physical!

Okay, I was *this close* to actually using the eliptical trainer yesterday. I created a special playlist on my iPod and everything (called "eliptical mix" if you must know). Then Fred forgot his iPod, I got to the gym a little early, and the stars aligned for me to take a step aerobics class instead! I'm not sure what my favorite part of class was - the dance remix of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" or the old man next to me giving me a crusty look every time I turned the wrong way during the "step hesitate baby mambo kick" sequence. What I love about running is that it requires absolutely no rhythm and practically no coordination. Try getting away with this in step aerobics and you'll end up looking a lot like grape stomping lady.

Dear left hip, please feel better soon so I can stop humiliating myself in cardio classes and generally feeling like a noob. kthxbai!

keeping calm and carrying on...

I figure if I can't run, I might as well read about running. I'm super excited about these three books I just ordered from Amazon:

Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide by Hal Higdon

Marathoning for Mortals by John Bingham

The Runner's Guide to the Meaning of Life: What 35 Years of Running Has Taught Me About Winning, Losing, Happiness, Humility, and the Human Heart by Amby Burfoot

Hopefully these will help keep me focused and inspired enough to stave off the frustration of being sidelined by my hip. I think I'm getting better but it's hard to say for sure. Other than having to drop trou for a weird therepuetic hip ultrasound, PT has been going well. Since I'm doing mostly stretching and strengthening it's kind of like having my own team of personal trainers. Whether or not my hip gets better I'm going to end up with some super-toned hammies!

Extracurricular Activities

Since this blog is about our marathon prep and all that it entails, I'm including this rather Sienfeld esque situation that happened to me last night. Now I need to preface this by saying that I'm not the most social person when I'm in the men's locker room, it's a place to shower, steam, change, etc. Not a place for airing your coed steam room orgy exploits while sitting across from me spread eagle, buck naked!

Now I'm comfortable in my own skin, but when I'm in the locker room I use a towel when in the steam room. So I'm the only one in the steam room, mindin' my own business when this guy walks in all naked. It wasn't the fact that he was naked that bothered me, it was the fact that he proceeded to sit directly across from me spread eagle and state, "Yea, I just always come into these things naked." I was thinking to myself, "good for you dude, you don't need to tell me about it." He then goes on to state, "Yea, I was in this co-ed steam room at the Sheraton in Lansing but I didn't know it was co-ed. Seeing that I do the steam room naked, I was naturally naked when about three women and two other guys walk in with bathing suits on. After a while everyone was naked and you wouldn't believe the EXTRACURRICULARS that went on in there, it was a sight to behold!!" No shit, this is what this guy is telling me while naked in the steam room. He then asks me, "so, do you have any crazy/exciting stories to share?" That's when I had to get up and leave. Gotta love the locker room!!!

Getting started...or, not.

I'm not supposed to be running. I've been sneaking in a few miles here and there just to see if my hip is getting any better, but so far, it isn't. The problem is my iliotibial band, which stretches from the hip to knee. Apparently my itb is super tight, which is causing inflammation (i.e. pain!!) of the bursa sac between my itb and hip bone. Cool, huh? I'm sure I can thank all that hill running this summer for exacerbating the condition. The docs think it might also have something to do with my leg length discrepancy...yeah, I'm a 1/4 inch shorter in the left leg (wtf??).

At any rate, I've got a month of physical therapy ahead of me, at which point I'll meet with Dr. Housner again to determine whether a cortisone shot is necessary to reduce the inflammation. I hope not, but at the same time I just want to be able to run again...without limping and without my physical therapist chewing me out.