Going With The Flow

December 21, 2024

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Location:

Salt Lake City,UT,United States

Member Since:

May 08, 2011

Gender:

Female

Goal Type:

Local Elite

Running Accomplishments:

Unaided -  
17:16 OktoberFAST 5K (10/11)
17:23 BAA 5K (4/12)
37:10 Memorial Day 10K (5/11)
1:17:03 Long Beach Half Marathon (10/11)
1:17:21 USA 1/2 Champs - Duluth (6/12)
2:49:01 Philadelphia Marathon (11/11)

Aided -
16:52 Fight For Air 5K (6/11)
17:08 Provo City 5K (5/12)
1:17:52 Top of Utah Half Marathon (8/11)
1:17:54 Utah Valley Half Marathon (6/11)

Short-Term Running Goals:

Run consistently as I get back to 100% health. Stay patient!

 

Long-Term Running Goals:

Have fun training and racing.

Sub-17 5K
Sub-1:17 Half Marathon
Quality for the Olympic Trials in the marathon

Personal:

I am originally from Knoxville, TN and moved to SLC with Jake in 2010. I started racing in 2011 and had some great success before a major injury hit me in July 2012. I had athletic pubalgia surgery in May 2013...then again in Sept 2014 and am still trying to get back to my old self. Although running is my true passion, I love doing pretty much anything active outdoors - backcountry skiing, backpacking, biking, etc. 

I've been running for the Saucony Team since 2011. I enjoy representing the brand and really do believe they make the best shoes :)

I work as a Quality Engineer for BD Medical in Sandy.

Favorite Blogs:

Click to donate
to Ukraine's Armed Forces
Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Skinning Miles (1000ft ~ 2.5 Miles) Lifetime Miles: 912.35
Hiking Miles Lifetime Miles: 10.50
Total Distance
5.00

AM - 3 miles on the treadmill. The last few days I've been having some burning pain in the upper gluteal region and distal hamstring into the lateral calf muscle so need to figure out what's going on there. 

PM - 2 miles with Jake then hot tubbing.

Functional Path Training has some great Lessons from 2012

We may think we are training the body but we are really training the brain â€“ To borrow Tim Noakes terminology the brain is the “Central governor” it controls everything we do.

Talent development is not survival of the fittest â€“ It is not about ten years or 10,000 hours it is a process that involves deliberate practice. It is understanding growth and development, individual rates of maturation.

You cannot separate excellence in sport from excellence in life â€“ You can’t be a chump outside of training and a champ in the game. You may get away with for a little while but eventually it will catch up with you.

Important to learn how to ask the right questions â€“ This is the key to learning. Asking questions that are insightful and on point.

You must train the way you want to play â€“ Yes it is about specificity, but it is more than that. All aspects of training must line up with the demands of the sport. Train fast to play fast; if you train slow you will not be able to play fast.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained - No gain without risk. Mistakes are learning opportunities.

Coach the athlete you have not some mythical hypothetical model â€“ Know your athletes, their strength & weaknesses, individualize to the greatest extent possible.

You must train the female differently â€“ There is a whole different endocrine hormonal environment. Strength training is much more important during all phases of the training year. My rule of thumb with the female athlete is more volume of intensity.

Those who achieve at the highest levels are seldom if ever concerned what other have to say about them or judge them to be â€“ High achievers are confident and will stand out from the crowd regardless of criticism. 

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00Weight: 115.50
Comments
From Jake K on Fri, Jan 04, 2013 at 09:07:28 from 155.100.226.191

Those are fantastic. I'll add a couple from his "Part 1" -

Coaching is a careful blend of art and science

Coaching men and women is different. “Men battle to bond. Women bond to battle.”

Little things count – Big things are a given, they are hard to overlook but it is the little things that quickly add up.

From Rachelle on Fri, Jan 04, 2013 at 11:17:17 from 199.190.170.28

This is great stuff Andrea thank you so much for sharing.

From Bam on Fri, Jan 04, 2013 at 12:04:13 from 89.126.28.24

Brilliant Andrea. Thank you. You and Jake, as usual, have banged out some great stuff today.

Hope you sort that leg out. from the symptoms you are constantly describing, it really sounds like you are having nerve problems. I can't understand why the PT's and doctors that you are presenting to are not investigating this as a sciatic nerve problem. And as I said before, it really sounds like piriformis syndrome.

If they have investigated this route, have you had any tests for a stress fracture? I doubt that that's what's wrong but this doesn't appear to be some muscle imbalance flummery.

Either way, I'm sure with your attitude and perserverance you'll get to the bottom of this. (Excuse the pun.)

Thanks again for a great post.

From Chad Robinson on Fri, Jan 04, 2013 at 12:35:48 from 50.73.39.89

It is a funny tie-in but the Will Smith movie I-Robot is all about asking the right questions.

Also to quote King of the Hill "No agony no bragony!!!"

From bdase on Fri, Jan 04, 2013 at 12:50:08 from 67.199.164.200

This is great Andrea! Thanks for sharing this and for your input earlier. Hope you get yours figured out as well.

From Andrea on Fri, Jan 04, 2013 at 14:07:22 from 72.37.171.52

BAM - I actually have no pain in the piriformis muscle. The glute pain is much higher, near the top of the iliac crest and even above that. Several doctors, PTs have investigated the piriformis but there don't seem to be any triggers. However, this definitely feels like a nerve issue or very weird referred pain, as well as, how you phrased it - muscle imbalance flummery.

I got an MRI a few months ago with everything clean.

My hope is that...as one part of the injury starts to heal, it will become more clear what's really the source of the pain. But if you have any recommendations, I am more than happy to try them out!

From Christie on Fri, Jan 04, 2013 at 14:47:48 from 74.213.202.246

I like these points... especially the 'Mistakes are learning opportunities.' A lot of time it is difficult to look past the mistake and learn from the situation.

From Bam on Fri, Jan 04, 2013 at 14:48:20 from 89.126.28.24

Great news that the MRI was clear.

Piriformis syndrome's a tricky little problem. It normally comes out of the blue and, in the early stages, presents intermittently. This is where it starts to become problematic: the muscles and tendons come in to help out and then you start having other niggles - like me with my hamstrings when I had piriformis syndrome in November. I treated the piriformis problem but it was too late as the hamstrings became prone to - using your phrase - going into protective mode.

More often than not, you don't have pain in the piriformis region - it's normally as you've described it: above/below the piriformis (referred). The reason for this is that the soft tissue in the glueteal area starts pulling and tightening. Then dormant trigger points become active and you have all sorts going off all over the place. The trigger points along the iliac crest are easy to release. Once they have been released it's easier to zone in on the problem area. To treat P.S. is simple. It's just some routine positional release techniques, that any P.T. will know, to treat the problem, followed up with A.I.S. to prevent it coming back. Although it may come back depending on other factors, but A.I.S. does help.

I know I rabbit on about A.I.S. but with good reason. Every runner who is serious about their running, should be doing A.I.S. before and after they do any form of training. Check out Meb on YouTube (using 'my' routine).

If a coach/PT/doctor tells you otherwise - sack them. This is one thing I know a lot about. Butterworth-Heineman commissioned me to write a book called The Complete Sports Massage Therapist and there was a chapter on AIS and soft tissue release and A.I.S. was used to show how to treat P.S. My co author, John Gibbons, who bought my business at Oxford University,(Peak Sporting Performance) was/is a specialist with P.S. and sciatica etc. He taught me a lot.

There are a range of very simple tests that you can google for both P.S. and sciatica.

But then, I'm not examining you in person. It could be a number of things. It's just that it sounds like classic and now chronic P.S.

The good news is that you're back running. I'm sure it'll sort itself out. But if it continues, I'd at least give A.I.S. a go for two weeks, twice a day, before and after exercise.

From Andrea on Fri, Jan 04, 2013 at 14:53:39 from 72.37.171.52

The PT I'm going to has been doing the AIS on me everytime I go in and I know it's helping a lot. I try to mimic it at home but much less successfully. I'll check out Meb's routine and see if that works better. Thanks!

From Andrea on Fri, Jan 04, 2013 at 14:56:38 from 72.37.171.52

You also have to consider what's going on with the psoas as well and you end up with ridiculous amounts of referred pain that is all over the place. A totalmess. This PT I'm going to now might not have everything figured out, but of the 10+ people I've seen in the past 5 months, I've been able to start up running again with him. He's very open to theories and so I'll discuss this with him next time!

From Lily on Fri, Jan 04, 2013 at 15:05:01 from 67.199.178.95

It's very weird for me to read these comments. I had P.S 2 years ago, and these descriptions are bringing back reminder pains! My Psoas was tightened up too Andrea. It all started months earlier with low back pain. My PT did AIS on me 3 days a week for 7 weeks.

From Lily on Fri, Jan 04, 2013 at 15:12:02 from 67.199.178.95

I don't assume that you haven't tried it all. But I was just sitting here thinking back when I hurt in all the areas that you hurt now. I remember I found this video 2 years ago and I really believe it helped me heal. The first night I did it, I lost at least 70% of the pain and discomfort/ burning.

http://youtu.be/tFtUgS69rPk

From Lily on Fri, Jan 04, 2013 at 15:22:26 from 166.137.210.35

It's the first stretch in the video. The other ones are more common.

From Bam on Fri, Jan 04, 2013 at 16:03:55 from 89.126.28.24

'Putting maximus back into gluteus.' This is a paper written by John Gibbons. If you look at the Peak Sporting Performance site, go to articles, and it's the last article. It's really easy to follow. You might find it very interesting...

From Christi on Fri, Jan 04, 2013 at 17:38:04 from 50.130.153.142

Hopefully you can get everything back on track! Injuries are so frustrating! Thanks for posting that great info!!

(Very good advice)

From Matt Poulsen on Fri, Jan 04, 2013 at 17:38:31 from 98.202.242.213

That Functional Training Path list is excellent. Thanks for sharing. Great consistency lately. You will have ups and downs as you return, but you are definitely headed in the right direction.

From I Just Run on Mon, Feb 04, 2013 at 14:30:40 from 67.79.11.242

Andrea,

I just got around to catching up on some blog post and ran across this entry of yours. I read through much of the Functional Path Training and found the information very insightful. I enjoy the information both you and Jake post. Thanks for sharing!

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