Going With The Flow

AM - Headed up to Huntsville to watch the Wildcat Half Marathon. I walked around the course, taking pictures and cheering everyone on (link to pics on Jake's blog). Probably ended up doing about an hour of walking around, then joined MarkP and Jake for their short cooldown. Afterwards and now in quite a bit of pain with my hip. That must've been too much...steroids don't seem to be helping. 

PM - Bike ride with Jake, 3 miles.  

AM - Biked alongside Jake for an hour. 

PM - Rollerblading for an hour. 

AM - 1.5 miles around the block. Lots of hip pain, but I was so discouraged that I ran anyways. It's been 4 weeks and no improvement! I'm convinced that I got a placebo instead of steroids because I haven't gotten any relief at all from the hip pain. MRI time. Gotta figure out what's wrong!!!

MRI Appointment tomorrow evening. I pushed for an MRI of both the pelvis and the spine, but my doctor is convinced it's a spine issue so no pelvis for now. This concerns me for several reasons - 1) sometimes MRI of the spine shows something that is not the cause of the pain 2) all the pain is in the right hip and that area is not even being imaged 3) it could be multiple things and we miss it. I voiced these concerns (through a nurse of course b/c the doctor couldn't give me two minutes on the phone). But hopefully he's right and the spine MRI is all I need.

AM - 1 mile, caught up with Jake on his cooldown. 

PM - 1.5 miles around the block before the MRI. I wanted to make sure that the MRI showed how I look after a run. Not sure if that actually makes any sense, but it made me feel better.  

AM - 20 minutes on the recumbent bike, felt okay-ish. Yoga for 15 minutes.

PM - Weight training 30 minutes. 

Got back the spine MRI results....basically, nothing. If we had done an MRI on my hip like I asked (because the pain is in my hip) maybe I would already have a diagnosis. That plus the fact that I had to go get the results from the diagnostic center myself because my doctor is too busy to call and tell me the results mean that 1) he is going to get an earful from me 2) I'm getting a new doctor and 3) I am not fun to be around right now.

Update: Matt Poulsen (part of Scott's 5am crew) is an orthopedic surgeon and quite the runner. After a desperate plea for help, he was more than happy to see me tomorrow. He is awesome!!! I should've gone to him in the first place :)

AM - 15 minutes worth of planks, probably the most boring workout ever. Luckily I had this article about Kip Litton (marathon fraud?) to keep me entertained. 

Went to see Matt this morning. I have already decided that he's an excellent doctor. First of all, he was so thorough and I could just tell that he is going to do everything he can to help me figure out what the problem is. Second of all, he understands sports injuries, was an excellent runner for BYU, and likes to talk about running :) So we took a few x-rays that were clean - no arthritis, a tiny little bump on the femoral head but likely not FAI. He immediately got me in for a hip MRI with contrast.

Results - MRI came out clean. No stress fractures, no bursitis, no major muscle/tendon damage, a little condral labral separation but unlikely that would be the source of pain...so good news there! But still.....why am I in pain?! A sports hernia was thrown out there as a possibility, leg length discrepency, or maybe my body just completely rejected the idea of me thinking about running a marathon this fall! :) I think we'll figure it out in the next few weeks. But what this does mean is that I don't have to worry about causing additional damage to a serious injury and can try to do weight bearing activities, running, etc. Maybe now that I approach it differently and incorporate some specific exercises Matt recommended, this mysterious problem will go away. Part of me feels like a total wimp that I have this pain that doesn't show up as anything in the imaging at all. I know it was good to rule things out, but do I just have a really low pain tolerance or something? Oh well, if that's the case, at least I'll know when something really bad has happened. 

AM - Started off the day bad but ended up being good :)

Woke up at 5am this morning with lots of hip pain. I got myself all worked up about not knowing what's wrong so I couldn't go back to sleep. 

Headed up north to watch the Layton 10k/5k. Since I'm clear to run, I just decided to go for it today...and actually succeeded! Ran Jake's warm-up with him then a cooldown with the JAJA plus Andrew. The pain actually got better after two miles and I felt okay. We'll see what kind of effect it really has later today.

Took some pics -

And this one is BY FAR my favorite! Check out their new plates!

AM - 4.1 miles. Jake tried to kill me by having us run up the Albion Basin Rd up at Alta. That's a tough uphill when you're completely out of running shape! Afterward, we relaxed in the hot tub for a while then had some fun at Oktoberfest. Had quite a bit of hip pain/hamstring pain but felt better after lots of icing. I wonder if I pulled my hamstring and it is showing up as referred pain in the hip? Just another idea...

PM - Rollerblading for 5.5 miles with Jake then chocolate dipping party!

AM -  Hip hurt when I woke up but better after icing. 27 minutes on the elliptical then yoga. It feels okay now as long as I don't sit down. Good thing I have a stand-up desk at work. 

AM - 30 minutes of strength training then 20 minutes of yoga. 

PM - Well, I think Allie won the run today. Devra was super sore from Alta Peruvian 8K and I am just plain out of shape...hopefully by comparison Allie now feels extra confident about the marathon on Saturday. She is definitely now heat-acclimated for the 40 degree temperatures.

Anyway, my hamstring started feeling irritated after 3 miles...I'm becoming more convinced that the hamstring is associated with my hip pain. 

AM - 27 minutes on the elliptical. Got my heart rate to stay around the 150 range without pain anywhere, so I think I'll be doing more elliptical for a while until I can get all this injury stuff under control. The 6-miler yesterday proved to be a little too much so I'm going to keep the runs to about 30 minutes.

Today is my parents' 20th wedding anniversary!  

PM - Blading for 3.5 miles with Jake. 

AM - 25 minutes on the elliptical, almost felt like running :) 

Well the hip pain is down to about 30% of what it has been in the last 6 weeks...somehow it managed to migrate down into my hamstrings instead. Hopefully it'll keep moving down until it exits out of my feet and I'm good to go! 

I tried taping up my hamstrings with kinesio tape this morning to see if it helps at all. Anyone had success with this?

PM - Weight training class then sat outside in the sunshine watching co-workers play volleyball. What a nice lunch break! 

PM2 - Blading for 2.5 miles. 

AM - I was walking to my car as Jake stepped out to go for a run...and I just couldn't help it. I dropped my bag and joined him instead, cardigan sweater and all! Felt okay for about two miles, then the hamstring got a little irritated - 4 miles total. Hip is bugging me a little bit more now too, but it was worth it.

Heading to Logan this afternoon. It's going to be COLD tomorrow morning, so all you marathoners make sure you have warm clothes (hat, gloves, down jacket, etc) for the wait before the race!!!

AM - Sent the JAJK crew out the door with best wishes, then took a nap for a while because it was only 5am and I had time to kill before getting out to the 14 mile mark. My job today was to support Jake in the marathon. 14 miles is the spot where runners have gotten out of the canyon and the first time spectators can see on the course. I had Jake's special drink of Gatorade Endurance and a GU ready for him throughout the rest of the race. I was able to stop at 14, 17, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, and then the final stretch at 26 miles and cheer/hand him drinks. It is actually very easy to get around when you're working for the lead guy! I am so proud of his first marathon win. It was really fun to be a part of it. 

After Jake finished, I watched the other finishers come through. Wow - what a women's field. Part of me really wanted to be a part of that, but the looks of pain at the end of the race also made me glad that I wasn't! :) So excited for lots of people that raced well today. 

My actual 1 mile run consisted of going as fast as I could (9 min mile pace, probably!) from the 24 to the 26 mark so I wouldn't miss Jake finishing. 

AM - Went for a slow walk for about an hour with Jake for post-marathon thoughts and discussion. Jake and I are in the same physical shape today! Kinda funny, and kinda sad b/c he ran a marathon and I'm just pathetically injured. 

PM - We headed to Sparetime Fun Center in Roy for a little cross training of bowling, mini-golf, and batting cages. Quite the entertainment! Then we went for a jog around the block - I did more of a walk-jog to keep the hamstrings at bay. 2 miles worth of running.  

AM - Ran with Jake except for a couple walk breaks to keep problems at bay - 2.2 miles of running. I'm now at 7 weeks of injury with no real improvement overall. It's getting harder and harder to stay positive, especially because I'm seeing no progress. It seems less likely to me that this is merely a muscular issue. I decided to keep an appointment (that I was originally going to cancel) with physiatrist today just because I'm willing to try anything at this point. I'm getting tired of posting depressing and unexciting blog posts!!! But I know it's important to have this information in the future when I look back and say - thank goodness that's over!

PM - Saw the physiatrist. He did an evaluation and could not give a conclusive diagnosis. I have too many symptoms that don't match up with reflexes, strength tests, etc. So we went over options - medication (done), PT/exercises (done), modification of exercise (done), injections, or alternative medicine (acupuncture, herbal, etc). So I might as well give the injections a shot, and the doctor performed  the procedure right then...if this doesn't work, I'm leaving it all up to Teena Marie! :) 

AM - Easy elliptical for 30 minutes and yoga for 20 minutes. The doctor told me not to exercise for two days after the injections yesterday but after some research, I deemed it safe for activities that aren't strenuous and not stress-ful. My back is sore today but that's expected from the procedure. Overall I feel better today...not sure if it's placebo effect and me wanting it to work so badly or if the injections are working. I'll know for sure in a couple days. 

I thought this was kind of interesting - How to Tie Your Shoes for the best fit...most of my shoes are laced with the open box tie in order to get extra room in the forefoot area.

AM - Gallo-walking. Looks like the walk-jog is where I'll be at for a while. The run was overall not too bad but I'm not taking any chances. Ran 1.5, walk, ran 0.75, walk, ran 0.75. 

PM - Boot camp class for 30 minutes and a walk around the block.  

Salt Lake Marathon used me in a photo - they are rubbing it in that I'm injured!!!

AM - Run/walk for 30 minutes or so with JP, 2.8 miles worth of running. A little discomfort, but the walk breaks keep it under control. Maybe do this for a few weeks and see if I can finally make some progress. 

PM - 30 minutes of weight training.  

AM - Run/walk party with Allie at Sugarhouse Park this morning, 3 miles worth of running. Good times...this should definitely become a post-marathon/season/injury/just-for-fun tradition. 

AM - Horsepark loops with Jake. Ran 2xmile, 2x0.5 mile with walk breaks. Wow - compare to this time last year. Hope I can get back there soon. 

AM - Accompanied Jake on the rollerblades for 7 miles. My hip/leg freaked out yesterday after a short bike ride so no more cycling for a while. I had a dream about racing last night - that must mean I'm really ready to start training again.

PM - Bowling party, followed by my first blading double for 4.4 miles.  

AM - Decided that the elliptical was safest this morning - 35 minutes at moderate difficulty. No hamstring problems but the hip is still acting up a little since that silly 3 mile bike ride on Saturday. Gotta stick with what works - gallo-walking, rollerblading, and elliptical-ing. What a joke!

PM - Weight training 30 minutes.  

This is an interesting article about minimalist kids shoes. 

Oh yeah....and The USATF Annual Board Meeting and Elections is scheduled TODAY 6:30pm at the Erickson's, 4725 Sycamore Drive, Holladay, UT 84117. All USATF members can attend. Jake and I want to help get more races on the circuit next year!

AM - I was going to meet up with Allie for a run/walk, but I bailed because 1) it was pouring and 2) I must've done something weight training yesterday to cause havoc on my hip area today. So elliptical was the safe bet...I started a more difficult and longer session today, but it turns out 35 minutes was my limit without much pain. I just don't know what to do anymore...I've really tried to do everything right. I took off for 6 weeks...I've been working on core work, hip strengthening, weight training....I had cortisone injections, diagnostic tests, PT, ART....seriously, what's left?

Not a good day for the injury. Did some strengthening and core then rollerbladed alongside Jake on his 4 mile shake-out.

AM - Walked for 6 minutes then slowly jogged/backwards jogged for 2.2 miles. 

PM - Jogged/backwards jogged for  1.5 miles total. 

AM - Same as yesterday - jog/backwards jog for 2.8 miles. Off to Moab this afternoon!

If you are interested in trying to save the men's University of Richmond T&F and XC Program - here is a petition. Despite the fact they have been one of the best, they are cutting it for a Lacrosse Team instead!

Hiking fun in Arches...we hiked the Devil's Garden Loop, took a short break, then hiked in the Fiery Furnace until the ranger practically kicked us out. 

Hiked in Canyonlands...planned to do the Syncline Loop at Island in the Sky but got turned around and ended up doing a short out-and-back (probably for the better!). Instead of our epic hike we found a great viewpoint and relaxed instead :) We did another very short hike before heading back to SLC.