Going With The Flow

Day off. Yesterday did me in with the 6 miler followed by too many hours of standing/walking. Went for a walk later in the evening with my parents after a full day of rest. Got lots of lectures this weekend about how I shouldn't run anymore because of the surgery. Frustrating. I also managed to get a "compliment" about how much better I looked - have I gained weight? Seriously the worst question you could ask an injured runner.

3.6 miles around home. Adductor muscle still feels sore/weak so I didn't want to run too far. I decided to do a couple comfortably hard effort 2x400s and they ended up being around 5:45 pace. Flying back to SLC tonight!

4 miles on the tempo loop, 7:45 pace. My legs were happy to not run the TN hills!

I went to the physical therapist today. As he was looking me over, he noticed that my left leg is significantly bigger than my right leg (this is new in the last 2 months). I hadn't really looked but now it is obvious - sure enough, when he did the strength evaluation the left leg is much stronger. I'm obviously favoring that right leg still. I also had significant weakness of the adductor muscle that I had surgery on but that was expected. Getting my psoas to work correctly is #1 priority still. New/adjusted plan:

- Psoas inhibition
- Psoas activate then heel slide
- Step downs (2x more on right side)
- Lateral step up/step down
- Clam shells
- Hip abduction (while laying and side step monster walks)
- Hip adduction
- Glute activations

Haven't been feeling good since last Saturday when I overdid it. I'm used to feeling sore/achy for a day or two but it's been 4 days and I'm getting worried. Going to take another day off today and hope it helps. My right side from  my ribs to my knee feels weak and the groin area feels like it is pulling with relief only when I lay on my stomach. This is my designated "down week" anyway but I wasn't expecting to be feeling worse. 

Horsepark loop, 5 miles at 9 min pace. 

I liked the Outside Online Article "Your Diet is Going to Fail." especially the What to do About It points:

1. Most of us don’t exercise enough to ignore what we eat. As I pointed out a couple of posts ago, the key is to both exercise and build low level physical activity into your routine.
2. Should we have incentive-based health-insurance-premium schemes? In other words, should we charge people for their unhealthy behaviors? A majority of people support this concept for smoking but fewer support it for obesity. As a society, we need to consider whether and how to hold people accountable for things they can control. Already, the push back against this idea is fierce.
3. Do we need fat taxes, soda taxes or other restrictions? So-called sin taxes and other policies have had a dramatic effect on smoking. Should they be tried for the food we put in our mouths?
4. How else can we add activity into our daily lives? Biking and walking friendly communities might be a good place to start. How about more PE in the schools?
5. Support research that stresses adherence and focuses on long-term behavior modification. The idea that there is some sort of magic-bullet diet out there that will make it easy for people to lose weight and keep it off is nuts. Evidence is accumulating thatmindfulness training about eating can help reduce food cravings.   

3.6 miles around the neighborhood, 8:40 pace. Upper abdominal cramping came back today, meaning that my psoas is not firing properly again. Taking the next few days off from running and heading to the San Juans for some serious altitude fun (we are sleeping at 10,500!). 

AM - Hiked the Ice Lakes Trail in the San Juans....7 miles and 2500ft. SO BLUE. 

PM - Walked/ran around Molas Lake for 1 mile of each.