Artichoke's Running Blog (Ken Spence)

Still resting.  Not much better yet.

3rd day without running.  Little, if any, improvement.  Have a doctor approintment scheduled for Monday afternoon.  Hope to improve some by then.  Will skip running through the weekend.

Still off

A Saturday morning without a long run.  Seems very strange.  But, I'm feeling slightly improved, so maybe the rest is finally beginning to help.  Hope to be back for some easy running next week after seeing the doc on Monday.

Tested it out for 2 miles this morning.  Came back with intense pain and could hardly walk.  But by the time I took a hot bath and walked to the bus stop it was tolerable.  This is way weird.  Went to the chiropractor this afternoon.  He's unsure, but thinks it's a pinched nerve.  Gave me some stretches.  Felt like my alignment was good.  Did some manipulation, but not a lot.  Could be a deteriorating disk.  Hopefully Marion has it right and with some piriformis stretches it might get better.  We'll see.  He says I'm okay to bike if there is no pain and wants to follow up with me on Friday.  Ogden is definitely out unless a miracle happens within the next week or two.

9 miles fairly easy on the stationary bike, at about 15 mph average.  No pain while doing it, but felt worse later on. 

Did nothing this morning.  Piriformis syndrome is a literal pain in the butt.  Although for me it feels more on the outside of my hip or nerve pain inside.  I can't put a lot of weight on my leg by itself. 

Stationary bike for 9 miles at 17 to 18 mph. This is not a lot of fun.

Visit to the chiropractor again today.  Working on my piriformis issue and found some tenderness at the upper end of my hamstring.  The stretches give immediate, but temporary relief.  I think the diagnosis is accurate so far, but this may take some time.  Bummer -- literally.

10 miles on the stationary bike this morning. 32:30 between 17 and 19+ mph. Still getting used to this. The ipod plugged in helps. I never used my ipod for running, but I sure neede it when I'm penned up inside on that bike. My wife probably thinks I'm nuts down there pedaling to music by the Doors. Owell. I'm still pursuing the stretching, trying to bike 3x per week to maintain some kind of cardio fitness and I'm trying to be patient. I feel slightly better. The doc wants me to try a couple of miles before I see him again on Wednesday. I think it best if I run in the evening where I can be a bit more limber and do my stretches before heading out. We'll see how that goes.

Still not much better.  Biking tomorrow morning.

Stationary bike for 9 miles.

3rd visit to chiropractor.  He thinks it's either hip bursitis or similar.  I don't know why he's ruling out piriformis syndrome or lower back disk problem, but he took an x-ray and will review it tomorrow.  If he doesn't see anything he wants me to see a sports orthopedic next to rule out a hip stress fracture or something related.  I feel okay sitting which he says is unusal for it to be a back problem.  Walking or running or just weight bearing on the right leg is what sets it off.  Biking doesn't bother it at all during the exercise, so that will have to be my interim training until I can get this behind me.  I probably won't be logging until I'm back, but will continue to follow some of the local bloggers that are doing wonderfully in their running pursuits.  Good luck to all.

2 miles very slow and easy this morning on the TM after 6 miles on the stationary bike.  Decided to test the hip since I'm off of the prednisone.  X-rays last week don't seem to indicate anything going on with the hip joint, which is good.  The back x-ray didn't show much either, maybe some degenerative disks, but basically normal for an old man like me.  Doctor thinks it is piriformis or possibly some bursitis in the hip, but he hasn't totally ruled out a hip stress fracture, which won't show up on x-rays for several weeks after it calcifies along the fracture line.  He wanted me to try running and if it isn't tolerable or gets worse, may want to order an MRI to rule out the stress fracture.  I had pain during the 2 miles on the TM, but not severe.  The good thing is I didn't hurt immediately afterwards and for the remainder of the day like I did when I tested it for 1+ mile in Liberty Park about 2 weeks ago after watching the SLC Marathon.  Will probably try 2 to 3 tomorrow and if I can manage it, I'll look at short mileage every other day for a while.  Ogden Marathon is definitely out in 2 weeks.  I guess I'll go be a spectator again.  I'm really glad I opted out of doing Boston again this year, or I would have wasted some major dollars in airfare and race fees.  Not running is a real bummer!