track fan

it does feel like a monday. nice running bonnie. great splits for your steady state run, especially in that heat. my popliteal is what gave me trouble in ogden last year. ouch. roll away!

Wow, really Allie?? So did it felt like a huge ball on the lateral side of your leg? Not really knee pain, but right below the knee? I thought at first maybe it was IT band, but I roll that all the time and it did not feel tight. I was pretty worried I have to admit. Though I took it slow and easy for a few days and it felt better - so I really did not think it was a stress fracture. So weird! Do you think some of your hip problems might be sciatic nerve? Do you roll (right near your sit bones and maybe a little higher?) it is hard to reach those tiny deep muscles of the gluts (although probably easier on you since yours are not as maximus as mine ;-) ).

nice miles!

that heat sounds terrible. i need to quit complaining about alabama. whew!

happy tuesday! i love short weeks :)

KP ... don't worry, feel free to complain, that humidity in Alabama is tough!! I just don't like heat, so I tend to complain in both hot and humid and just plain hot ;-).

yes, it was right below my knee on the lateral side. it was painful to run on for about a week before the race. it had me concerned but since i could still run i didn't think much of it. then during the race the best way i can describe it is that it felt like a rubber band that was slowly being twisted and stretched at the same time to the point that it would snap. it finally was so tight and painful that i couldn't bend my knee. i found the trigger point and dug into it hard with a tennis ball (you gave me that advice :)) and it fixed it completely. of course this was after two weeks of thinking i had a torn popliteus. i am quite sure it is the same issue with my hips. and like you said, it is not the easiest place to get to with a roller but even a little bit of rolling seems to help a lot in the preventative maintenance department. that and yoga :)

You can complain about the heat all you want since you have to put up with those of us in cooler climates complaining about the cold all winter.

It's nice that your ART guy is magic. I don't think mine is magic. He's just regular. And I got his apprentice last time I went, so that was unfortunate.

Allie, I have found that if I lay on the ball with my leg bent at a 45 degree angle I can actually get into the muscle pretty deep. That is so weird, your description sounds exactly right! I kept vacillating between feeling like there was "something" there and just feeling this intense pressure! The way I knew it was not muscular was that icing it made it worse (which also scared me because of the stress fracture possibility). Thank goodness it just takes a few minutes of excruciating pain every day to feel better ;-).

C in C - John has an article about him in the upcoming Running Times, this bums Dean and I out, because we already have to schedule around all the elites from Flagstaff (and Abdi from down here) and all the Collegiate runners from ASU - if everyone else hears about him we will be in big trouble. Luckily, he likes us (well, I think I likes Dean more because he is a challenge).

bonnie, does dean run?

oh KP that is such a sad question. Yes, Dean runs. He was a high school star, and still has a cross-country course record for his College (Rose-Hulman, a Division III engineering school). He was primarily a 5K-10K specialist, though he did run a 2:40 marathon as his first one with no training (other than his 10K training) - I can't remember what his PR was, he did not really run a lot of marathons. He still is pretty competitive as 50 year-old (1:19 half-marathon a couple years ago). However 35 years of running has taken its toll and he has been injured for almost 2 years now. He was jogging (but not racing at all) until about 6 months ago, and he has not run a step since this last pretty major injury. It is very hard for him. He defines himself as a runner, he misses running 2x a day (every day), he misses racing, and it is just really hard. He still looks like a runner -- and I hope that once he gets his hip fixed he will be able to run again, even if it is not competitive ... because it is just really hard not to be able to do something that was such a huge part of your life for so long.

oh, and KP, it is a testament to his sweetness that he is incredibly supportive to me and my running, through his own disappointment in not being able to run. He is a very nice human being.

oh bonnie, that makes me so sad. it sounds like he has had an incredible running career. has he had surgery (ick!) or is he trying to rehab on his own with stretching, rolling, resting, etc? he sure sounds like a keeper! you are lucky to have someone that shares your passion of running and is so supportive.

Surgery has been on the table and now is back off the table again. He is trying a lot of things -- from prolotherapy (where they inject your own platelets into your body to increase the inflammatory response) to all kinds of physical therapy and things. I am not sure what he and his band of therapists are up to these days - but they are all working hard ;-). I am serious about the "band of therapists" he must be seeing 4 or them regularly and a couple more less often. I hope that surgery won't be necessary, but it may be a last stitch option. I am an extremely lucky person that is for sure!

You sure do write a bunch Bonnie. It sounds like you'd be at home running here.

ha ha ha ... it just runs out of me Mike (words that is ;-)). Can't wait to show you all cool places to run here!

It's always so inspiring to read your blog. AWESOME ss pace in that heat.

My best wishes to Dean! You're blessed to have each other sharing the same passion for running and for life. Happy short week to you!