Bret

AM - 5 miles on the trail with Dan and Finn - Happy New Year!

AM - 5 miles with Dan and Finn on the Milton Trail - quite cold this morning in the mid to upper 20's 

AM - 5.25 miles with Dan and Finn from Milton HS.  Just stayed on campus today with multiple loops.  Quite cold again today.  

PM - 5k on the treadmill using the Zwift app - so I ran in Paris. :) 

AM - 4 miles with Dan and Finn in the neighborhood.  Dan had an early meeting so we ran a little shorter than normal so that he could make his meeting in time. 

AM - 5.75 miles with Finn to Tullamore via Nix and back through WC.  Dan has a cold and opted-out today. 

Red-nose Half Marathon - Columbus Georgia -  Not a bad effort for me.   Friends from my church told me about this race - which is free to enter if you do not want a race t-shirt - in a town south of Atlanta on the border of the state with Alabama.  It was about 2.25 hour drive for me from my house north of the city - so I had to hit the road by 5 am to arrive in time to pick-up my race number for the 8 am start.  We had six members or family members from our church participate.

My goal for the event was to use it as a tester/tempo in my preparation for the Tokyo marathon at the beginning of March.   I had been feeling reasonably well and somewhat confident that I could run 1:40 and not overreach with that type of pace and risk injury or bonk.  The night before I had some type of GI issue that made me question whether I would even be able to run today - thankfully that mostly subsided by the morning.

It rained all the way on my drive to the race - and for the first mile or two ran in a light drizzle.  Temps were in the low 50's - a good bit warmer than my area which was in the low 40's to upper 30's.  The route wound through the downtown area on some brick streets for a couple of miles before dropping us onto a paved bike path along the Chatahoochee River.  I had expected the route to be flat, but there were a few mild rollers up and down the embankment.   The race had enough participants that they had pacers designated for 1:35, 1:40 etc.  

I started out thinking I would run off of the 1:45 pacer - but he was a bit slow and so I allowed myself to run to feel comfortable but not pushing too much - which had me about 40 meters behind the 1:40 pacer.  I noticed however that my distance from him did not really seem to change much for the first half of the race.  My Garmin was providing splits between 7:30 and 7:45 for most miles and so I reasoned that if I kept him in sight and felt well enough in the last few miles I could catch him (or pass him) to hit the 1:40 goal.  

As we approached the turn-around I found myself gaining on the pacer to where I caught him at about 8 miles.   He had no one running with him and around the time I caught him, two other runners caught him as well - and I think we all realized that we were running faster than him so we continued to pull away from him.   In my mind, with my splits showing sub 7:30 for most of the last 5 miles and being in front of the 1:40 pacer, I thought my time was going to be high 1:38 or 1:39 but I was surprised in the last tenth of a mile - a quick corner turn with less than 100 meters, that my time was 1:40:12.  Had I been looking at my total time on my watch I probably would have pushed a bit harder to get under 1:40 but honestly, I was running about as fast I could have today still being under control.  

Pleased overall with the pacing and the result and where I am compared to a year ago with two fairly significant injuries.  I think I ran negative splits and actually raced a bit over the course - never giving up a place.  In fact I think I was 92 at the turn and ended up 79th overall in a race of around 750 runners.  

AM - 3.5 ver slow easy miles with Finn before church.  Started on the trail but it was too wet and muddy so we exited for the last mile or so.   

AM - 4 easy cold miles this morning with Finn.  Still in recovery mode from Saturday's Half and also feeling the effects of a head cold - will take things easy for a few days. 

AM - 6 miles on the treadmill this morning - heavy rains and thunderstorms moving through the area overnight and most of the morning today.  

AM - 6 miles with Finn through the neighborhood - windy and cold following yesterday's storms.   Dan is still out of town on business but returns tomorrow.  My cold is a bit worse today. 

AM - 4.25 miles at Milton HS with Dan and both dogs.  Quite cold again today - and my head cold is not improving.  Had to cut it short for Dan as he had an early committment today.  

PM - 3 miles on the treadmill after my workday.

AM - 6.5 miles with Dan and the dogs on the trail.  We went off the trail into the North Valley neighborhood due to the mud and sloppiness of the trail, but finished up the last couple of miles on it.  Both dogs and men needed baths.

AM - 16 miles with Finn from the house.  I connected with Dan and Greg and a friend of theirs named Mike at just past 4 miles and I did the Brittle/Summit/Milton Trail out and back with them for the next 7 or so when they headed back to Dan's place where they had started.  Finn seemed fine to do the full run with me - and so we finished out the last 4 miles solo.  Very cold because of the winds today.  Aching in lower back and hips for the last week which I think is statin-induced - so I will take a little holiday to see if the discomfort eases.   

AM - easy 4 miles with Finn before church.  

AM - just under 6 miles with the guys and two of the dogs on a trail run at Lake Lanier.   I was not initially too excited about the plan since it is about a 30 min drive, and I expected the trails to be fairly muddy - but as it turned out, there was no one on the trails  and they really were not very muddy at all.  And best of all, I did not take a tumble which is generally inevitable with me on trails with lots of tree roots and rocks and also having the dog on the leash around my waist.  Only Greg went down today.  

AM - 5 miles in the neighborhood with Finn in some freezing rain and flurries.  Headed to WV for the remainder of the week for a 90th birthday celebration for Tracy's father.  

AM - 5 very cold and snowcovered miles along the Ohio River in West Virginia.   Temps in the low single digits with below zero windchills.   The trail along the river had fresh snow from yesterday, maybe 2-3 inches which was not terrible for running easy - I had decent cold weather running clothes - my only issue was having to lower the gaitor to clear my nose from time to time, and having to take my mitten off to reposition it back in place.  :) 

AM - another snow-covered trail run today in WV.  Ran around the 12th street park.  Left hip was extremely painful in the last half mile - gonna take a couple statin holidays and change up the shoes for the next few days.

AM - 2.25 miles with Riley as it was snowing in WV.  Left hip was extremely painful - feels like a hip pointer without the impact.  Ceased the statins yesterday.   Hoping for some relief when they exit my system.   

AM - 1.25 miles very slow and with concern about my left hip issue.   After I finished and saw significant bruising on the upper thigh expanding up to the iliac crest - I went to the local urgent care with a self diagnosis of a bursa sac rupture.  They did xrays and ruled out any fractures (noted osteoarthritis) and seemed to concur with my self-diagnosis.  Gave me two injections of steriodiod anti-inflammatories and told me to limit activities and to ice it.   

AM - 1.25 miles around the Moundsville city streets following the anti-inflammatories - the pain was minimal - particularly compared to the previous days.   My theory is that the statins inflamed the bursa sac in the hips bilaterally, and for whatever reason the compression of the running on Thursday caused the trocanter bursa sac to rupture spilling the fluid into the surrounding tissue, resulting in the quite significant area on the left hip and upper thigh.  It looks like I took a really heavy hit by a helmet in football, or fell really badly - but in fact there was no impact.   Trying to decide the best course of recovery.   The bursa should heal itself.  I have ceased the statin, so that should help reduce the inflamation as well if that was the culprit.   Maybe run easy short miles for a few days and see how that goes?  Cross train a bit? I am in unknown territory here. 

AM - 2 miles with Finn on the trail - quite cold here too with temps in the mid 20's.  Even my pool has some ice on the surface of it.  There was very little pain in the left hip - my effort was slow at 10:30 min pace and though I was going to run only a mile, it felt fine although admittedly I felt a little wonky, I decided to do the full loop around the pond for a full 2 miles.  I got on the Peloton bike for another 30 mins of exercise.  Zero pain on the bike with the hip, though my quads were quite fatigued after such a new exercise.  I have scheduled an MRI for tomorrow morning to see if there is any collateral injury to the surrounding tendons or IT band near where the bursa sac is.  

AM - ran 3 miles very easy with Dan and the dogs on the trail.  Probably should have considered running less distance - as the hip was a bit more noticeable somewhat during and more so afterwards.   The instruction I had gotten was limit activity until the discoloration/hematoma is completely absorbed.    Have an MRI scheduled for this morning of the left hip to make certain that there is no collateral damage to the surrounding muscles and tendons near the ruptured bursa sac.   

AM - 3.25 miles with Dan and Finn at Milton HS in a light rain and temps in the upper 40's.   Hip recovery is not quite where I had hoped it would be.  The MRI showed a strain to the gluteal medius and TFL and surrounding tissue has edema.  No tears noted - which is a good thing.  No noted bursitis or problems with the bones.   Mild osteoarthritis.    Because the MRI was of the left hip, the machine included much of the trunk and right side as well - significantly noting high grade partial tear to the left hamstring with tendinosis there; tendinitis in the right hamstring as well as a tear on the right side of the adductor (sports hernia).    Interestingly though, I was aware of the left hamstring issue for well over a year, have zero symptoms in the right hamstring, and the sports hernia was recently noted with certain positions, but honestly not impairing my running in any way.  

AM - 1.25 miles on the treadmill followed by 30 mins on the Peloton.   I went to the sports med doc today and he examined me and reviewed the MRI images as well as taking new x-rays and while he said I have a lot "cooking" in the hip and hamstrings - nothing appears to be catastrophic to where he would recommend cessation / suspension of my training or the Tokyo Marathon at the beginning of March.   The guteal medius and guteal minimus show evidence of a strain in the MRI along with edema but if the swelling subsides, he expected that I would be able to grind through without too much difficulty - and even though the bruising is evidence that something happened, the images do not suggest it is too severe.   He noted however that the left hamstring is "hanging on by a few strands" but honestly that injury has been with me for over a 18 months and frankly, I have adapted my running to it with only minimal discomfort.   He said if my training or racing ultimately results in complete ruptures of the muscles or tendons, that they can repair them at that time, but because of the uncertainty of a successful suture of the hamstring and the associated recovery time, he recommended, that if I can deal with what I have, he would caution against a surgical repair or PRP.   So I was somewhat reassured by his consultation.   I also went to urgent care for this upper respiratory infection that has been plaguing me and confirmed no COVID, RSV or flu and got an Rx for an antibiotic.

AM - 3.25 very slow miles with Dan.  The hip improved a good bit yesterday perhaps as a result of only running a mile or perhaps the swelling is dissapating along with the statin exiting my system.   My cold is worse unfortunately - coughing nearly incessantly.   The run was much less painful but not completely normal just yet.  

AM - 4 miles with Finn through North Woods.  Pain level was maybe 1.5 in the hip and so I thought I would try for a more "normal" effort run.   Very sick though.  Anyway, started out fine, but my HR was up perhaps from the cold or the cold medicine; and I just did not have any strength to just smoothly run at my regular training pace after about a mile and half.  Perhaps too much too soon to expect a full recovery.   I will maybe take it easier and shorter tomorrow and see if it progresses better with more rest. 

AM - 1 mile on the treadmill, really sick today. 

AM - 1 mile on the treadmill still feeling weak / sick. 

AM - 3 miles with Dan and the dogs on the trail.  Finally seeming to come out of the URI and starting to feel normal.   Ran in the old Saucony Rides and discarded the NB Fuel Cell shoes - which I think aggravated the hip on Saturday.   Still some swelling there, but the run was tolerable for the hip.  A little stiff after I showered and headed out to an appointment, but by midday, seemed like it is progressing well, if not slower than I want.  

AM - 4.25 miles with Dan and the dogs at Milton HS.  Had a decent run today - wearing the old school Rides.  Hip was tolerable - but not yet normal.