Bret

AM - 3.5 miles - hoped to be over the problems with the periformis/hamstring, but only marginal improvement today.  

AM - 4 miles with Finn partly on the golf course - quite hilly.   First part of the first mile was ok, but the injury continues to give me issues.   Seeing a chiropractor later this afternoon.  

AM - 3 miles on the new trail with Finn.  The upside of requiring dogs to be leashed now on this trail is that I do not need to give him a bath after we run on it.   When he is off-leash he's all over the meadows and brush and mud.  They have also put signs up to limit the use to just the recently finished part of the trail; the trail is only about 2.25 miles out and back.  However it has a loop around a pond that is about 350 yards or so and it is relatively flat.  So I did a few circuits of the pond and will consider this as an option for training workouts - the surface is soft and quite similar to an old cinder track.  

The injury to the periformis/hamstring is incrementally better day-to-day; some days the increments are only marginal.  I would like it to be much further along than it is - but as compared to a week ago - the improvement is not insignificant.  Last Wednesday I could barely run 12 min pace due to the injury.   Today I was able to run about 9:45 pace for 3 miles - which is not great - but as compared to the last couple of days, the pain/weakness was less - perhaps a 4 out of 10 which is the lowest I have had in over a week.   Went to the chiropractor yesterday and his assessment was that this was not a sciatica nerve issue and that he really could not offer any treatment, noting that I had done physical therapy with this injury back in December/January and would encourage me to continue with the exercises they had given me - or alternatively go to an ortho or physiatrist to perhaps get an injection for pain relief.

AM - 4 miles with Finn in the neighborhood - marginal improvement on pain level at times in the hamstring - and average pace is improving - but this felt like a grind for much of the run probably due to all of the hills/ups and downs.  Just need to be patient...certainly going in the right direction and not getting worse.  

PM - 30 mins of deep water running / aqua jogging.  Have not done this in many years, but found the aqua jogger belt in my garage and headed out to the pool at lunch.  Watched a few videos about it and remembered how I really did not like it when I did it previously.  But to my surprise, it was not really all that bad this time - and after I warmed-up a bit and got more comfortable, I was able to keep a steady HR at just under 120 bpm.   I have read where you should do timed interval workouts - I may give those a shot too.  I am estimating 3 miles for the 30 mins of effort as the equivalent to a dry-land run.   Hamstring pain was somewhat noticable, but did not have the level of discomfort of the run I did this morning.  

AM - 3.25 miles with Dan and the dogs on the trail - I was able to maintain a decent sub 10 pace with not too much discomfort and weakness.  Good to catch up with Dan and hear about his vacation to Italy.  

AM - 3.5 miles on the Milton trail from Wood/Phillips Road - out and back with Finn.   Finally felt a bit more strength or less weakness in the hamstring this morning.  First couple of miles were mid to low 9 min pace, but the last mile and a half was sub 8 mins which felt like significant progress especially considering 9 days ago, it was so painful and weak, that I could not manage much better than 12 min pace. 

AM - met Greg for a run from downtown today.  Good run at just under 8:30 pace - still some pain and soreness in the hamstring but much improved.