Bret

AM - 3 miles of a run/walk where I did 3 mins on and 1 min off.  So this was mostly running.  Pain level was a 1-2 at the beginning of each effort.  Very pleased with the progress of recovery.   

AM - 3.25 miles of mostly running.   4 mins on and 1 min off.  Felt reasonably decent - pain level was 2-3 just in the first several steps but once started, it is less than a 2 or a 1, but I felt a bit wonky much of the time - as if I could not just relax and run.   I stopped approximately every 4 mins to walk and each time I had sort of the same experience of low pain levels.   I averaged just over 10 min miles even with the walking breaks - so that was not too bad.   It is a somewhat strange injury in that the pain level comes and goes regardless of activity.  For example I awoke at 3 am as my dog evidently urgently needed to go out and at that time I thought to myself, the pain level on the hip is more than it was all day yesterday, I probably won't run this morning - and then after I went back to bed and got up 3 hours later, the pain level was less than a 1 and so I decided to run/walk.   After I finished the run, I had zero pain in the hip and did 2000 meters on the indoor rower, with zero pain.  Now as I write this entry a few hours later, I have some level of vague achiness.   With most of my injuries there is a linear progression of improvement, sometimes interupted by too much activity that disrupts or aggravates the injury - but this one is a little perplexing.  Directionally this seems postitive though.  

PM - elliptical / ARC trainer - 5 miles

AM - 3.25 miles on the trail with Finn.  Full run with no walking today.  First 100 -200 meters were a little painful - but got much less noticiable and because of the experience yesterday of restarts after walking for a minute were somewhat painful, I decided to just run with no walking breaks today.   Ran much faster than I had expected - after a first mile of slightly over 9 mins - my next two miles were in the low 8's.   HR was a bit higher than I would like it to have been, but this was a very postive step.   Hip was not really painful even after finishing, and so I did 2000 meters of indoor rowing followed by some yoga.   I think I will supplement the running this week with more elliptical/arc trainer minutes to work on the cardiovascular restart with the remaining time I have before Grandma's next weekend - without the pounding on the recovering legs.   
 

PM - 6 miles on the elliptical. 

AM - 3 mile run / walk with Dan on the Milton trail with Finn.   Initially I thought we were doing just a run, but Dan's back is not really ok, so he had expected to do a run/walk - and so that's what we did, which in the end was probably good for me too.  Easier on the hip for sure during and after.   I will continue to supplement with the elliptical/arc trainer for the next several days until I have to do some business travel as that provides a really good CV workout without the pounding and is remarkably close to the running motion.   It is better than pool running at least for me in that it keeps the HR up by adding resistance with the machine whereas pool running requires you to create your own resistance by moving more vigorously than is probably natural.  Or at least that is my experience.  

AM - 3 miles with Dan and the dogs on the trail - again we did a run/walk thing mostly for Dan who is not in running shape and also having some lower back issues.  He went to the doctor yesterday and was told he does not have any nerve compression and he has no restrictions against resuming his running training now.  This has actually been of benefit to me to keep me from overdoing things.  I would normally have just run 3-5 miles grinding through some nagging discomfort - but because of adapting the effort to ease Dan's reintroduction to running, both yesterday and today - my hip actually feels markedly improved.  I think will still do some elliptical / arc trainer work today and tomorrow to maintain CV fitness.  

PM - tried to go to the clubhouse to do elliptical but there was as swim meet going on and no place to park anywhere - so I did 5 miles equivalent pool running instead. 

AM - 3 miles with Dan and Finn at Milton HS.  Dan let me know he left his house late, and told me to do the first lap on my own and then he would meet me.   Ran in the Vapor Fly Nike's to see how my hip would do with them in case I run in them in the race next Saturday.  First few hundred meters were a little stiff and awkward but not really "discomfort" - ended up hitting a groove about a half mile in, and felt good until I met up with Dan - was probably running low 8's when we connected, but then slowed to his pace of about 9:45 to 10 which was actually probably good for me - and we took a few walking breaks for him as he gets back into running fitness.   Debating whether to do elliptical today or tomorrow or just let the hip rest - it is feeling so much better. 

AM - 3 miles with Dan and the dogs on the trail.  Some walking for Dan but much less than the last few days.