Every Run is a Great Run!

Happy February! Always nice to get January over with.

Injury update:  As I laid in bed this morning listening to the wind howling outside and Kim getting ready to run I was thinking "today is a good day to be injured!"  I think I've lost all my mental toughness or maybe gave it all to Kim.

I'm feeling cautiously optimistic.  Been feeling better the last couple days and think I could possibly be 4-6 days away from running. I can still feel the pains when I walk but much better than last week. I also tried 10 min of biking at the gym today and it felt fine. Unless I feel worse tomorrow than today I'll start doing a little XT. 

Also tried a little bit of stairs and elliptical and although it felt way better than last week and doable, I decided to hold off on anything but bike & walking until the walking is pain free for a couple days so. 

Still hanging in there mentally (actually feeling pretty good) and feel pretty good about life in general.

Another day when I'm thinking if I've got to be injured then today is a good day for it. BRRRRR!! Temp around 0 when I drove to work. But at least I hear that the groundhog says we get early spring. Sure hope he's right!

Don't seem to be any worse for the wear after yesterday's biking experiment so around noon I wen't to the gym and did 20 min bike and 10 min walking on the treadmill.

Did 30 minutes on the bike at the gym. Slowly improving but still not sure if I'll be ready to run on Monday or not. Bike riding feels fine but still feeling enough pain in the hip area when I walk that I'm pretty sure it would alter my running stride in a negative way if I tried to run today. We'll just have to wait and see what 2 more rest days will do.

Had been feeling pretty good the last couple days as far as the injury. I had a little sickness over the weekend that didn't feel so good but that's another story. So I thought maybe it was time to test running. Didn't work out so well.

Started feeling the hip pain shortly after starting and it got no better by 1/2 mile so I stopped and walked back to the gym with head hung low and tail between my legs. Bike riding feels fine so I did 30 min of uninspired riding.

I've scheduled a doctor appointment tomorrow and get an x-ray of the hip to rule out any kind of stress fracture. It's been over 2 weeks now since the mystery injury so any bone stuff should show up now. Then I guess we'll see what happens in the next few weeks between some phys therapy and maybe some chiro work. 

Kinda feel guilty getting much bummed out about something minor like this, there are so many people I know right now who are dealing with far worse.  For me the glass is most certainly still half full!

40 minutes on the exercise bike and some light stretching and push-ups. Going to see the doc this afternoon.

UPDATE: So after going to the doc and discussing exactly what happened and the nature of the hip pain, we're thinking I must have a pretty good muscle strain or tear in one of the hip flexor muscles. He said these can take 4-6 weeks to fully heal which is kinda what I was thinking was likely the reality based on the pain yesterday trying to run. Maybe not my favorite thing but not too bad to deal with.

I'll continue with the biking for a while, add some phys therapy after a few days and beef up the core work. I'm thinking I may sell my UVM entry and look toward a fall marathon. I'm also thinking maybe UVM and I just aren't meant for each other, this would make me 1-3 getting to the starting line and 0-3 finishing.

45 minutes on the lovely stationary bike.

Did 45 minutes XT with the majority on the bike. I've felt pretty good the last few days and I wanted to try a few things today while I'm off the meds and don't have them masking any pains. 

I actually ran a few steps. Felt much better than Monday but still enough little pains and weirdness to where I think I'm still maybe a week away from doing a meaningful test run.

Also did 5 min each on the stair stepper and eliptical to see how that felt. I could feel the hip just a bit but I think I could probably do more and be OK. For now I'll stick mostly with the bike with maybe a touch of higher impact stuff every so often just to better gauge where I'm at. By golly I'm becoming a pretty patient guy.

Finally had success on the test run! Woohoo!! Ran a whopping 1 mile this morning with the lovely Kimberly (Happy Valentines babe!!) without any stride-altering pains. Felt like I could have gone more but I didn't want to push my luck. Tomorrow if all goes well I'll try 2 or 3.  Of course I felt and ran like a slug, pace in the 9-10 range for the mile and my HR was probably still thru the roof.

Later at work went to the gym for 45 min XT (30 bike, rest split between stairs and eliptical). Felt good, no pains. It was such an absolutely beautiful day outside it was so tempting to try another run in the sun but I was a good boy and stuck with the indoor non-impact stuff.

Ran 3 miles with Kim this morning then she got 3 more. Still no stride-altering pains but man I sure feel out of shape! Can't believe what 3 weeks of nothing but some casual biking does to my running fitness. But I suppose it will come back quick. On a positive note my weight has stayed down at my race-shape level during my injury break.

HR averaged over 160 for a 9:30 pace. Before the injury I could do 5-10 miles no prob at sub-8 pace with that kind of HR. It will interesting to see how it goes in the next few weeks.

Got daring today and went 5 miles mostly with Kim and she tacked on 1 more mile. Nice sunny, warm day for Feb but pretty windy. My back/hip seemed to have survived the run, but I think I'll play it safe and take tomorrow off from running after 3 days straight, then maybe run 4 on Friday and try 6 on Saturday. 

8:56/160?

Day off from running. Went to the gym for 20 min bike, 15 min eliptical, and 10 min stairs. Also did some core stuff. 

I don't love the crosstraining but I do feel pretty good afterward and it seems to help alot with running/injury recovery. Going to try and keep 2 or 3 days a week with 30 min or so of XT for next few months and see how it goes.

Ran 4 solo in the morning. Kim has been fighting a lingering cold and was going to try later in the day when it's (hopefully) warmer.  HR was ridiculously high again, 175 ave for 9:05 pace.

Later went to the gym for 30 min XT.

Ran 6 with the SF group. Kim is fighting a lingering cold that keeps her up through the night with a hacking cough and wisely stayed in today. 

Felt OK but still can feel some pain/stiffness in the back/hip. So far it doesn't make me run weird but if it just stays the same and doesn't improve thru next week I may take another week or 2 off from running and just crosstrain. At this point I'm about 95% sure I'll bag UVM and look toward a fall marathon to shoot for a PR.

9:33/152

Had a nice 6-miler with Kim with about half in the sunshine. And no wind for a change so that was extra nice! My legs are slowly coming back and the back/hip felt pretty good today and better than Saturday so that is positive. Just gotta keep it nice and easy for a few weeks and enjoy the journey.

9:20/158 (come on HR! Get with the program!!)

Dang cold today! Especially with the wind chill factor. Ran 5 with Kim and that seemed adequate for today. Later went to the gym at work for 30-min XT plus some core work. Based on my ave HR today maybe I should count a few miles as Threshold instead of Easy.

9:25/165

Working at home today so waited until late in the morning when it was sunny and high 30's then ran 7 miles with Kim, mostly down in the river bottoms. Kim was doing some quarters so I hung back and kept it easy while she did her speedy stuff. 

Felt OK on this my longest run since before the injury. Still feel sluggish and out of shape but I know in time the legs will come back.  With the 3 days in a row running and this long run I'll take tomorrow off. The sun and temps were dandy today.

9:14/151

45 minutes XT (bike-20, stair-15, elipt-10) at the gym and some core stuff.

Lots of wet snow falling this morning and the roads were a sloppy mess, so we decided to sleep in and try our luck later.  Good move. We still got the wet blowing snow pelting us in the face but the roads were nice and clear if you could avoid the puddles.

This was my most enjoyable run since before the hip injury despite the snow. Starting to get my legs back and I think taking the last couple days off was a good move.

9:03/156

Ran 6 in the morning with Kim on a cold breezy morning. The creepy crawly snow flurries from the wind blowing Saturday's snow across and down the road made for a pretty groovy effect. Looking forward to spring and nicer weather.

9:06/160

Later went to the gym for 30 min XT (10 min each stair/bike/elipt) and some core work.