Every Run is a Great Run!

Not a very happy camper today. Whatever I did to my back/hip Friday appears to be alot worse than I thought. I don't even think it had anything to do with running, just a fluke thing by carrying some stuff in just the wrong way. My last "normal" run on Friday was an awesome 10-miler in the morning where I felt really great after having had a bit of a rest week throughout last week.

Closest thing in the past to compare to this was when I was late in my training cycle trying to run a BQ years ago and I tweaked the back/hip on a canyon downhill run. At that time I was way stressed because I could barely walk the next day and I was supposed to run 20 a couple days later. I ended up not doing anything on Thu/Fri then I went ahead and ran the 20 on Saturday. It was very tight at first but then loosened up and I ended up having a great run and the next week everything was back to normal.

Not sure if it's going to work out that way this time. Saturday I didn't feel too bad and I ran an easy 3.5 miles. But it got more painful as the day went on, even with taking a few Ibuprofen. Rested yesterday and it felt better. Felt ok this morning when I went out with Kim to test running but it was obvious after about 1/2 mile it just wasn't going to work and now I'm hurting pretty bad today.

Walked over to the gym just to see if any flavor of XT would work but no dice. Was hurting pretty bad just from the walk from my office to the gym. Tried bike, elliptical, and stair-stepper but no go. Just seems like most anything aggravates except sitting and laying. Meds don't seem to do much at all.

So I guess I just won't do anything at all other than all the R-I-C-E crap until I can walk around and feel perfectly normal for a few days with no trace of pain in the back/hip problem area.

This one really ticks me off. In times past when I've had nasty injuries it's because I "earned" them by ignoring the early signs. But this time around I've been trying to do everything just right and being very conservative (at least on pace, not necessarily mileage). I've felt really good most all the time and have been a good boy with taking reduced-mile/rest weeks even if I didn't feel like I needed them.

Oh well sometimes I guess no matter what you do things still go south. Sorry for all the whining today. I do realize in the overall scheme this isn't that big a deal. It's just really frustrating that right when I thought I had done everything perfect to set me up for a great marathon training cycle and then right when I FINALLY after months of patience am ready to being the actual marathon training and right off the bat I likely get a goose-egg on miles for week 1 of the 20 week program (OK so maybe .65 miles not 0).

At least I guess I get to have an extra long nap today after lunch. Let the detraining and weight gain begin.  Sorry but today the glass is half empty.

Guess one of the "joys" of being a morning runner is that even on days you don't run you still wake up nice and early.

I figure since I'm up I might as well post an injury update and write down a few words of wisdom/advice to myself (and whoever else might benefit) for future reference. And sorry about all the moaning/whining Monday, I was maybe a bit over-dramatic.

A few things to add to my list of things NOT to do, especially at 46+ yrs old:

1)  DON'T run a brisk (for me) early morning 10-mile run, then shortly after sit in a van for 3-4 hours straight, then in your eagerness to check out the newly  installed flatscreen in the master bedroom in the condo, rush carrying 2 or 3 bags/luggage AND a cooler all at once up a flight of stairs.

2)  If you wake up the next morning with a new weird pain that you aren't accustomed to, DON'T KEEP RUNNING if the pain is still there in any form after a few minutes or even  a few seconds if the pain is intense.

3)  If walking aggravates the pain then try not to walk much, and certainly DON'T try running in hopes the pain will magically disappear. Wait until you can walk with NO pain for a couple days or so, then try running but only in accordance with rule 2).

4) DON'T worry be happy.

Feeling some improvement this morning, but still feel pain when walking so for now no thoughts of running, probably not until next week.

Injury update:  Progress seems a kinda slow slow slow to me but I suppose I'm not a very patient guy. Back/hip does feel a little better each day but not by a whole lot. I'm not sure if I'll be ready to try any running on Monday like I had hoped. Need to be able to walk around more pain free than at present. Been taking a dose of Prednizone this week to attack the inflammation and try to kick start the healing but not sure if it's doing anything. I seem to get as much bang out of regular old Ibuprofen as much as anything.

Don't know if I've really described the injury in earlier posts so maybe I'll do that so if it sounds familiar to anyone they can share their wisdom with me.

There are really 2 pains. First, there is the dull, lower back pain and tightness on the left side. This I've had before from time to time and it's never bothered my running much. This dull pain kind of extends down into the left hip.

The other pain and the one that is causing me the most grief as far as running, walking, or any form of XT is in the left hip right around where the hip socket is (I don't know all the fancy medical terms for these body parts). This pain is a stabbing, concentrated  pain, kind of like getting poked with a needle in that spot.  Just feels very fragile and makes me nervous to do much of anything that puts any pressure on it.

Guess we'll see how the weekend goes and pray for the best but be prepared for whatever. I'm actually feeling pretty good mentally. Physically I'm beginning to feel like a slug. Thanks to Kim for all her support and willingness to give me rub downs and massages in my "upper thigh" area :).