Where'd Doug go?

Who the heck is this guy? Where'd he go? Does anybody ever check this anymore? What's he doing posting on his blog? How dare he.

Well, I'll tell you where I went. A few months ago I told myself I wasn't going to post about anything pessimistic. Maybe I'm breaking that rule now, but a few people caught me on Facebook so I thought I'd let you all know how I'm doing. Here goes.

Around the 4th of July, my knee had a pretty huge relapse. The cause could be from a slight increase of mileage while running with my brace, or walking a mile or two without my brace. Regardless, it flared up bad. I started seeing an orthopedic surgeon and got an MRI. The diagnosis a combination of runners knee (chronomalasia - something like that) and quad tendonosis (which is like tendonitis' evil sister). I've done my research and recovery time can take anywhere from months to years to something I'd rather not think about. Hopefully the former rather than the later two.

Since then I've started yet another round of physical therapy, under the guidance of my orthopedic surgeon. We're trying various things from stretching and strengthening, to taping my knee, injections, and ionto. Some of it helps.

Last Friday I was feeling great and decided to try walking to class without my brace (a little under a mile), and have been regretting it since. That sorta puts this situation in perspective, I think.

Well, that's where I've been. I didn't want to post too much pessimistic lately so I just didn't post, but there's the update a few people decided to drag out of me.

Regardless of how poorly the running front has been, the Zafra quote to the right are still words to live by.

So, how are you guys doing?

Frustrated

A few months ago Chuckie V had a post classifying individuals based on two properties: motivation and ability. The four categories and their results are, essentially, as follows:

1. Ability and motivation = champion
2. Ability but no motivation = frustrated coach
3. No ability but high motivation = frustrated athlete
4. No ability and no motivation = couch potatoes, smokers, alcoholics, etc

Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure I fall into category three lately. Motivated as hell, but my body just doesn't cooperate. Now, I'm not saying I lack talent. I know I have talent when it comes to running and even biking and swimming are shaping up recently. However during the last seven months, I've been injured for five of them.

This = frustrated athlete.

Big time.

Especially right now with spring coming around. We're having days where its 60 degrees and sunny. All the fair weather runners are even coming out, and I can't take advantage of it. I'm glad they're out there, I like seeing healthy people do what they enjoy, but to say I'm not jealous would be a flat out lie.

Lately, my knee has been shaping up a little bit. It's feeling halfway like a normal knee. This week I was going to start swimming without the pull buoy again, just to test things out before I go and pound my knee on the pavement.

Except, I couldn't.

I woke up Tuesday with a sore shoulder. It hurt pretty bad to lift my arm so my elbow is above my shoulder, kind of like a tendon is rubbing on a bone during the motion. I was hoping for it to heal up quick, but apparently my body isn't into that in 2008.

So right now, I'm flat out gimped. Can't run. Can't bike. Can't swim.

I swear, I'll be consistently upbeat again someday. Eventually. Until then, someone's gotta go run for me. Go get 'em Nancy.

The Diagnosis

Well, I have good news and bad news.

The good news: I talked to my friend Tracy, who is about to get her PhD in Physiology, and now know what is wrong with my knee. That means I have a game plan to tackle the problem. Something to preoccupy myself with and to make myself stronger again. I know the likely cause, and with enough patience I know the solution.

The bad news? It's IT band syndrome (ITBS). Yuck.

Here is the gist of what is going on with my knee. My IT band got tight, either from the race or too much biking. Also, the muscles above and to the right of my right knee are significantly weaker than on the other side. Now that she's pointed it out, I can tell that it's actually visually noticeable. I can see the problem.

Great. We know the problem. Now, what to do about it?

• Foam roll the shit out of it (thats the technical term), twice a day
• Dig into the trigger points to loosen it up
• Incorporate some of my old PT exercises back into my routine
• RICED (Thats RICE + drugs)
• Do some balance exercises too, to strengthen the leg
• Get back on top of my core workouts

Sound like enough to keep me busy? Yeah. I think so.

I'm also going to keep at it with the swimming. I've swam twice this week just using the pull buoy (no kicking), and although its extremely boring my knee always feels better afterwards. It's all I can do to get an aerobic workout in, so I'm going to force myself to go at it with all I got.

So there's the game plan. Now all that stands between me and running is to do it. Time to get on top of it!

Turning Back Around

For a while there, it seemed like everything was working against me. I couldn't run, bike, or swim. Homework was piled up, and grading was just the icing on the cake. Luckily, all that is turning around.

The school work is finally subsiding (or will be on Monday). I'm starting to get grades back from midterms, too, and lets just say this semester is strongly resembling my last one. I have nothing to grade. Let me reiterate that: I have nothing to grade. I even got to go home for several days last week, which was phenomenal since I got to see my cousin for the first time in a year since he also drove to Illinois for the weekend.

To top it all off, I think this knee is getting better.

I made it out for a run this morning, which was great! I decided to only run around the block, which was about 3/4 of a mile. There's no point in pushing it. It was only a little test run to see how my knee reacted. It did react, a little bit. I could feel it a little bit at the top on the right side of my right knee, but it was a very dull pain.

More importantly, I didn't feel as though I regretted it afterwards. My body didn't say "ohhh, you shouldn't have done that!" I'm considering myself on the mend and am planning to swim Tuesday night, then run again on Wednesday morning assuming all goes well these next few days. Update: I woke up today (Tuesday) and my knee is hurting again. Back on the roller coaster, I guess? Ugh.

Despite the good news, I'm officially canceling my half marathon for the spring. Sure, I might be able to do it, but it's a really bad idea at this point and simply begging for a relapse. Everything else is still on, unless this knee takes longer than expected to heal.

And don't think I forgot: Happy St. Patricks Day!

Looking at the Trends

I've talked about it quite a bit lately, but I'll rehash it: I'm a big fan of looking at the trends in running, biking, and swimming. It really helps see what works. But more importantly, it shows you what doesn't.

It shows you what gets you injured.

Hey, I'm injured. Let's look at the trends and see what there is to find.

Backtrack! It's August 2007. I'm training like never before, in the best shape of my life. BAM! I put my foot in a pothole and have to take several days off. I probably needed the rest anyways with how I'd been training. Next week, I'm feeling good. Really good. I go out in full force and do the week I was planning before I hurt my ankle. As a result, my hip gets injured.

Okay, back to the present. A few weeks ago I was, once again, training like crazy. Swimming, biking, running like never before. Then my body says "hey! quit it! *cough* *sneeze* *phlegm*" I take a few days off. Next week, I'm feeling good. Really good. I go out in full force and do the week I was planning before I hurt my ankle got sick. As a result, my hip knee gets injured.

See a trend?

Bottom line is this: I need to be careful when coming off a break, even a short one. Going at it with too much gusto can sideline me quicker than anything.

Also, I need to be extremely careful coming off this particular injury. This time, it isn't just about fun and fitness. This time, people are counting on me.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good

I just ate tacos. And they were fantastic.

The Bad

Just kidding, there's more good, thankfully!

My knee is starting to feel a little bit better. I still don't see myself doing, uh, anything this week, but it's at least getting better. I went to the A.R.T. guy today. He thinks he can help, and I got one treatment today, but I'm going to sit on it a little bit longer. I'm kind of iffy about therapy (see "The Ugly"). I'm also making progress on my pile of work, so I'm hoping to make it home on Thursday. Maybe I will get a few days off!

Luckily, though, I've been in this "hyper learning mode." I'm not sure what caused it, but I'm finding everything extremely interesting lately, almost anything from my classes to biking to web servers to... other computer science topics I won't bore you with. Hopefully it sticks around for a while (like until I graduate)!

The Bad

The knee isn't perfect, though. When I shower the heat from the water makes it sore for a little bit. But no worries, hygiene is not going to end up listed under "The Bad"! Also, my sleep schedule is completely jacked up. The last two nights I was working on stuff until about 3am. When I don't work out I never fully wake up, but I also don't really get tired at night. I live in limbo, it sucks!

Also, I will comically put under "The Bad" that my computer is too fast. In one of my assignments I need to compare the speed of my program to another, but I can only time them so accurately. The result? Yep, everything takes 0.00 seconds and I can't see any more accuracy to make conclusions. Who wants to donate an old crappy computer?!

The Ugly

Right now, the ugly is very ugly. Yesterday I got a call from the one type of business nobody wants to hear from. Thats right, a collection agency. Wait. W T F?! I don't owe anything to anybody, do I?

Apparently I do.

My physical therapist has been trying (although not very hard) to mail a bill to my address, but has been leaving the apartment number off. So rather than call me (which he did several times during therapy, he has my number) he decided to pass it on to a collection agency who says "Hello! Give us $xxx.xx by tomorrow or the puppy your credit history gets it!"

It basically works out to me paying the wrong person the deductible (ART guy got that) and the PT charging me more than the amount (which they swore up and down) they said they would. Unf. Ramen noodles, anyone?

---

That's whats up in my life. Thanks to everyone for the extremely encouraging comments! Here's some responses:

Christine - Don't go calling Endurance Trends 'little', it's going to be anything but little. Good luck with the 'little' degree you're working on, too. :)

Nic - The Relenting Runner is dead. He won't be back unless one of my legs literally falls off. Although, I do have a clever name up my sleeve if I decide to completely change my focus to triathlons...

PreFan - Never tried Accelerade. I usually stick with Gatorade, even though I know it really isn't the healthiest choice ('lethal' amounts of HF Corn Syrup).

Learning from Past Mistakes

I like to believe life is largely about learning. Every day you learn something new to apply in the future, whether you'll admit it or not. Although, sometimes even the smartest of us are thick skulled and refuse to learn the most basic things, no matter how long they hammer away at our heads.

Remember my hip injury? That hammered away at my head for three months "don't over do it!", "shoulda just taken a few days off!", "don't be afraid to take a short break, to avoid a long one!", "stop picking on your sister!", "don't forget to turn off the oven!"

Okay... maybe it didn't cause all of those, but the first few definitely got drilled into my head. And damnit, I'm going to listen. I do need to realize I'm not invincible. I should just take a few days off if something hurts. Short breaks won't cause the sky to cave in.

Now, you being the smart people that you are, have probably realized I'm talking about this for a reason. A good reason. An inflamed reason.

Stupid right knee.

After this weekend it's been feeling a little bit off, although I didn't want to call it injured until yesterday after my run. I haven't felt any stabbing pain, but something is wrong with it, without a doubt. Something in my knee is inflamed, and I'm not sure how else to describe it. I'm sure you know the feeling.

Rather than push it until it's serious, I'm going to be cautious about it. No running (that caused it), no biking (that irritates it), and no swimming (that, somehow, hurts it). I'm taking a few days off from everything except the activity that comes straight from the bowels of hell. The only activity I would rank as shittier than running on a treadmill. And you know how I feel about running on a treadmill.

Yes, thats right. Water running. It is, undoubtedly, the most boring thing I have ever done in my life. Right down there with watching paint dry. I despise it. I can't even listen to music to make the time go faster, or gauge how much work I'm doing to at least tell me it's worthwhile. It's almost impossible to get my heart rate up, too.

But I'm going to do it, because it's the only thing I CAN do. It does massage my knee. It maintains my range of motion. It doesn't do any damage. It will be worthwhile. I won't have to do it for long, so long as I'm not stupid about anything.

As with all injuries, there has to be a cause. With my hip, it was a matter of having an intensive speed workout followed by a long run two days later. In this case, I have it narrowed down to a few things. First, I got a blister on my right foot (same knee). I've just been running through it, BUT more than likely I've subconsciously changed how I land on my foot to avoid the blister which could cause my knee to move slightly differently.

Second, I ran faster than usual at the 5k this weekend which could easily cause a lot of damage.

Third, my right shoe has a "leak" in it. The sealed area that uses air for cushioning got popped, somehow. It squeaks when it gets wet and is blowing out the air, so I know my right foot doesn't have as much padding as it's used to.

So here's what I'm going to do about it. First, I'm taking a few days off and doing some water running. I'm also doing the RICE routine and trying to let this blister heal. When I start running again, nothing fast. Just low key running with my HR around 150 bpm. If none of that works, I'm going to go buy new shoes even though I'm not due for another 100 miles.

So there's the game plan. Nothing left to do now but execute it!

Oh. And I got into the PhD program today! :)

Fighting with Injury

After these past few months, I feel as though injury is one of the things I'm most qualified to talk about. But even my most avid readers don't know all my serious run ins with injury, so here is a brief history:

• Senior year of track I developed ITBS and was unable to compete during my final season
• Runner's knee struck me a few weeks prior to my first half-marathon in August 2005
  
• I got an over use injury in my ankle when training for the 2006 St. Louis Marathon, I had to take several months off running and watched the race from the sidelines
  
• After my peak when training for the 2006 Detroit Marathon I had to take a week off because of a similar ankle injury but was still able to race
  
• Most recently, I injured my hip a month before the 2007 Chicago Marathon and ended up taking several months off, although I still finished the race

Now some of you may say, "My God, Doug, you're so unfortunate with those injuries!" but each and every one has been a learning experience. I have found out what works, and what doesn't. I now know the difference between "hurts so good" and "hurts so bad."

Since everybody (except one lucky SOB) I know has dealt with injury at some point, here is a list of things I do to stay injury free. The first few correspond to the items on the list above. If you'd like to add anything, leave it in the comments!

• Replace your shoes every 300-400 miles. Shoes are expensive, I know, but relatively cheap compared to surgery or physical therapy! This alone would have saved my senior track season!
  
• Stick to a schedule! Either use a cookie cutter plan like Hal Higdon's or do research and create your own. I suggest getting a book on the topic, since anything published at least had to jump through a lot of hoops to get there; anybody (even me!) can post something on the internet. When you're your own coach, you need to learn how to plan a week out without hurting yourself. Plan a week out in advance, make sure it makes sense, and stick to it!
• Learn the difference between good pain and bad pain. Generally, muscular pain is good and joint/bone pain is bad, but its not always the case. If its persistent, figure out whats wrong before it sidelines you for several months. Take a few days off. You won't lose that much fitness in a couple days. You'll lose much more if forced to take several months off!
  
• Do core work. It is one of the best things you can do to stay injury free, since it will keep your body stabilized. Plus, has anybody ever said "No, I'd rather not have a six pack"?
• Build up slow, but steady. Don't increase your mileage by more than 10% per week. I've found that when I break this rule, bad things happen! Be patient, it will pay off big time.
• Accept that an injury is not like a switch. Injuries do not heal over night. You are not injured one day, and perfectly fine the next. When coming back, ease back into it. I wrestled this bear for months before realizing I couldn't just jump right back in.
  

If this helps even one person stay injury free in 2008, I'll be glad I took the time to write it! Do you have any tips for myself, or others, to help stay injury free?

Controlled Flame

My passion for running is starting to burn strong again these past few days. This busted hip is starting to feel rather, well, not busted. I've been running across the street when the cross walk timer is running out and not paying for it afterwards. I've been able to do the stretches I used to avoid because they were doing damage to my hip. I've been walking up hills without feeling even a small twinge in my hip. I've been wanting to run, bad!

But I'm not going to. Not now. Not yet. Not until Wednesday.

I'm looking at it like a controlled flame. I want to run. I can even give myself convincing reasons to run, but if I slip up at all now it could burn out of control. I could ruin all of the progress I've made these past 606 hours of not running.

I need to keep the blaze under control for at least the next month. The plan is to start out next Wednesday, which I'm hoping will go very well, and slowly allow myself to do more and more until I'm built up to a respectable base. If all goes according to plan, I hope to be back up to 20-30 miles per week by mid December.

But regardless of how I feel, the plan is still to view my running as a controlled flame. I can run. I can allow myself to do more. But for the first month I am not allowed to do as much as I want to, not by a long shot.

Feel free to get out your hose if things are getting out of control.

Until Wednesday, Nancy is going to have to keep running for me.

Debut Delayed

Well, running is delayed another week. But, in all honesty, it's probably for the best, right?

I had another appointment with my PT this morning, and he's telling me to take it easy with the running until I go home for Thanksgiving next week. So I have one more week to wait, although deep down I think I'm glad he's telling me to wait. He's the first person who has told me I need to hold off on the running. Until now, everybody else has been saying I need to try it out and see how it goes, even though I haven't felt like my body is ready for it. Maybe this extra week will be enough.

But I do have even more exercises to do now, just more to keep me busy! Right now I think I'm actually spending more time on my fitness than I was when I ran 40 miles a week. I have 90 minutes a day of stretching and PT exercises per day, ab workouts 3 times a week, and swimming about 5-6 hours a week. All in all we're talking about 18 hours a week, man does it add up fast!

Thats almost as many hours of training spent when training for an Ironman.

Crap, I said it out loud.

Two Month Anniversary

For the majority of our lives, we have simply co-existed mostly unaware of each other's presence. Its hard to believe its been two months already. Two months since the sweet nothings were whispered in my ear: "HEY! PAY ATTENTION TO MEEEE!!!"

Yep. Good old Helen Hip. Wonderfully irritating. Our other high moments include her saying "I want a massage!!!" and "Buy me something!!!!" (usually drugs). Lately she has mostly quieted down, since I started getting abusive with ASTYM and paying people to nearly skin her alive. It seems to make her behave a little more. Although after biking on Tuesday she piped up with her usual "Stop making me work so hard! I'm tired! My feet hurt!! Why don't you love me anymore?!?"

Since biking is starting to make her grouchy, I've decided to cut that out of my plan for a little while. In a few hours, I'm going to try and drown her in the pool. Hopefully it will at least keep her quiet. If it does, I'm going to keep at that several times a week and see if we can simply co-exist as we were doing for the past 22 years.

Okay. I'm all out of metaphor.

Today was my third day of ASTYM. I'm starting to feel pretty good, even after my hip acting up yesterday. I'm attributing it to biking, and today my physical therapist, Chris, said my injury sounds similar to one he sees in a lot of endurance bikers. So, that means no biking. This swimming thing really better work for me, or I'm going to be going real crazy, real soon.

You might also notice that in my first three visits to the PT, I have seen three different people. The bouncing around is almost done, since I believe Rob's life is settling down enough for him to get back to work, and fixing my hip! Although it has been a nuisance to switch PTs the way I have been, it has been nice to see other people with varying experiences think this is the best route to attack my problem with.


Best of luck to Bill this Saturday at the Richmond Marathon! He's trained his butt off this year, and I think he's ready to go under three hours. The weather is looking perfect for him, the forecast says 44 degrees at the start, and 52 degrees at the finish. Almost no chance of rain, and wind varying from 3-7 mph. It doesn't get much better than that! Go get 'em, Bill! You the man!

The Game Plan

These past few days when I've been, you know, not running, I've started thinking a lot about my game plan. And not what I want to do. I'm thinking about what I need to do. Now I'm sharing it to make sure my brain is making sense!

So far I have not ran for two weeks. My hip is feeling mostly okay. After proctoring an exam tonight it is kind of sore, but I was on my feet for about three hours non stop, what do you expect? However, this tells me one thing: it isn't healed up yet. It needs more time. If it needs more time, it gets more time. It really is as simple as that.

These last two weeks, though, I've pretty much been a lazy bum. I haven't done anything, with the exception of the stretching and core workouts I started recently. My cardiovascular fitness is probably fading away more and more every minute. This week I plan to be much more active. I'm going to start hitting the exercise bike again. I'm starting swimming this week too. I'm going to not only sustain fitness, but regain it. I not only want to, I need to!

I've been thinking about my physical therapist too, and the fact he doesn't 'get' runners is starting to bother me. Should this bother me? I think it is right for me to feel a little uncomfortable by this. I'm not going to make any decisions yet, but if he pushes me to run too soon I might consider switching to someone new before I have a huge commitment. A friend of mine recommended someone who is supposed to be really good with runners; if only the recommendation came sooner!

Right now I'm considering next Monday to be the soonest I will attempt a run. No matter how I feel. No matter what anybody says. I know my body. I know its the right thing to do. My hip feels significantly better after two weeks of rest than it ever has from one. I am just worried this logic will continue, and I'll end up taking months off. Not a cycle I want to fall into! But for now, at least, I know this is the right decision. There are plenty of other ways I can keep in shape while my hip returns to normal.

And finally, a response to all those who are expressing their thoughts about tri's. So far, it is merely a consideration. I haven't even put a toe in the pool yet. It won't happen unless I really enjoy swimming. Also, I'm always going to be a runner at heart. Bill, our gentlemen's agreement to go under 3 still stands; don't you worry, I just need to get injury free first! And if it is going to take significant amounts of cross training to stay injury free as a runner, so be it. I will cross train and greet the new events that come with it head on!

The Next Step

Well, I'm making the physical therapy thing official. I haven't decided where I'm going yet, but have it narrowed down to two places. I might consider others if I hear back from some friends fairly soon, but right now the two players are Buffalo Run and KORT. Both seem to have physical therapists with very good resumes.

The former is a smaller group, but one of the therapists has an interest in running. The latter is a very reputable organization that is all over the state. I haven't seen any of their PT's profile's have anything about running, but I assume somewhere in their network is someone with an interest, and I could likely get sent to them if I need to. I'm going to give it a little thought tonight and give one of them a call tomorrow. If you've had any experience with PT's and know what I should be looking for, I would really appreciate any feedback.

When I got to the chiropractor today, they had their dog there. Since I was a few minutes early, I got to have a little fun and play with him while I waited! It was fun, but it reminded me that I want to get a dog still. I told Beth (Mike's wife) my story and she admitted to me she had this dog at an apartment that didn't allow them for a whole year, makes it tempting!

Today Mike pushed running on me a little too hard. He suggested going out for a run tonight or tomorrow to see how my hip reacts. Then he suggested it again. And again. Eventually he gave it up, I wasn't going to budge. I've been here for two months: I get back to feeling 95% recovered, I run, and I'm back to square one. He's the professional, but I've been living with it for the past two months. I can see the pattern. Us computer scientists are good at patterns.

I haven't cut things off though, not yet anyways. A.R.T. is very good for treating the symptoms I have. It will clear up the aches, at the cost of it hurting like hell for the time I'm in his office. Hopefully these aches will go away with some time off from running, and I can call it quits on the A.R.T.

Last night my left leg started tightening up on me. I'm not sure why. I stretched out my glutes and hammies pretty good, but it wasn't perfect. Today its still sort of there, and after A.R.T. my left leg is especially uncomfortable. Walking doesn't hurt necessarily, but it causes some discomfort, especially in my hamstrings.

I'm somewhat relieved that I'm officially on break from running. The highs and lows I have been going through the past two months were not pleasant at all. For now, at least, I'm happy living in the comfortable middle ground. Hopefully adequate rest and physical therapy will be enough to get me back to living the high life. I look forward to it.

On Top of the World

Today is my day. Everything has gone my way. I even rhyme, no matter what I say. Sorry, I'm a dork, okay?

I studied like crazy all weekend for a test that scared the crap out of me. So what did I do? Thats right, I rocked it! Then I got an assignment back that I spent 10-15 hours on, swore I bombed it, but nope! Rocked that one too!

Then I met up with Mike "The Man" Sullivan for a little work on my hip. I told him the whole story of my weekend with regards to my hip and what not, and he tried a few things today to set things straight. He had my lay face down, and lift each leg up in turn as high as I could. One leg went up about 7 inches higher than the other. Woah, somethings out of whack! So he worked some magic and suddenly they were both the same!

I mentioned the strange popping I'm having, and he had a hard time tracking down exactly where it was coming from. I had to reproduce the pop about 10 times before he gave up on finding exactly where it was. Regardless of finding it, he adjusted my lower back a little bit, and its pretty much gone now! I tried to reproduce it again afterwards, and it happened maybe once out of 20 tries, as opposed to the 10 for 10 beforehand.

My glutes are definitely loosening up too, since I've been good about giving myself butt massages. No, Marcy, I still can't find a lovely lady to do it for me. I've been asking every one I see but they all give me a weird look and walk away (joke!). Hopefully that'll be all cleared up after I stick with it for a few more days.

Mike is making it sound like I'm almost better. He's even talking like I should be able to resume training as usual this weekend! Oh man, here come the exclamation points! Right now he's suggesting meeting again this week, then once more next week, and then its over!

Also on the forecast: Rain! And lots of it! We're supposed to get an inch tonight, and another half inch tomorrow. Sounds like I'm going to be sloshing around tomorrow, getting all kinds of "what is WRONG with you?!" looks from people who melt when they get wet!

One Mile

Yep. I did it. I ran one mile. One mile at an easy pace. One mile in 8:04.

And I'm thoroughly convinced it was the most pointless thing I've done this year. I didn't break a sweat. I wasn't even close to breathing hard. When I finished I just folded my running clothes back up and put them in the drawer, because they really didn't need to get washed. The run was entirely a tease.

My hip felt mostly okay during the run. Theres a little pain in my TFL, but I think thats because it still feels bruised from my last ART treatment. Afterwards it feels exactly the same as before, because, as I said, it was rather pointless to run for one mile.

One thing that has changed, is that since I did my stretches yesterday something feels a little off. It doesn't hurt, but something keeps popping anytime my left hip goes from bent to straight. Since that started happening, my hip generally feels uncomfortable, and I'm not sure how else to describe it.

On a completely unrelated note (these seem to happen very frequently), I woke up this morning with an idea I can't get out of my head: I want a dog. Maybe I can blame Jess for this one. I've had one my whole life since I was 10 years old, and dogs are awesome!

Although, for now theres nothing I can do about it. My apartment complex doesn't allow any pets, whatsoever. They don't even want us to have fish. On the plus side, this gives me about 9 months to think about if I really want one, if I have the time, money, etc. Also, I have more than enough time to find a new apartment complex for next year.

Executing the Plan, With Gusto!

Yesterday I stated my game plan to speed along my recovery this weekend. So far, I'm sticking with it to the T.

After my A.R.T. session really set in yesterday, my hip started feeling really, really good! As in, normal good. I've had periods where it hasn't hurt, but yesterday was the first time it really felt like a normal, functional hip! I can't really explain it, but it just felt a little off these past several weeks. Apparently hitting my glutes was the right course of action to take, because that was the main difference between what he did last time, and the times before.

But man am I sore today. Mike "The Man" Sullivan (thats what I'm going to call him, since he's bringing running back to me!) told me he was really going to town on my TFL and glutes yesterday, since I would have about 80 hours to heal up between visits. Although my hip is feeling good, my muscles feel pretty bruised up, as expected! Its good, though, because it is really encouraging me to stick with the massage, ice, heat, and icy-hot wanna be.

I jumped on the exercise bike again today for 40 minutes and really hammered away, but I'm not going to say how far because I might make Marcy jealous! It felt pretty good to get everything in motion since I took yesterday off. Stretched out really good before and after, too, as prescribed.

All I need to do now is keep at it, and go for my prescribed one mile run tomorrow. Just think, most of the population would complain like crazy if their doctor told them they were required to run a mile, and here I am wanting more! Maybe we really are crazy.

On an unrelated note, I've really started to get a kick out of the referring URL's I get from Google. Some of the most entertaining ones I've seen are:

• runner ice cream
• runner disease
• dirty little cheaters
• caught off guard photo (yikes! who's looking at this blog?!)
  

Round Three with A. R. T.

Well, theres good news and bad news. Lets start with the bad so I can finish on a good note!

The bad news is that my hip wasn't feeling all that great when I woke up. Not horrible, but not good. Maybe the 4 1/2 miles yesterday was too much (too fast) too soon? It felt good yesterday, even hours later. I thought getting out there really helped loosen everything up, but that all fell apart when I walked to class this morning.

The good news? Another problem area was found, and fixing it could help stabilize my hips a little more when I run, which will prevent more damage from being done. Basically, my glutes are two big knots right now. They don't hurt to walk with, but I think when I'm running my body is avoiding using them, which is straining everything else. He started working on them today, and they were more tender than the TFL in my left hip! I was told to stretch 2-3 times a day this weekend, then go for a one mile run to loosen things up and see how it does.

Also, my deductible is eaten up now, so return visits for more A.R.T. treatment are going to be cheap for me! $12 bucks a pop from here on out; hey, I'll take it!

Even though I was a little sore when I woke up today, I think progress is still being made. I felt worlds better this morning than I did a few weeks ago the morning after running. The problems are identified and just need to be fixed. I also know what I need to do to fix them, now all that is left is to execute the plan!

Game plan:

• Keep alternating heat and cold on my hip
• Stretch 2-3 times a day
• Go for an easy one mile run to loosen things up
• 30-40 minutes on the exercise bike
  
• Self massage for my glutes to try and get the knots out
• Put Biofreeze (Icy-hot off shot?) sample on my hip a few times
• More A.R.T. on Monday
• Massage on Tuesday or Thursday

Here's to a weekend of homework, stretching, homework, ice, homework, heat, homework, homework, homework, and rest.

Five.

The weekend is getting closer, and my plans are falling into place. Homework is almost wrapped up, my last assignment is due tomorrow. The majority of my grading is done and out of the way. I have very little stress right now, which is great!

My hip is actually feeling really, really good today. I took some advice my dad gave me: to stop stretching my hip so much. For a while I was stretching it a lot, because it gave it temporary relief. However he thinks it might have been like licking your lips when they're chapped; feels good now, but ultimately makes it worse. I started alternating heat in with my icing too, which is providing a lot of relief as well.

I jumped on the old exercise bike today for 30 minutes too. Nothing notable, just enough to burn off some nervous energy!

The game plan is to run tomorrow with Stephanie, who I've been trying to schedule a run with since I moved to Kentucky two months ago, but somehow our schedules never match up. She'll force me to run a little slower, too. Although I'm not saying she's out of shape; from what I understand she's one heck of a rock climber -- she's gotten a few pro deals before; wow!

Tomorrow is going to be one last test run for my gear before Sunday. I'm wearing shorts I haven't worn since I started using Gu's, and I want to make sure it doesn't cause any rubbing on my leg with them in my pocket. I'm switching because these are shorts with a compression liner in them, which I've heard can help tame certain hip problems; think of it as damage control.

(Warning: This paragraph is very much a rant) On a non-running note, I continue to be really unimpressed by the foreign students here at UK. I finished a project last Friday, which is due three days from today. The professor wanted us to give a demo of it next week, but since I'm quite certain my legs won't be working next week; I wanted to ask him about doing the demonstration early. Well, I had to wait behind a crowd of FIFTEEN students, who were all begging for an extension. I swear, I'm not some genius; I even misspelled genius and the spell checker corrected me. I really think these people either aren't qualified for grad school, or they simply wouldn't know hard work if it bit them in the face (end rant).

To end on a positive note, my energy level is still rising! Watch out! My plane leaves in three days, then I get to hang out with friends and family Saturday, before kicking off the 26.2 mile celebration on Sunday!

Also, the vote for quotes is pretty even. The first and last one are out, the other three are tied at two votes each. In case you're being meticulous and counting, I have people voting at another site too. I'm going to throw my own vote into the fray and pick "Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true." VOTING CLOSED!

And finally, to answer the question that Nancy asked when I was half way through writing this blog: my bib number is........ 2435! If you want to track my progress, there ya go! I have no clue how I got such a low number, but I'll take it!

GO TEAM CICHON!

Fun with Numbers!

I bet most of you haven't heard that since grade school math class! Except this time, its for real. Really. Honest. Loads of fun!

The Chicago Marathon is estimated to have 1,500,000 spectators this year. The average person thinks "gee willickers, thats a big number mister!" but lets put it into a number we understand! If we divide that by 26.2 miles, we get 57,251 spectators per mile. Now, divide that by 5280 feet (the number of feet in a mile). You get about 11. That means, on average, there are 11 people per foot of the marathon. I think that number is much easier to understand!

Time for more fun! If you travel from Chicago, through my home town, by my old dorm at Eastern Illinois, past my apartment in Lexington, and to Boston, its 1,440 miles. So far this year, I've run 1,414 miles. Add a marathon onto that and you're sitting at 1,440. Quite the journey from Chicago to Boston, but I don't think its a coincidence!

Also, just to make Jess a little more nervous: only EIGHT more days until Chicago! I don't have anything fancy to do with the number eight, but its a small number!


Regardless of the fact I've barely been able to run the past few weeks, I'm staying positive about the race. Every time I've run, my hip has felt great during the run. Its afterwards that is always the part that is bad. And everything is supposed to hurt after a marathon anyways, right?

No worries, though, I'm not being stupid. In fact I'm erring on the side of caution more than ever this week. I was really looking forward to a run today, but decided not to just because it doesn't feel perfect. I jumped on the exercise bike yet again. I'll probably do the same tomorrow and try running once or twice next week. I also have the go ahead to take the medicine that makes my hip feel better for a day or two before the race, although its not safe to take it long term so I'm on a break from it right now.

Also, every time I've gotten out to run recently, I don't feel like I've lost much fitness at all. I feel about the same as I did a few weeks ago when I run, despite the fact my legs feel weak compared to how they felt before when I'm not running. As long as they can carry me when I'm running, I could care less how they feel when I'm not!

When the race comes around, I'm planning to forget I've taken these weeks off. Wipe it from my mind! It will help enormously with my confidence, which is what I need most right now. I've lost very little physically these past few weeks; most of what I have lost is in terms of 'mental toughness'.

Back to work for me! I'm making a dent in my huge pile of stuff. The big projects are out of the way, and the load on my back is getting lighter!

-Doug

Nine days

We're down to single digits people. Nine days until Chicago! Thats right, nine days until I try to run more miles in 3 hours than I've ran in the past 3 weeks. Does that make me nervous? Um, yeah. Just a little. Okay, I'll be honest: I feel a little like the average person would giving a speech to 1000+ people, naked.

I'm doing my best to stay on top of everything. Stretching and icing are happening several times a day, and I just got done on the bike. I only went 10 miles on the bike since I'm tapering. Generally I feel like I still have the fitness I had 3 weeks ago. My run on Tuesday didn't feel any harder, nor does biking. Its just that running currently tears apart my hip.

Homework is keeping me crazy busy, which is keeping me from worrying too much about the race. I'm looking at today through Sunday as having about 48 hours to work on everything (8 hours sleep, 16 hours work per day) and feel like that should help me at least make a dent in everything.

Yesterday was really productive; I got my big assignment done for today (16 pages typed) and a good start on my project for Graphics due next Friday. I still have loads of grading for Monday, Graphics homework due Tuesday, and Algorithms due on Wednesday.

All this means I need to stop typing and get to work. I hope everybody's running is going well.

I almost forgot! Make sure you go check out Amy and Tom's runner's lounge; its a great way to meet other runners, they've really put together a great website!

-Doug