- I made the decision to switch to the PhD program. Although I still have to apply, I see no reason they would reject me. But that does mean I have to jump through the hoops of getting recommendations again; oh the joys!
- My healthy diet is turning into habit. Yesterday, my Aunt sent me cookies. This huge tin of wonderful chocolate chip cookies! I ate 3 of them when they got here, and they're absolutely amazing. But, I have no urge to eat them. At all. I see bananas or cookies and consistently choose a banana. I look at my workouts the next few days and feel as though I can't afford to put crap in the tank. A good shift, but even I'm taken aback by it a little!
- Today is a rest day, which means I'm bored out of my mind; I don't feel like I need it, but I scheduled it so I'm taking it! I've had 10 workouts (13 if you count ab workouts) in the past six days, and I'm not feeling it at all. Adapting? Maybe!
- I'm scheduling a massage for next Friday to work any kinks out of my legs that are starting to show their heads; I figure its good for me physically and mentally, so why not? I'll call it a "treat" for working so hard lately.
- Tomorrow has seven miles on the schedule; the farthest I've run post injury! I'm optimistic about it, as always! My hip is feeling stronger than ever, and I'm ready to push it a little bit farther. 9 on the 9th, here I come!
- Finally, an endorsement for Vanilla over at Half-Fast. He's organizing a "Shave Your 5K" challenge. The idea is to see who can cut the most time, or percentage, off their 5K this year. See his post for the official rules. Go participate, even if its just because of his swawesome logo!
Showing posts with label Massage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Massage. Show all posts
Friday, January 18, 2008
What up Doc?
This post is just a bunch of random bits of information. Even though most my posts turn out that way, this time its on purpose!
Thursday, November 8, 2007
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!
Friday, October 26, 2007
More Recovery
This week has had a lot of focus on getting me back on the roads, but I'm not rushing the actual act of running. Not this week. I'm taking Nic's advice to take it easy for a little while longer.
Wednesday Mike really kicked my ass with some A.R.T. to break up the new spot that flared up in my hip. This time its a little further down the leg, closer to the bottom of the joint where my femur and pelvis meet. It doesn't hurt too much mechanically, but its very sore to the touch.
My run yesterday didn't happen. I simply didn't have time, and it wasn't a good idea anyways! I was working on homework until about 3am the past two nights, so squeezing in a run was only going to cut in on my minimal amount of precious sleep.
I did, however, make it in to get a massage to work out some kinks in my lower back and several spots in my legs. That massage worked wonders. Not just physically, but mentally. Beforehand I was just about as stressed as ever. If someone decided to yell at me like they did to Jess, I probably would have tackled them and punted their dog; it was that bad.
Afterwards, though, I felt completely in control. I had stuff to do, and I had time. I didn't feel exhausted, and could easily be productive. Sometimes simply feeling in control is all it takes to regain the focus I need to get my stuff done. In a sense I took Marcy's advice to get a butt massage, except I had to pay $60 to get it!
Today, another round of A.R.T. went pretty well. He took it fairly easy on me since I'm still sore from the last round. The one thing he really hammered on was my IT bands; now that smarted! To give me any idea of how tight my IT bands were, he pushed on my arm as hard as he was on my IT bands. The pressure was almost nothing, on my arm it felt like he was just poking me in the arm to get my attention.
Although he's encouraging me to get out and run this weekend, I really feel taking it easy until Sunday or Monday will really be best for my hip. I want all these sore spots to disappear before I even think about giving it another go. Until then, I'm taking it easy. This injury has been going on way too long, and a lot of it could be attributed to me constantly jumping the gun and trying to run too early. I'm done with that.
I got a foam roller finally, too. Right now I'm just using it on my back, quads, and hamstrings. The real reason I want it is to roll out my IT bands, but they're pretty sore from my treatment today, and really need to heal up before I hit them with the roller.
This has been one insane week. I'm not sure I've ever been that busy in my life, except maybe finals week once or twice. I'm glad its over. This weekend is completely devoted to resting up, because I need it more than anything!
Wednesday Mike really kicked my ass with some A.R.T. to break up the new spot that flared up in my hip. This time its a little further down the leg, closer to the bottom of the joint where my femur and pelvis meet. It doesn't hurt too much mechanically, but its very sore to the touch.
My run yesterday didn't happen. I simply didn't have time, and it wasn't a good idea anyways! I was working on homework until about 3am the past two nights, so squeezing in a run was only going to cut in on my minimal amount of precious sleep.
I did, however, make it in to get a massage to work out some kinks in my lower back and several spots in my legs. That massage worked wonders. Not just physically, but mentally. Beforehand I was just about as stressed as ever. If someone decided to yell at me like they did to Jess, I probably would have tackled them and punted their dog; it was that bad.
Afterwards, though, I felt completely in control. I had stuff to do, and I had time. I didn't feel exhausted, and could easily be productive. Sometimes simply feeling in control is all it takes to regain the focus I need to get my stuff done. In a sense I took Marcy's advice to get a butt massage, except I had to pay $60 to get it!
Today, another round of A.R.T. went pretty well. He took it fairly easy on me since I'm still sore from the last round. The one thing he really hammered on was my IT bands; now that smarted! To give me any idea of how tight my IT bands were, he pushed on my arm as hard as he was on my IT bands. The pressure was almost nothing, on my arm it felt like he was just poking me in the arm to get my attention.
Although he's encouraging me to get out and run this weekend, I really feel taking it easy until Sunday or Monday will really be best for my hip. I want all these sore spots to disappear before I even think about giving it another go. Until then, I'm taking it easy. This injury has been going on way too long, and a lot of it could be attributed to me constantly jumping the gun and trying to run too early. I'm done with that.
I got a foam roller finally, too. Right now I'm just using it on my back, quads, and hamstrings. The real reason I want it is to roll out my IT bands, but they're pretty sore from my treatment today, and really need to heal up before I hit them with the roller.
This has been one insane week. I'm not sure I've ever been that busy in my life, except maybe finals week once or twice. I'm glad its over. This weekend is completely devoted to resting up, because I need it more than anything!
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
At least there wasn't a line...
The roller coaster that is my life continues, but, as the title says, at least there isn't a line!
I woke up this morning with a little kink in my hip again. Nothing huge, but it was noticeable. Then on the way to class, my left IT band really started tightening up -- thats one I haven't had happen yet in this round of injury. At least its mixing things up and making it interesting?
I got the test I "rocked" back this morning too. I sort of, um, didn't rock it. Nobody did. High score: 127/200, average score 77/200. I fell somewhere between those two numbers, but at least I was above average, I guess? This morning left me in a pretty sour mood.
During my appointment today we got the kink worked out, at least. Mike said he could feel a really small knot in the muscles around my hip, about the size of a pea, but that sucker sure hurt like hell! Afterwards I feel good, nothing has hurt much since. One spot is sore to the touch, but movement doesn't hurt it at all.
The game plan right now is to go for a short run in the morning, a one hour massage in the evening, and another round with Mike on Friday. I might take the weekend off running, but I'm indecisive about it at the moment; we'll see how I feel after the next two days.
One of these days I'm going to go out looking for a foam roller to help out these legs of mine. I looked for one at Walmart the other day, but couldn't find them. Where can I find them at?
Theres been a few comments about joggling, too, after my last post. Um, no! Or as Marcy would say: ROFLMAOLOLHAHAHA, no!
Lets hope tomorrow is an up day on this roller coaster ride!
I woke up this morning with a little kink in my hip again. Nothing huge, but it was noticeable. Then on the way to class, my left IT band really started tightening up -- thats one I haven't had happen yet in this round of injury. At least its mixing things up and making it interesting?
I got the test I "rocked" back this morning too. I sort of, um, didn't rock it. Nobody did. High score: 127/200, average score 77/200. I fell somewhere between those two numbers, but at least I was above average, I guess? This morning left me in a pretty sour mood.
During my appointment today we got the kink worked out, at least. Mike said he could feel a really small knot in the muscles around my hip, about the size of a pea, but that sucker sure hurt like hell! Afterwards I feel good, nothing has hurt much since. One spot is sore to the touch, but movement doesn't hurt it at all.
The game plan right now is to go for a short run in the morning, a one hour massage in the evening, and another round with Mike on Friday. I might take the weekend off running, but I'm indecisive about it at the moment; we'll see how I feel after the next two days.
One of these days I'm going to go out looking for a foam roller to help out these legs of mine. I looked for one at Walmart the other day, but couldn't find them. Where can I find them at?
Theres been a few comments about joggling, too, after my last post. Um, no! Or as Marcy would say: ROFLMAOLOLHAHAHA, no!
Lets hope tomorrow is an up day on this roller coaster ride!
Friday, October 19, 2007
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:
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
Friday, September 14, 2007
Massage & Nutrition
Today was day one of making a few changes to my diet. It isn't full swing yet, but I'm giving it a go. I'm going to list what I ate today so it is open to public scrutiny and will help me get things right. You will notice I eat very, very frequently.
7:00 Frosted Mini Wheats for breakfast
8:00 Drank about 12-16oz of water during class
9:00 Banana after class
10-11 OJ/Blackberry Smoothie (made too much, but drank all of it. About 4 cups worth)
11:00 Rice for lunch (about 650 calories worth)
12:30 Apple on the way to office hours
1:50 Clif bar after office hours
3:30 Apple on the way to my massage
6:30 Left over hamburger helper for dinner
6:30 Chocolate milk with dinner
I will still probably eat something before bed. I don't know what, but I'll be hungry again soon! Update: I started eating again before I finished writing this, some Wheat Thins.
As you see above, I got a massage today. It felt pretty good (duh) and left my legs feeling great! My legs were extremely, extremely tight; which could likely be a cause of the injury in my hip. I do know from prior knowledge that tight muscles lead to injury, so it isn't just masseuse-trying-to-get-my-money hype. She recommended not running for two days afterwards, but honestly, two days off because of a massage? I think not!
My left hip is feeling pretty good afterwards. I plan to at least go for a test run tomorrow, even if I don't make it my prescribed 13 miles. I really need to not take any risks so close to the race; even if I end up having to take a 4 week taper as opposed to 2 week, I'll still be in shape to run under 3 hours. Taking a stupid risk could end up with me not even making it to the start line!
On a more flatulent note: since having my massage I've has a serious case of gas. I don't know if this is normal or not, but I thought I would attack your unsuspecting senses with a mental whiff. I don't see anywhere in my blog description: "I'm trying to woo the ladies with my very appropriate writing topics which have nothing to do with the secretion of gas," so I thought I would share that with you all. Enjoy!
-Doug
7:00 Frosted Mini Wheats for breakfast
8:00 Drank about 12-16oz of water during class
9:00 Banana after class
10-11 OJ/Blackberry Smoothie (made too much, but drank all of it. About 4 cups worth)
11:00 Rice for lunch (about 650 calories worth)
12:30 Apple on the way to office hours
1:50 Clif bar after office hours
3:30 Apple on the way to my massage
6:30 Left over hamburger helper for dinner
6:30 Chocolate milk with dinner
I will still probably eat something before bed. I don't know what, but I'll be hungry again soon! Update: I started eating again before I finished writing this, some Wheat Thins.
As you see above, I got a massage today. It felt pretty good (duh) and left my legs feeling great! My legs were extremely, extremely tight; which could likely be a cause of the injury in my hip. I do know from prior knowledge that tight muscles lead to injury, so it isn't just masseuse-trying-to-get-my-money hype. She recommended not running for two days afterwards, but honestly, two days off because of a massage? I think not!
My left hip is feeling pretty good afterwards. I plan to at least go for a test run tomorrow, even if I don't make it my prescribed 13 miles. I really need to not take any risks so close to the race; even if I end up having to take a 4 week taper as opposed to 2 week, I'll still be in shape to run under 3 hours. Taking a stupid risk could end up with me not even making it to the start line!
On a more flatulent note: since having my massage I've has a serious case of gas. I don't know if this is normal or not, but I thought I would attack your unsuspecting senses with a mental whiff. I don't see anywhere in my blog description: "I'm trying to woo the ladies with my very appropriate writing topics which have nothing to do with the secretion of gas," so I thought I would share that with you all. Enjoy!
-Doug
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
More miles to nowhere...
Okay. I admit it. I'm sidelined again.
After my long run Saturday lots of things hurt. If it was between my waist and my knee, it wasn't feeling very pleasant. However, as my quads and hamstrings healed up, one pain stuck around; my left hip! I ran Sunday because it all pretty much blended together. I took Monday off as per usual, and ran Tuesday because it felt better than Monday; and because I'm stupidly stubborn.
Today I decided to stop being so stubborn and admit that I need a break, again. Its really frustrating since I had to take a week off for my ankle just two weeks ago, but I gotta do what I gotta do. Running is only going to cause more harm than good right now, and thats what I gotta focus on!
I've been doing my wonderful icing, heating, stretching, tylonel(ing?) routine the past couple days, and its making progress. Especially since I jumped on the sweat machine (stationary bike) rather than running today. It actually felt good on my walk back from class, which is really promising since it was hurting pretty good on the way back yesterday. Tomorrow will be more time on the sweat machine, regardless of how good my hip feels, its getting the extra day off! I can't afford to take any chances with the marathon in 25 days.
My friend Stephanie also told me she had hip problems a little while ago and a massage fixed her right up. This Friday I have a massage scheduled with the lady she suggested. I figure best case: my hip works again, and worst case: I get a massage. So, um, I'll take it! I have extra birthday money laying around anyways!
Two days ago SLB gave me a motherly scolding about my diet. However, instead of giving him an "I knowwww mommmmmmmmm," I'm going to take his advice. I ordered the book he suggested pretty much right after he suggested it, since it was only $15 on amazon. Honestly, I thought I was doing pretty good for myself, but if I can revamp my eating habits in order to run faster and feel healthier, I'll take it!
Hope everybody's running is going good. Put in a few miles for me :)
-Doug
After my long run Saturday lots of things hurt. If it was between my waist and my knee, it wasn't feeling very pleasant. However, as my quads and hamstrings healed up, one pain stuck around; my left hip! I ran Sunday because it all pretty much blended together. I took Monday off as per usual, and ran Tuesday because it felt better than Monday; and because I'm stupidly stubborn.
Today I decided to stop being so stubborn and admit that I need a break, again. Its really frustrating since I had to take a week off for my ankle just two weeks ago, but I gotta do what I gotta do. Running is only going to cause more harm than good right now, and thats what I gotta focus on!
I've been doing my wonderful icing, heating, stretching, tylonel(ing?) routine the past couple days, and its making progress. Especially since I jumped on the sweat machine (stationary bike) rather than running today. It actually felt good on my walk back from class, which is really promising since it was hurting pretty good on the way back yesterday. Tomorrow will be more time on the sweat machine, regardless of how good my hip feels, its getting the extra day off! I can't afford to take any chances with the marathon in 25 days.
My friend Stephanie also told me she had hip problems a little while ago and a massage fixed her right up. This Friday I have a massage scheduled with the lady she suggested. I figure best case: my hip works again, and worst case: I get a massage. So, um, I'll take it! I have extra birthday money laying around anyways!
Two days ago SLB gave me a motherly scolding about my diet. However, instead of giving him an "I knowwww mommmmmmmmm," I'm going to take his advice. I ordered the book he suggested pretty much right after he suggested it, since it was only $15 on amazon. Honestly, I thought I was doing pretty good for myself, but if I can revamp my eating habits in order to run faster and feel healthier, I'll take it!
Hope everybody's running is going good. Put in a few miles for me :)
-Doug
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