Weekly Rundown- Vicarious Racing
It’s been an exciting week around here! That is, if you think that going to PT and watching Olympic Trials is exciting. Luckily, I do! I’m linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Rundown. Here’s how the week went! Monday Always a day off. Tuesday My hip was feeling pretty good so I decided to do a 30 minute walk. I threw in about ten steps of running, but my hip still hurt. Just checking! I came home and worked on pull-ups. Later in the afternoon I started PT! I wrote about it here, but the short version of the story is that I’ll be going to PT to treat an FAI (femoroacetabular impingement- a fancy way of saying that my hip hurts.) My therapist, Arvon, started me off with several exercises to correct my strength imbalances. Wednesday Started the day with a rainy 45 minute pool run. At night I did my PT exercises. Thursday This is typically a strength day for me. I wasn’t sure what to do- since I was going back to PT later in the day, I didn’t want to do any lower body. Planks and pushups put too much pressure on the front of my hip, so finally I settled on a core routine focused on abs. I would live to regret this… Later at PT, Arvon added some new exercises for me, focused on… abs. The session is an hour, and I was working for almost the whole time. It was a workout! I seem to remember, years ago when I went to PT for a different issue, I would do some exercises, then get a little massage and some ice. Today as I was huffing my way through McGill situps, I thought “Hey! Where’s my massage?” Of course I’m kidding- I want to work hard. But I also wouldn’t say no to a massage. Friday Oof. I was sore! Arvon said if I was super sore on this day I could skip the exercises except for stretches. I did a pool run and stretching and that was it. This was also my daughter’s last day of school- FINALLY. Our county’s ingenious “solution”” to Covid was to start school three weeks late this year (I know- just smile and nod.) So we ended super late as well. Summer can now officially begin! Saturday a 45 minute pool run to start the day, then my PT exercises at night. All week long I’ve been watching Olympic Trials! I absolutely love the swimming- I think it’s because the way they move through the water seems magical to me. Especially the butterfly- I mean, what in the world is going on there? Plus, I just love a race. Track and Field is starting, and while the longer races are my favorites, I’m loving the shorter ones as well. Sunday Sundays are still my long runs! The only difference is, I do them in the pool. 90 minute pool run to start the day… Guess what I don’t have to worry about while doing a pool run- the heat! Every situation has an upside. Is anyone else watching Olympic Trials? – Gymnastics starts this week!!! How’s everyone doing with the heat? – I’m staying nice and cool in the pool. There’s some irony from a Florida runner!
Five Unique Approaches to Running Injuries
Unfortunately, we’ve all been there. Running injuries can run the gamut from annoying to downright heartbreaking. Here are five different approaches to running injuries that might make you feel better if you’re one of the unlucky ones right now. 1. The Five Stage of Injury Grief Beth Risdon of Shut up and Run blog wrote the absolute funniest post on injuries, ever. This is a must-read! She takes you through Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance with examples from her own injury at the time. For some reason I went through the first four stages quickly with my current injury, maybe because I wasn’t training for anything specific. But in 2018 I went through an entire marathon training cycle, including a 22 mile long run, and then my SI joint flared up horribly during the taper. I went through each of those five stages- I remember the “bargaining” phase well: “Okay, I can’t run the marathon- I’ll just run the half.” Fat chance! No, I stayed home on that race day. It was a tough one, but Beth’s article really made me laugh. 2. Keira D’Amato and a Dream Deferred My heart hurts for this woman. On Matt Chittim’s recent Road to the Trials podcast, Keira D’Amato talks about the injury that’s forcing her to pull out of the Olympic Trials. I can’t even imagine what that must feel like. I mean, I’m going to miss my July 4th 5k… she’s going to miss a race that she’s been working towards for years. Overall it’s an uplifting interview- her advice is to “fill your life” and she looks at the upside, which is having more time to do things like berry picking with her children. Unfortunately she’s not the only one in this situation… 3. Molly Huddle Withdraws from the Olympic Trials Yep. This article explains that Molly Huddle also has to drop from the Olympic Trials due to injury. Again, the Olympics only come around every four years, and it’s something all professional runners are geared toward. I’m sure Molly and Keira went through the five stages of injury grief. Molly was quoted in this article as saying “You could be successful because of your challenging moments, not in spite of them. That idea makes me want to keep going.” 4. Or, For Something Completely Different… You could just ignore it and run 100 miles. In his book Eat and Run, Scott Jurek tells the story of how he sprained his ankle two days before the Hardrock 100 race. He put a Pro-tec ankle sleeve and aircast over it, wrapped it with duct tape, and ran the race anyway even though the ankle was purple and so swollen you couldn’t see his ankle bones. There’s a similar story in that book, where he finished an ultramarthon after spraining his ankle in the middle of the race, and in his book North he talks about continuing to move forward on the Appalachian Trail with a quad strain, walking as quickly as he could for days until he could run again. I don’t know how his body works, but I can tell you I’ve used the strategy of “running through” an injury many times, and it’s never, ever worked. But, to each his own! (My favorite part of the Hardrock 100 story is that he won the race.) 5. And Then There’s Me Hey, I said five unique approaches… and I’m just as unique as the next person. My biggest rule for dealing with injury is JUST. KEEP. MOVING. In my current situation I’m lucky to be able to run in the pool. When my SI joint flared up in 2018, I couldn’t do pool running but weirdly COULD do the stair climber at the gym (something about the way my hip didn’t rotate at all while climbing stairs.) When I was in my 20s I had a stress fracture in my foot, and swam laps while pushing off the wall with one leg. For me, the point is to figure out what I can do, and DO IT. The other thing I’ve been doing is listening to running podcasts as much as I can- while in the pool and every time I’m in the car. I particularly like ones where people are talking about difficult races they’ve run, and extra bonus points if they’ve overcome injury to get there. While my current reality is running in the pool, listening to running podcasts keeps me in the running world as well, and reminds me that I’ll be back there, eventually. I’m linking up with Michelle, Darlene, Renee, Jenn and Zenaida for Fit Five Friday! Anyone have any other mental or physical tricks to getting through an injury? Please read Beth Risdon’s article and tell me what you think! She’s so, so funny.
Hip Rehab!
If you’ve read this blog recently, you’ve been hearing ALL ABOUT my current injury, a very sore hip flexor which has relegated me to the pool for aqua jogging for the last few weeks. What I may not have mentioned is that ever since I had my second baby, I’ve been plagued with one injury after another, and the problem is that “baby” is now twelve years old. I’ve been going to a sports chiropractor who was doing a good job of putting out each fire as it flared up, but I decided it was time to get to the root of the problem. I was referred to Athletix Rehab by another runner, and had my first appointment yesterday. I said I had found a new “doctor” but actually it’s a team of licensed physical therapists. The initial visit took almost ninety minutes, and involved a full strength and mobility assessment by my PT, and new best friend, Arvon. Arvon diagnosed me with FAI, which stands for femoroacetabular impingement, which basically means the hip isn’t moving smoothly in the socket (no need to go into too much technical jargon.) It could be due to any number of reasons, but in my case is most likely due to a strength imbalance in my hips. During the assessment it was clear that my left side is weaker than my right (although it’s the right hip that hurts.) When I did a squat, Arvon could see that I was shifting to the right. He asked me to do it again without shifting, and I couldn’t- out of habit I’m shifting to the right without being aware of it. No wonder that hip hurts! FAI could involve a small tear to the labrum, but Arvon didn’t believe there was a serious tear based on the level of mobility that I do have, and the absence of severe pain. An MRI would be needed to diagnose that but he didn’t feel it was necessary because the treatment protocol would be the same regardless- strengthening the muscles around the hips. We ran through a series of exercises, which he videotaped on my phone and narrated, e.g. “Keep your toes pointed forward, make sure your hips are back, do three sets of ten…” so I can do them everyday at home. The funny thing is, at the end you would have thought it was my left hip being rehabbed, because it was so tired and achy- although it’s my right hip with the FAI. I briefly considered just going home, googling FAI and then figuring out exercises to do on my own. But then I thought about how long I’ve already been working on my running, my strength training, and trying to figure it out- and my best efforts have brought me to this point. So I committed to at least six sessions of PT over the next few weeks. Overall I’m excited about this course of action. The only thing I didn’t like was when he said it would take about eight weeks to return to running normally. I didn’t ask what that meant exactly- eight weeks until I’m back to running my normal distance? Or back to running, period? Some questions are better left unanswered, for now. I’m just happy to be moving in the right direction.
Weekly Rundown- Gratitude Edition
You know how sometimes, you know you should be practicing gratitude but you’re secretly seething over the injustices of life? Well, last week I managed to truly be grateful and stop seething. Maybe it was because I was feeling sentimental over my son’s graduation, an event that shook up my world a little. Anyway, I’m linking up with Kim and Deborah for this weekly rundown- here’s how the week went! Monday Always a day off. Tuesday Ah. Since I thought my hip was feeling better I did a thirty minute walk and threw in a couple minutes of running, just to check it out. Ouch. It was apparent that my hip wasn’t well enough to run. I didn’t have much time to dwell on it though. I came home, did a quick core workout, and got ready for graduation day. Wednesday Back to the pool for a 45 minute “run.” Thursday Here’s where I had a revelation- I’m actually kind of enjoying pool running. I don’t love it, the way I love running (I mean, I’m not insane) but it’s not so bad. This was my strength day, and I wished that I could do a pool run instead. I had another revelation, which was that some of my strength work was stressing my hip. Actually most of the things I was doing- squats, deadlifts, anything where I balance on one leg, and also planks and pushups. I’m calling this a “hip” issue, but where it actually hurts is in the front of my leg, around the hip flexors. So pushups and planks were putting too much pressure on the area. Friday Back to the pool, hooray! I have all sorts of workouts now- I called this one a tempo “run.” Also on Friday I made the decision to fire my doctor (the one who said this hip issue was nothing serious) and I called a new one, someone who was recommended by another runner. I made an appointment for next Tuesday, and felt like the problem was practically solved already. Saturday For something completely different, I did a 45 minute pool run. Ha ha. For this one, after a warmup, I did a workout of one lap (a circle around the deep end of my pool) sprinting, followed by one lap slightly slower, reducing the speed by a bit but still fast, then repeated that five times, followed by one recovery lap, and repeated that sequence four times. It sounds tedious, but actually made the time pass quickly. Sunday Long run day! In the pool, of course. I “ran” for 90 minutes, and really mixed it up speed-wise. I found a new gear I never knew I had in the pool, an all-out sprint that really got my heart hammering. I listened to a podcast for the first hour, then put on music for the last thirty minutes- kind of like I do for a regular long run. This was the best pool workout I’ve ever had! All week long I’ve been thinking about how frickin lucky I am to have a pool. Seriously, I don’t know what I’d be doing right now if I didn’t have it. It’s pretty common to have a pool in Florida, but if you take all the runners in the world, the percentage of them who can strap on a flotation belt and step into the pool in their backyard is pretty low. No complaints here. Anything special you’re feeling grateful for this week?