So, I want to tell you that the hip is great. I am sure it is! After all, once the bills from the MRI and cortisone shot roll in, my hip better feel great. (I am seriously dreading the bills. Why? Why? Why do these things have to cost such an incredible amount of money?)
But, I can't give you much news on the hip because I haven't run. The flu decided to visit me, and while it has moved on to other families, it left mine completely sick and with bronchitis as a nice parting gift. And boom- just like that- another week or more of training out of the window.
I have been mad, grumpy, sad, and everything else under the sun. I finally felt a bit of peace just writing it out tonight. There are those times when you realize you just have no control, and this is one of those times. I guess there could be a worse time to get the flu, like the week of the marathon. So maybe this is not ideal, but it could be worse. I do have control of my attitude, but I was so negative this week it was embarrassing. I have a goal for the rest of this week to just share gratitude with others and stop whining about what I can't do.
(I have had to constantly remind myself that this upcoming marathon is just one race, at one point in time, in what will be many more years of running. It will seem so insignificant in time, so I need to peacefully let this be what it will be and let the good races/and years come to me when it is time.)
But no running, probably for the rest of the week. I am really kicked down right now physically. My chest hurts so much, and the coughing is incessant. Fortunately, Isla is sleeping right now for the first time in a week without tons of coughing, so hopefully she is right side up now. As a family, we just all need to get healthy again and get this virus out of here!
The focus of this week is vegetables, fruit, and herbal teas. Anyone with some good witches' brew and secret potions for wellness, send them my way! I really need to get back to running.
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Aggravated Hip
Hip update- no fracture. YAY!!!! I finally got in to the doctor today and we looked at the MRI. There is no obvious fracture, which is great. There is a lot of edema in my hip that is more diffuse than a typical greater trochanteric bursitis, but there are no obvious tears on the MRI. So, basically, I have a edema from my posterior hip and lateral hip that covers a much larger section than is typical. He sent my MRI to a conference this weekend to have a sports specialist in radiology review it, but they ran out of time. We can't really figure out the mechanics of it, and the area is pretty large, so something else is going on but it is just not clear from the imaging. I don't present with typical bursitis (although I would say this is more bursitis than anything per MRI)- you can push on my bursa and there is not specific pain. He doesn't think I have piriformis syndrome or injury because we can mash on that, and I am okay. My SI joints and spine look okay on MRI (although they don't feel great- thanks to my new mom body). So, whatever I did in that November race was just some sort of nice injury to my hip that has caused unresolved pain and swelling. I am really not too worried about it in a big picture sense. (knock on wood) As long as we haven't missed a tear or fracture, then this is repetitive, not backing off immediately, training load error stuff. (The blame 100% goes to me for poor race planing, probably). Interestingly I took a several weeks off back when it happened, which I would have thought would have knocked this out. It's all good- I love solving problems. Worse case scenario is in 3 months I am having more serious issues and then we have to consider that we did miss something, and that is just how it goes when trying to get to the underlying cause of large areas like the "hip," which really also includes the femur, pelvis, scrum, lunar spine, and lots of muscle attachment.
Treatment: I definitely would be taking some time off if I didn't have Boston in 5 weeks. I didn't really budge on going, since we didn't see a tear, even though I am fine with revising goals. I am willing to work with this and back off even more, and the doc was willing to work with me. We went ahead and decided together to do a cortisone shot to two areas in the hip today. And I love it when I can be a collaborator. He and a few others suggested it, I mulled on it, I pulled the trigger. I know people get weird about cortisone, but in this case, I didn't hesitate for long. (I am not a huge steroid fan and see the results of chronic steroid use in my PT practice. I think I have only had maybe 2 oral steroid packs in my life. The only other time I have gotten a cortisone shot was years ago for my knee I had a strong feeling it wouldn't work because it was bone and cartilage damage. But, I was really grasping for straws. And it didn't work- I got surgery shortly after, and all was well.) With this, though, I felt good about our decision to put some anti-inflammatory assistance in the area. It has been going on 5 months, so it is angry and needs to calm down. So, that is that. And then I will probably start taking just your normal ibuprofen for a little time, which I haven't been taking, along with ice, rehab, rest, etc.
And I keep saying I am going to be 100% in on this, and work/life/big changes keep dominating my day. (And insomnia my night, which is why I am blogging at 1:30am). There are so many great things to do for inflammation and I have not been doing them. So, there is room for improvement in these next 5 weeks.
And I keep saying I am going to be 100% in on this, and work/life/big changes keep dominating my day. (And insomnia my night, which is why I am blogging at 1:30am). There are so many great things to do for inflammation and I have not been doing them. So, there is room for improvement in these next 5 weeks.
So going forward. Boston is still on the table. Of course I will continue to modify as needed and try to get there as healthy and pain free as possible. Seriously I am not even stressed about it. I hated racing in so much pain last race. It zapped the joy out of it for sure. But, I think I can make some adjustments and go have a positive day in Boston.
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
LR Half Marathon- and the Hip
Little Rock Half Marathon
This is kind of my annual race. I would have to check and see how many of these I have done, but it is a good handful. I love the course. Well, mostly. It is not flat by any means, and somehow this year they found a way to add another hill or two. I have never had a PR on this course, but that is kind of refreshing. It is one of those races that I just like to do because I like to do it! The crowd support is really good for a half marathon in this region, and I always have some family members come out to cheer me on. Good stuff, and I will keep coming back to this event over the years.
This year I used the race as a workout/ let's just see where I am before Boston. No sandbagging here....seriously not 1 single mile under 8 minutes on these legs since October 2015. I was NOT looking forward to the rush of lactate that I knew would really hurt when I picked up the pace.
But the real issue for me is my hip. It has hurt since November. I have whined on the blog a bit. I continue to run on it because I have really thought it was a soft tissue injury such as a bursitis or tendonosis in my external rotators. Early February I suspected it may be a bit more than that- talked to my PT who agreed- and got an x-ray. The x-ray was negative for stress fractures, so I kept running, even though the doctor suggested an MRI. So, running hasn't been great. BUT, it has been tolerable. And sometimes I become indecisive in this area. How much pain is too much pain? I played through pain for most of my soccer life, so it is just hard to know when to step back and when to push through. And the thing is, sometimes it hurts a lot when I run, and sometimes just a little. Sometimes it starts at mile 1, and sometimes at mile 5.
My warm up was....uh oh. Why is it hurting already? I wasn't even a couple of miles in.
And then the race started and I had two different issues. 1. My hip was hurting immediately- really hurting with every step. And 2. I was not prepared to run half marathon pace.
I put a cap on my pace before the start of the race with a 7:45 first mile. It was an arbitrary number, but I thought it would serve me well to make sure I didn't go out too quickly and just let the race come to me. But, no cap needed. I couldn't even go faster than 7:45. When your mile 1 sucks, you know you are in trouble.
So, at the end of the day, I ran a 1:39, and I didn't care one bit about my time or pace. I just wanted to be done for the entirety of the race. I basically just struggled the whole day through hip pain and the discomfort of not being fit enough to run quicker than marathon pace. I did somehow put some faster miles down, and I didn't fall too far behind on the hills, but I was just miserable. I made every bargain with my hip that I would get help if I could just finish. The race served its purpose. My hip really hurts- no hiding in a race.
And why finish? Maybe this sounds completely unreasonable, but in my head I said this: if this is a fracture, I am out after this race. Just finish. If it is not a fracture, I am still doing Boston, and I really need these harder miles and fitness. Just finish.
Well, it is what it is. I talked to Gina after the race we revised my/our Boston plan. I will be happy to walk/run. I also called my PT, who said the MRI had to happen immediately. It did- got it done yesterday. So, fingers crossed for happy results. I would be totally 100% fine if they said they didn't see a thing on the image. Great! I'll suck up the pain and move forward. Just so long as I don't have a stress fracture. Hopefully I get an answer today.
This is kind of my annual race. I would have to check and see how many of these I have done, but it is a good handful. I love the course. Well, mostly. It is not flat by any means, and somehow this year they found a way to add another hill or two. I have never had a PR on this course, but that is kind of refreshing. It is one of those races that I just like to do because I like to do it! The crowd support is really good for a half marathon in this region, and I always have some family members come out to cheer me on. Good stuff, and I will keep coming back to this event over the years.
This year I used the race as a workout/ let's just see where I am before Boston. No sandbagging here....seriously not 1 single mile under 8 minutes on these legs since October 2015. I was NOT looking forward to the rush of lactate that I knew would really hurt when I picked up the pace.
But the real issue for me is my hip. It has hurt since November. I have whined on the blog a bit. I continue to run on it because I have really thought it was a soft tissue injury such as a bursitis or tendonosis in my external rotators. Early February I suspected it may be a bit more than that- talked to my PT who agreed- and got an x-ray. The x-ray was negative for stress fractures, so I kept running, even though the doctor suggested an MRI. So, running hasn't been great. BUT, it has been tolerable. And sometimes I become indecisive in this area. How much pain is too much pain? I played through pain for most of my soccer life, so it is just hard to know when to step back and when to push through. And the thing is, sometimes it hurts a lot when I run, and sometimes just a little. Sometimes it starts at mile 1, and sometimes at mile 5.
My warm up was....uh oh. Why is it hurting already? I wasn't even a couple of miles in.
And then the race started and I had two different issues. 1. My hip was hurting immediately- really hurting with every step. And 2. I was not prepared to run half marathon pace.
I put a cap on my pace before the start of the race with a 7:45 first mile. It was an arbitrary number, but I thought it would serve me well to make sure I didn't go out too quickly and just let the race come to me. But, no cap needed. I couldn't even go faster than 7:45. When your mile 1 sucks, you know you are in trouble.
So, at the end of the day, I ran a 1:39, and I didn't care one bit about my time or pace. I just wanted to be done for the entirety of the race. I basically just struggled the whole day through hip pain and the discomfort of not being fit enough to run quicker than marathon pace. I did somehow put some faster miles down, and I didn't fall too far behind on the hills, but I was just miserable. I made every bargain with my hip that I would get help if I could just finish. The race served its purpose. My hip really hurts- no hiding in a race.
This is a picture my aunt took when she had her phone on an odd setting . It kind of cracks me up! And really, if I could've left my hips and legs behind, I would've!
And why finish? Maybe this sounds completely unreasonable, but in my head I said this: if this is a fracture, I am out after this race. Just finish. If it is not a fracture, I am still doing Boston, and I really need these harder miles and fitness. Just finish.
Well, it is what it is. I talked to Gina after the race we revised my/our Boston plan. I will be happy to walk/run. I also called my PT, who said the MRI had to happen immediately. It did- got it done yesterday. So, fingers crossed for happy results. I would be totally 100% fine if they said they didn't see a thing on the image. Great! I'll suck up the pain and move forward. Just so long as I don't have a stress fracture. Hopefully I get an answer today.
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