Third visit to the Magician - acupuncture, deep massage, and I'm allowed to start going for SHORT runs. Like, all of 200m - and building up to 2km over the week. Ugh! hardly seems worth it. However, 200m is 200m more than I've been allowed to run so far, so I guess I'll start tomorrow.
stats from last week:
| Weight | 73.0 kgs ▲ |
| Walking | 9.0 kms |
| Running | 0 kms |
| Cycling | 0 kms |
Walked again, but didn't hold back. I wasn't walking particuarly fast, but I was striding out and not babying the hip.
5.5 km in 9:59/km pace
Went for a short run to the toilets and back, and it felt so good - I can't wait to get back into it!
Got home and crawled into bed for a half hour nana nap!
Hip is slightly achy as I type, but I sidled up to the tennis ball after my nap and it seems to have eased it a bit. Will do some more gentle prodding tonight.
I walked. Slowly. I kept having to tell myself to slow down, as my pace kept creeping up. The problem with the hip is that I don't get immediate feedback when I'm pushing it too hard, because it doesn't hurt until after I finish. But I managed to slow it down, and came in after 40 minutes. I stretched it out when I got back to the car, and I've pulled up this morning with no aches or pains. 3.5 km. woot!
Happy little duck this morning. Went to see the Magician last night, and he says that the muscle is still slightly knotted, but it's mostly residual inflamation that's causing the pain. So onto the Voltarin (wahoo!).
He stuck some needles into my butt, and while I was basting we talked about running stuff (as you do). I asked about mid-foot vs heel strike (after a recent thread on CR), and he says heel strike. tick. I asked about orthotics and neutral shoes - because I don't wear my orthotics any more, and he said that was cool. tick. He says I have strong feet, probably as a result of running around barefoot for most of my childhood, and my high arch gives me plenty of spring - which is only restricted by a controlling shoe/orthotic. So, running-wise, I'm doing all the right things.
We decided that I probably just overdid it on the four days leading up to the first hip niggle.
And, this morning I swung out of bed and was halfway down the hall before I realised that the hip didn't hurt. On closer introspection, it's a bit tender from being jabbed and pummelled last night, but it's not sore! I have to give it a few days to settle down, then I can start some short walks.
*happy*
After watching my weight reach some alarming levels last week - too much sugar: "step away from the bakery tray..." coupled with the inability to run, it was time for a detox.
On Friday night after Happy Hour (pizza, garlic bread, lollies and Coke), I weighed 72.7kg. I thought it would be higher as I'd reached well into the 73s during the week, but I'd had a light lunch in anticipation.
My detox consists of fruit and vegetable juices, "breakfast" (muesli, etc) at noon, more juices in the afternoon gradually becoming more vege than fruit, and vege soup for dinner. All homemade, of course. And 2 homemade powerbars mid-afternoon, because I couldn't resist.
Weight on Saturday night was 71.7kg, Sunday morning was 71.4kg. Same routine on Sunday, except I broke the detox around 4ish with some really yummy fresh bread. Boy it's hard to stop at half a loaf, ha ha. Weight on Sunday evening was 72.something, and this morning it was 71.5kg.
No headache for the entire weekend either. :-)
Now all I have to do this week is STAY AWAY FROM THE BAKERY TRAY!
Hip is still not happy, still achy. Still! But I'll go for a short walk at lunchtime, and another visit to the quack tonight.
| Weight | 71.5 kgs ▼ |
| Walking | 0 kms |
| Running | 0 kms |
| Cycling | 0 kms |
TUESDAY:
hip hurts like hell whenever I stand up or move more than half a step. It's bruised and sore to touch, although I think I can blame Mathew for that.
must watch my food intake as I'm not doing anything to burn it off. Garmin TC tells me I burn 600-700 calories on an average run... multiply that by 4 or 5, and that adds up to a lot of less-than-ideal food that I can "get away with" each week.
fishball noodle soup for lunch.
killer headache - right temple. Not responding to drugs, and wincingly painfull in late afternoon/evening. Homemade vege soup for dinner. Head was fine while eating, then came back with a vengence afterwards.
WEDNESDAY:
sore head, sore hip, although both marginally less so than yesterday.
During the morning the headache slid down from my right temple to behind my right eye socket. Hah - I recognise that (sinus pain), so I grabbed all the drugs I could get my hands on, and chased them down with a slice of chocolate fudgecake. To hell with the diet.
Spinach and pumpkin pasta for lunch
Pizza for tea
THURSDAY:
head is 99% gone, but took drugs just to make sure it's completely dead.
hip is MUCH better. Had an "emotive discussion" with my boss this morning, and went for a walk outside to cool off. Apart from being so cold that my fingers turned purple (yeah, stormed off without grabbing my jacket), the hip only caused a miniscule amount of pain.
I might have stormed a bit roughly though, because it didn't feel up to walking the ~1km to the shopping centre for lunch. I drove. Had a rice noodle thing, and bought a slab of Russian Chilli fudge to console myself with. Bloody men.
Leftover pizza for tea.
FRIDAY:
Woke up with the headache lurking behind the left eye socket again. *sigh* Just piss off, will you?
Also woke with an achy hip. I can't believe that it's still THIS sore after THIS much inactivity. Mind you, it was cold this morning: only 5°C inside, and -4°C outside, so I guess I can be excused for having old-woman hips.
Stepped on the scales this morning, yikes! Homemade vege soup for lunch.
Well, the Magician did his thing - dug his fingers and elbow into various tender parts of my anatomy, and invoked maximum pain. Faaaark some of it hurt. He even tried to get to my hip and tailbone from the inside, going in through my stomach. Sheesh.
The verdict: a strain of the gluteus medius, probably caused by a stumble or something while I was running last Monday night (not that I remembered anything). It's gone into a spasm, and taken out a few of it's mates with it. But at least it's only a muscle strain, and nothing more serious.
I asked about piriformis syndrome as he was poking around, and he said, "yeah, just coming to that", and he dug his fingers in. "*That's* the piriformis" he says, as I jump about 2" off the table.
The cure: COMPLETE REST for a week, minimum. Can I cycle? No. Can I walk? How fast do you walk - No. Ugh. One grumpy wannabe runner comin' up.
Tamyka, thanks for the buzzword (piriformis syndrome). I did wonder if I'd been struck with something like that, but why would it suddenly happen? And it doesn't worry me when I'm running, only when I stop.
Anyway, I've made an appointment with the Magician for tonight, as it's still bloody sore this morning. I've also got my yoga gear in the car in case I couldn't get in to see him, and I'll do that tomorrow night. This isn't tame gym-yoga, BTW, it's Bikram's Torture Chamber, and guarantees to pummel everything that stretches, and some things that don't. I don't enjoy it, but I enjoying having done it (when it's over).
The other reason that I haven't been too upset at not running is that I've also had a mild cold for the last week, and my body has been really sluggish. Last night I had a headache (left temple), and this morning I woke up with toothache (upper left molar) - as well as a hip ache - and realised that it's one of my sinus headaches come to visit. Ugh. So I'm drugged to the eyeballs, and wondering if the whole left side of my body is trying to tell me something...
update:
A Google search suggests that it's probably NOT piriformis symdrome - the pain in the butt, I can cure with a tennis ball. It's more likely to be this:
Description:
Pain in the side of your hip, usually at the joint of your hip and thigh but sometimes a bit higher toward the hip bone.
Likely causes:
A basic overuse injury. You've inflamed the fascia in your hips, the flexible fibers in the joint. The specific reasons for this pain vary for different runners. The culprit may be weak back muscles, the type of surface on which you run, the shoes you wear, or the length of your running stride. One of the remedies below will likely work for you, but it's difficult to predict which it will be. ...
I was tossing up whether to go to this event, given that we've had 25mm of rain in the last two days, and the ground was going to be very sodden. But a trot around a park was going to be a lot easier on my body than a trot along a road/trail, so I went.
The course was two loops around the park, with a map changeover (and markup) in between. I started suffering from blonditis towards then end of the second loop, when I ran from control #28 to the middle of nowhere, relocated to control #30, back to #29, then finally to #31 and on to the finish. Enjoyable run though.
Hip started hurting on the walk back to the car. :-(
Course: A (32 controls!)
Course Length: 5.1 km
Actual Distance: 7.1 km
Time Taken: 58 minutes
Spent some time this afternoon rolling around on the floor in agony on the tennis ball, but it doesn't appear to have helped much.
weekly wrap:
| Weight | 71.8 kgs ▼ |
| Running | 23.1 kms |
Okay, I've officially *done something*. My left hip was exceptionally sore first thing this morning, and whenever I get up after sitting for a while. And the outside of my lower left calf is tender and swollen as well - I spent some time last night rubbing some diclofenac into it and giving it a massage.
We get free 15-minute massages at work about once a month, and it was my turn this morning. I didn't tell him where I was hurting, but he found it quick enough - digging his thumbs into my arse and finding plenty of tender spots. He said afterwards that he could feel that the muscle was a lot tighter and denser than on the right side. Tonight's task is to roll around on a tennis ball.
And, in unrelated news, I went to the quack this morning (for a scrip - nothing serious), and got my blood pressure taken. It was around 115/75 - which is the LOWEST that it's EVER been for me. The systolic measurement usually hovers around 130-140, so for it to be below 120 is seriously amazing. Must be all that running...
FRI update: hip is a lot better today after self-torturing with the tennis ball last night. Lower calf is still tender though, and given the thick layer of ice on the frog pond this morning, I decided to have yet another rest day.
I know that if I don't resolve these injuries when they're little, they just get bigger and bigger. So even though I hate not doing anything, I don't really mind too much. My next scheduled orienteering event is on Sunday, so I'll see how things shape up tomorrow.
late update: I lied. It's not better at all. *sob*
Several more rest days coming up...
This was never going to be anything more than an easy run as I've ended up with a sore lower calf after 2 hilly runs (Sat and Mon). I think that's why, anyway. I didn't notice any discomfort while I was running tonight, but my left hip is achy again when I walk around. Grrr.
Will rest again tomorrow, and make a judgement call on Friday morning. I don't mind giving my body a rest every now and again, as long as it's not habit forming. Oh, and my bathroom scales are currently out of action (dead battery), so I can't track how sinful I'm being. :-)
| Distance | Avg pace | Avg HR |
| 7.6 km | 6:11 /km | 160 bpm (84%) |
I've been enjoying the warmth of the doona for the last 2 mornings, and it's been sooo nice! I know I could get up and walk for an hour, expecially now that the cold snap appears to be over (for the moment), but what I really want to do is run - but if I run fairly hard on Monday nights, should I also run (gently) on Monday and Tuesday mornings? Is that overkill?
My left hip is a bit achy this morning, so I'll rest it until tomorrow night (that's my excuse, anyway). But I've been enjoying the morning runs and don't really want to give them up when I start running 3 nights a week again.
For the serious Street-O addict, Geoff is coordinating a series of unofficial Monday runs based from people's homes or a local coffee shop. Tonight was the first of these, on the Surrey Hills map, starting from Geoff's place.
Instead of punch controls, we had to record the last digit of the yellow tag on the light pole at each control circle. This meant carrying a biro, and instead of being able to punch-and-go, we had to stop, peer upwards, strain to read (not wearing glasses), and then get the right number into the right square on the control card. So the stats below are based on MotionBased's Moving Time, rather than total time, as apparently I spent 2¼ minutes standing still.
Fun night - only a dozen of us running around, and there was a warm fluffy breeze floating around (13 degrees). A hilly area, but I shortened my stride and chugged up the hills without too much effort.
Oh, and I ran past one of those speed notification things. I was running along in the dark, minding my own business, when this large yellow smiley face light up in front of me. Wha...? And then it flashed "13" in large numbers, followed by the smiley face again. Lol, hope I wasn't speeding!
| Distance | Avg pace | Avg HR |
| 8.4 km | 6:04 /km | 161 bpm (85%) |
Bush orienteering in the You Yangs state forest park. I'd already decided that I was going to walk (after yesterday's effort), but 80% of the terrain was un-runnable anyway with large sections of unpenetrable green stuff. The other 80% was granite rocks, which are fun (ha ha, not) to navigate through at the best of times. Found most of the course pretty straightforward, though, and I was a bit surprised to see the distance that I'd covered.
Found Marta looking lost at control #6, and then again at #7 along with 3 others (we found it eventually), and again at #13 where she convinced me that we were in the right place. Silly girl - me, for listening to her! We found it a bit further along where I thought it would be, and from there to the finish we stayed together, picking up Pam at the second-to-last control.
Nice area, not too cold (except in the exposed areas), and apart from wading through prickly waist-deep greenery it was nice terrain and not too steep.
Too cold to stick around for a picnic lunch though, so headed for the warmth of the Golden Arches on the way home.
Course: 4, 15 controls
Course Length: 4.7 km
Actual Distance: 7.6 km
Time Taken: 2:06
weekly wrap:
| Weight | 72.1 kgs ▲ |
| Running | 49.6 kms |
Another gut-busting run around the hills at Lillydale Lake. I set off too fast (not warmed up), which is unusual for me, but chose an efficient route to get around all the controls that I wanted to.
Except for a detour to a high wooden fence that obviously wasn't able to be circumnavigated - which it looked like you could on the map - so I had to go back the way I'd come.
And another "short cut" across some lumpy grass and a clay-filled ditch which turned my shoes yellow. Pete later said that the same clay ditch actually sucked one of his shoes off!
And some deep mud near control #20 which added to the clay and the stones already on my shoes to add extra weight to what I was already trying to lug around!
Back 1¼ minutes late, and there was no way I could have pushed myself to go any faster. I had nothing left.
| Distance | Avg pace | Avg HR |
| 9.7 km | 6:07 /km | 165 bpm (87%) |
Drizzly weather when I headed out, but not unpleasant to run in. Comfortable trot to Wandin and back.
| Distance | Avg pace | Avg HR |
| 8.8 km | 6:48 /km | 152 bpm (80%) |
Very hilly, very intricate little map. Didn't take any walking breaks, but slowly trotted up the hills... then down the other side... then up the next hill... and down... and up.
Funny at the start. We'd all been given our maps, and Pete yelled "Go!". And everyone just stood there trying to decipher the map and figure out which way to run. "GO!" yells Pete again... and everyone slowly shuffles off - knowing that this one isn't going to be a high-scoring event.
Back 2 minutes early, deciding not to go for any more controls because I wasn't entirely sure that I knew how to get back into the park for the finish location (railway tracks, bike paths, bridges, and a very wet creek enforced accurate navigation!).
| Distance | Avg pace | Avg HR |
| 6.8 km | 6:41 /km | 162 bpm (85%) |
Damp, foggy morning (6°C), and I nearly didn't escape from the doona. Did the Victoria Road-Killara Station loop again, at a comfortable pace, ignoring the HRM. At one point, running along the sealed road connecting Victoria Rd and Killara Stn, I realised that I'd come to the top of a hill - AND I HADN'T EVEN NOTICED THAT I WAS RUNNING UPHILL!!
| Distance | Avg pace | Avg HR |
| 8.5 km | 6:55 /km | 150 bpm (79%) |
Slow one from Seville to Wandin, watching the HR. It had been raining off and on all night, and the temperature was a mild 9 degrees.
| Distance | Avg pace | Avg HR |
| 8.5 km | 7:24 /km | 139 bpm (73%) |
Took a long time to warm up (yes, it was cold), and it felt like I didn't get out of plod mode until the halfway mark. Got back a few minutes early, but there was nothing else I could have added into my loop that would have made the time up, without getting in late again.
| Distance | Avg pace | Avg HR |
| 9.3 km | 5:57 /km | 164 bpm (86%) |
| Weight | 71.8 kgs |
| Running | 43.7 kms |
