uphill climb

Hip clicking is muscle imbalance I'd get to a chiro to fix that and give you some exercises to work on for that area. It may not keep you from running but pain can be associated with it making running not very fun.

If you put your hand on your hip/femoral head, can you feel the pop with each stride? If yes, mine does that quite a bit (okay, not nearly every run, but probably a couple days once a month). I find the figure-4 stretch as well as sit-legs-out-cross-one-and-hug-your-knee to work well for that.

Hope the hip is feeling better, and as others have mentioned, SLOW DOWN, at least a couple days a week to give those muscles some recovery. Slower running really does work them both a little differently and less. I know it's hard to do, but it really does work.

As Mike said, you need to do (what I call) the "Sit Like a Guy Stretch". Sit on the edge of a chair and cross one leg over the other by placing your foot on the knee i.e. the crossing is the foot and lower leg which are now parallel (hopefully) to the floor. Lean forward and you should feel the stretch in your hip, glutes, and lower back.



I can't even remember kindergarten now as my daughter will be a senior in high school. Just another chapter I guess.

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:As Mike said, you need to do (what I call) the "Sit Like a Guy Stretch". Sit on the edge of a chair and cross one leg over the other by placing your foot on the knee i.e. the crossing is the foot and lower leg which are now parallel (hopefully) to the floor. Lean forward and you should feel the stretch in your hip, glutes, and lower back.



I can't even remember kindergarten now as my daughter will be a senior in high school. Just another chapter I guess.

That is an excellent stretch that Michele describes above, it is one that I do everyday at least 3 times a day. I had some issues with my hip which was caused by my IT band. I only found out about that when I was in getting an ultrasound done to see if I had a hernia after Boston this year. You should be able to work that issue out.

Also continue doing the foam roller or football or whatever on the butt and lower back area also that will help with the release of the IT Band.

John Kilpatrick wrote:


Kindergarten has been a bummer so far. We talk about it all morning, but then come drop-off time he starts to cry and tells me he wants to stay with me. I feel so bad for the little guy, but he has to go. I hope it gets better soon. I hate starting the day like that and then I worry about him all day....

John, I promise you...this will pass before you know it. Have his teachers told you how he does during the day? I bet he's just fine a little while after you drop him off.

I passed a school having their first day yesterday and although my little girl is 2 and was in the jogging stroller with me, I wanted to cry just seeing those little kids going off for the day. I agree having his teacher have a notebook or something she can tell you how he's doing would help. Hopefully soon he starts having fun and the whole thing gets easier. Hey I still want to cry leaving for work one day a week and I leave J with my husband!

I hope that hip feels better. My hips got sore after Fargo marathon from all the turns on the course but it cleared up in a few weeks. I hope it's nothing serious.

T Miller wrote:I hope the kindergarten drop-off becomes easier. I know that is a miserable way to start the day. My son went to preschool at the elementary and the drop-off was a struggle for many months.

Yeah, I'm hoping it gets better. It is a crappy way to start the day for the both of us. Thing is, he has always been so happy and he also hit this shy phase all of a sudden. I'm hoping that's all it is an won't last too long...

Kenny B. wrote:Hip clicking is muscle imbalance I'd get to a chiro to fix that and give you some exercises to work on for that area. It may not keep you from running but pain can be associated with it making running not very fun.

I may look into that in the future...

Mike MacLellan wrote:If you put your hand on your hip/femoral head, can you feel the pop with each stride? If yes, mine does that quite a bit (okay, not nearly every run, but probably a couple days once a month). I find the figure-4 stretch as well as sit-legs-out-cross-one-and-hug-your-knee to work well for that.

Perfect stretch, Mike - I have been doing it since I read this and it really pinpoints where the muscle is stiff/sore. I believe it is called the snapping hip or something like that. It really doesn't hurt, but is sort of weird - it doesn't happen all of the time, but I seem to notice it more when I'm running slow for some reason.

mul21 wrote:Hope the hip is feeling better, and as others have mentioned, SLOW DOWN, at least a couple days a week to give those muscles some recovery. Slower running really does work them both a little differently and less. I know it's hard to do, but it really does work.

Thanks Jim - I ran pretty slowly tonight and it does feel a lot easier on the legs. I have to constantly look at my watch to slow it down - it feels natural to go faster, but I know it is a mistake to run your fast runs too slow and your slow runs too fast... Thanks for the reminder.

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:As Mike said, you need to do (what I call) the "Sit Like a Guy Stretch". Sit on the edge of a chair and cross one leg over the other by placing your foot on the knee i.e. the crossing is the foot and lower leg which are now parallel (hopefully) to the floor. Lean forward and you should feel the stretch in your hip, glutes, and lower back.

I can't even remember kindergarten now as my daughter will be a senior in high school. Just another chapter I guess.

Perfect - I can really feel it when I do just that - so easy to do that I
will make it a point to do this more frequently now. Leg feels better
afterwards too. You guys sure are smart!!!! Thanks! And I don't even want to think about my boy growing up yet

Schuey wrote:That is an excellent stretch that Michele describes above, it is one that I do everyday at least 3 times a day. I had some issues with my hip which was caused by my IT band. I only found out about that when I was in getting an ultrasound done to see if I had a hernia after Boston this year. You should be able to work that issue out. Also continue doing the foam roller or football or whatever on the butt and lower back area also that will help with the release of the IT Band.

Thanks again Martin - encouraging that you were able to work through a similar issue.

Seth Harrison wrote:John, I promise you...this will pass before you know it. Have his teachers told you how he does during the day? I bet he's just fine a little while after you drop him off.

Thanks buddy. I haven't called or emailed her, but I know he gets positive notes from the teacher in his take-home folder. I really want him to be excited about school - hopefully it will come with time.

Julie wrote:I passed a school having their first day yesterday and although my little girl is 2 and was in the jogging stroller with me, I wanted to cry just seeing those little kids going off for the day. I agree having his teacher have a notebook or something she can tell you how he's doing would help. Hopefully soon he starts having fun and the whole thing gets easier. Hey I still want to cry leaving for work one day a week and I leave J with my husband!

I hope that hip feels better. My hips got sore after Fargo marathon from all the turns on the course but it cleared up in a few weeks. I hope it's nothing serious.

They grow up so fast - we were fortunate to be able to do what you are doing - my wife stayed home with him - it got old being broke all of the time, but we don't regret it. It's great to see how much you enjoy being a mom - it is a wonderful privilege and awesome responsibility.


Workout for today - was in the field again today so missed my noon run.

Came home and did another brick workout (cycling and running back to back) keeping the pace easy. If I felt pressure building in my left leg/hip I simply backed down either running or cycling. Worked pretty well and my body didn't feel stressed at all. Will continue to play it careful with the leg. Appreciate the help everyone, more than you know....

Cycling
49.37 miles, 2:23:36, 20.6 mph, 126 avg HR

miles	avg speed	HR
1-10	20.3	121
11-20	21.3	123
21-30	20.3	128
31-40	21.0	127
41-49	20.6	131

Run
5.0 miles, 41:00, 8:12 pace, 142 avg HR

mile	pace	HR
1	8:08	134
2	8:05	143
3	8:15	144
4	8:18	142
5	8:13	146

Solid running and biking, John! I hope the hip feels better. Do you know of any sports chiropractors that people recommend in your area? Sometimes they can figure out if there's an imbalance or leg-length discrepancy or whatever the underlying cause is, and get right at the problem. I think chiropractors are hit or miss, though--and it helps to have a recommendation from others who've gone there and had good experiences.

Do you ride by zone (Friel's HR zones) at all? If so, what does 126 put you in? Is that easy? Recovery? Aerobic threshold?

And about your boy - I used to do the same thing. Hell, I had a ridiculous month of debilitating separation anxiety (from my mom) in 4th grade after seeing the movie Bogus. Then I cried all week at 5th grade science camp. Residual effects? Well, I don't like being alone for TOO long...

Mike MacLellan wrote:Do you ride by zone (Friel's HR zones) at all? If so, what does 126 put you in? Is that easy? Recovery? Aerobic threshold?

And about your boy - I used to do the same thing. Hell, I had a ridiculous month of debilitating separation anxiety (from my mom) in 4th grade after seeing the movie Bogus. Then I cried all week at 5th grade science camp. Residual effects? Well, I don't like being alone for TOO long...

Good question - it was just basically an easy ride tonight using my leg as a guide on how hard to push the ride. According to Friel, I have a lactic threshold on the bike of about 155, so 126 puts me right at the edge of zone 1/zone 2. I guess according to Friel, I normally somewhere at the upper edge of zone 2 and into zone 3.

Apparently you made it through the trauma just fine and are perfectly normal. Oh wait...... shit.....

John Kilpatrick wrote:Apparently you made it through the trauma just fine and are perfectly normal. Oh wait...... shit.....

Mike MacLellan wrote:

John Kilpatrick wrote:Apparently you made it through the trauma just fine and are perfectly normal. Oh wait...... shit.....

Hahahahaha!!! Good news - my boy made it through Friday kindergarten drop off and school just fine. He didn't necessarily like it, but he did OK. Hopefully it will get better from here. I took Friday off from working out and saw Bill Cosby last night - that guy is absolutely hilarious and hasn't lost a step. Brilliant comedy!

I have no clue what the deal was today, but I took off for a somewhat hilly ride (at least for my neck of the woods anyway) and the results were terrible. No clue as to why. I stopped at about mile 45-50 at a little store - was thirsty and feeling a little beat so got a big fountain soda. Drank it and almost instantly felt sick to my stomach. Not good. Got back on the bike and just basically hung on until the end - never did barf, but stomach felt awful. Legs felt weak too - what the heck is up with that? It was hot today (heat index 105 during the ride), but that is basically normal for us and I should be used to that. Great news was the leg felt better - not 100%, but definitely better. Bad news was my HR was WAY too high for the speed I was riding. Oh well....

At least I got it done - I'm going to just chalk this one up to just a bad day and move on.

73.12 miles, 3:37:20, avg pace 20.2 mph, avg HR 140

miles	pace (mph)	HR
1-10	20.6	126
1120	20.6	135
21-30	20.3	141
31-40	20.2	142
41-50	19.8	147
51-60	20.2	141
61-70	20.1	149
71-73.1	19.1	150

Move on indeed. If it keeps up for another workout or two, ease off.

Thanks Mike

I think the heat may have something to do with it, or at least with my stomach? I don't know, it seems like I should be adjusted to all of this mess by now. Ran this morning a 15 miler and sort of bonked out even though I didn't push it or anything. Heat index was 96 with a dew point of 81 and 94% humidity. Ran out of water - thought I had plenty, but sweat was just pouring today. Took a potty break at mile 11 or so. Decided I was basically done at 13.1 miles today of a 15 mile loop - don't know what percentage of each it was, but it was part my hip a little tight (not really sore, just sort of a dull tight feeling) and part just out of water and feeling like I'd had it. Walked some and then jogged in the last mile. Not as bad as yesterday, but felt a little queasy again today... HR was high again - think that is partly due to the heat. 15.0 miles, 2:10:49, 8:43 avg pace, avg HR 140 bpm.

Oh well - then end of a long week...

mile	pace	HR
1	8:32	118
2	8:08	127
3	8:13	130
4	8:25	130
5	8:23	135
6	8:18	138
7	8:15	141
8	8:19	145
9	8:14	145
10	8:08	151
11	9:30	145
12	8:10	156
13	8:08	166
14	13:35	136
15	8:30	150

Not your strongest run but only know that because you run strong almost every time. This is not bad thing as you got to have not so good runs to know when you have a good run. I think hydration played a big part in this as the weather was a bit oppressive. Shake it off and carry on. Just watch your HR on the next few runs. If still elevated I'd look at a day off or at very least easy running.

Just read your other post I think it is time for that day off followed by easy run. It will do the body more good then "bad".

John, for a tough run, that one wasn't too bad. With the exception of the one walking mile, you kept your splits very consistent. No doubt the combination of heat, humidity, and lack of hydration all contributed. I hope the hip is o.k. Enjoy the rest of our Sunday!

Good job getting your long run done even in high heat and humidity. Take it easy the next couple of days, rest, hydrate, all that. Take care of your hip, too!

Yes I love staying home with my little girl. I find a lot of nerdy money saving tactics, too, so we do fine, just very frugal living on basically 1 income (bigger things like owning 1 car, small things like re-using aluminum foil)

Tough run John but you got it done. Hopefully you've been pounding fluids since.

John, sorry your workouts have been more difficult recently. Only a guess, but sometimes I think heat and humidity can have an accumulative effect over time and if we get behind fluid-wise it can show up unexpectedly. Hope things clear up for you soon.



I am notorious for not hydrating well at times during short or medium runs so I have to watch this as well. Yesterday after my nine miler in the heat and humidity, I must have drank six or more 12 oz waters the hour or two after I got home. And I did bring my water bottle on the run. My guess is I didn't hydrate enough after my 12 miler the night before.

Two doesn't make a trend, but it starts to. Be smart this week. Listen to your body, not your pride (remember, it recently took me a full week of stupidly slow runs to get any sort of bounce back).

Way to tough out the run John. I really think that the bonking happened because of the heat/lack of fluids. I would give the nod to the heat for the higher HR, too. I am sure that you have re-hydrated and are ready to attack again...

Kenny B. wrote:Not your strongest run but only know that because you run strong almost every time. This is not bad thing as you got to have not so good runs to know when you have a good run. I think hydration played a big part in this as the weather was a bit oppressive. Shake it off and carry on. Just watch your HR on the next few runs. If still elevated I'd look at a day off or at very least easy running.

Just read your other post I think it is time for that day off followed by easy run. It will do the body more good then "bad".

Thanks Kenny - I didn't take a day totally off, but did take "recovery run" seriously today (see below)

Seth Harrison wrote:John, for a tough run, that one wasn't too bad. With the exception of the one walking mile, you kept your splits very consistent. No doubt the combination of heat, humidity, and lack of hydration all contributed. I hope the hip is o.k. Enjoy the rest of our Sunday!

Hip is fine, or is getting that way - the stretches I think really helped.

Julie wrote:Good job getting your long run done even in high heat and humidity. Take it easy the next couple of days, rest, hydrate, all that. Take care of your hip, too!

Yes I love staying home with my little girl. I find a lot of nerdy money saving tactics, too, so we do fine, just very frugal living on basically 1 income (bigger things like owning 1 car, small things like re-using aluminum foil)

Been there done that with the nerdy money saving stuff! I think it's wonderful. About a gallon of orange juice later and I'm feeling fine!

Alex Kubacki wrote:Tough run John but you got it done. Hopefully you've been pounding fluids since.

Definitely - diet coke and orange juice!!!

jon c wrote:John, sorry your workouts have been more difficult recently. Only a guess, but sometimes I think heat and humidity can have an accumulative effect over time and if we get behind fluid-wise it can show up unexpectedly. Hope things clear up for you soon.I am notorious for not hydrating well at times during short or medium runs so I have to watch this as well. Yesterday after my nine miler in the heat and humidity, I must have drank six or more 12 oz waters the hour or two after I got home. And I did bring my water bottle on the run. My guess is I didn't hydrate enough after my 12 miler the night before.

I guess it is easy to do - I don't do as many medium-length runs because of the cycling, but I hear you about the accumulative dehydration if we're not careful. Biking is easier b/c you can carry water with you, but it gets old to drink 100 degree gatorade/water all of the time!!!

Mike MacLellan wrote:Two doesn't make a trend, but it starts to. Be smart this week. Listen to your body, not your pride (remember, it recently took me a full week of stupidly slow runs to get any sort of bounce back).

Yeah - I follow your training and actually have thought about that - you bounced back very quickly which was great to see. I'm glad I read Chris' blog about recovery runs and slowing it down - put that into practice today actually...

Nick Morris wrote:Way to tough out the run John. I really think that the bonking happened because of the heat/lack of fluids. I would give the nod to the heat for the higher HR, too. I am sure that you have re-hydrated and are ready to attack again...

Thanks Nick - I think you are probably right. When it is humid like that and the sweat just keeps dripping, I suspect our core temps probably raise a good bit. I have held this stupid dream that wouldn't it be cool to someday run the badwater ultra? Yesterday I thought hell no, it would not be cool at all!!! It can be sort of confidence shattering, but I am clinging to the idea that everything will feel better in late September and I'll be better able to handle it...

For today:
Ran a recovery run at lunch, really focusing on slowing it down (Thanks Chris!). Heat index was 106 by the time I got back, but I wasn't out long enough for it to really wreak much havoc. 4.51 miles, 38:27, 8:31 pace, 123 avg HR

mile	pace	HR
1	8:20	113
2	8:32	121
3	8"42	123
4	8:33	131
.52	8:23	134

After work went to the pool for my normal swim, but it got interrupted by a thunderstorm. For some stupid reason, our pool at the Y is not grounded even though it is inside and it is in the ground!!! So, whenever there is thunder, they close the pool until nothing is heard for 30 minutes. That sucks, but at least I got a little swim in. Had to call it quits just as I was getting in the groove and settling in for a good swim. 1350 yds (0.77 miles) 22:09, pace=1:38/100 yds

lap (50 yds)	pace per lap (sec)
lap 1-5	48.0
lap 6-10	48.6
lap 11-15	48.7
lap 16-20	49.9
lap 21-25	50.4
lap 26-27	50.6

Came home and felt energized enough to want to do another easy run, but didn't feel like jumping on the bike for whatever reason, so did an even easier 2nd recovery run. 5.53 miles, 49:54, pace = 9:00/mile. Forgot the HR strap, but definitely a low effort run.

mile	pace
1	9:13
2	9:02
3	9:15
4	9:00
5	8:49
.54	8:31

I approve of today's runs. No shame whatsoever in ticking off 9 minute miles.

Good running! I had enough of the heat but it looks like you're still stuck with it awhile longer. I guess that's the price you pay for milder winters?