Clawing My Way Back

Alex Kubacki wrote:I hope you're able to come through dealing with all that.

Me too..Me too..

Julie wrote:I hope you heal up and are patient enough to not push it and injure yourself. I know it takes much self control to not run when injured. Hang in there.

Runners have no self control. LOL

Here's hoping that your list get shortened. One thing at a time is enough to deal with....

Agreed. I have a race in October. If I want a 6:30 pace 10K, I better get healthy now. I was watching the USATF Championships on a.....bike. Usually running to this event, but not this year or not at least, right now. I biked for 45 minutes, which is 11.34 miles on my odometer. I did 20 minutes of Pilates this morning and will do 15 tonight. I am sure I will not get to run at all this week, but will check with my DC on further details. The mix will be 30 minutes swimming and 45 minutes biking. That should keep my weight in check and my stamina up.

Michael, with the niggles/injuries you're dealing with right now, I had to do a double-take to make sure I wasn't reading my own blog.
I hope you get all this stuff behind you soon so you're able to train for that October race.

Yeah it is weird. Last year I went almost injury free. I will get better I know it. Oh by the way, my hamstring ( right ) is semi tweaking after the bike ride. Anything else? LOL

Ugh, Mike..I'm sorry to hear about the niggles . Back pain sucks, doesn't it? Martin had a bout with that for a while and it turned out it was Piriformis Syndrome. All of these little niggles will shake their way out, and soon! I just know it!!!

Mrs. Schuey wrote:Ugh, Mike..I'm sorry to hear about the niggles . Back pain sucks, doesn't it? Martin had a bout with that for a while and it turned out it was Piriformis Syndrome. All of these little niggles will shake their way out, and soon! I just know it!!!

I know, I know. I have been running since March 1980. I just wished I could not be hurt. LOL

ART appointment at 9 am. Some good news. I ran 1/2 mile at a 10 minute pace. Although it was tightening up on me, not as bad as Saturday. I have a feeling both the orthotic and DC folks will want me to run tonight to get it to the point of tightening. That being said, I am hopeful this week. I might, and I just said might, go with ART all week long. I have never done that. That just might tip the scales. We shall see.

Michael Mitchell wrote:

Mrs. Schuey wrote:Ugh, Mike..I'm sorry to hear about the niggles . Back pain sucks, doesn't it? Martin had a bout with that for a while and it turned out it was Piriformis Syndrome. All of these little niggles will shake their way out, and soon! I just know it!!!

I know, I know. I have been running since March 1980. I just wished I could not be hurt. LOL

Full agreement with all of that, and with getting old sucks! Nobody can accuse you of not addressing these issues directly and completely, but as crappy as it sounds, you may need to take some period of complete rest to let things get a toehold on healing. I'm struggling with the same situation and have just taken a 3-day rest break and it is really tough as, like you, I use the training to decompress, so it is a mental as well as a physical issue. Just remember, in the near future this issue will be just a page in your running past.

He worked the heck out of the knot. Very good sign. I have my orthotic appointment at 4 pm today, so that is the other half of the equation. I was told I could run for 50 minutes, or until it really tightens, tonight. I will run at a 10 minute pace tonight, so that is 5 miles. If the orthotics "eleviate" the knot even further, we, maybe, could be on the road to a 9 minute pace by late this week. Fingers crossed. Yeah, the back pain is almost gone too. I will "self" ART today before the appointment. I have ART at 6 pm tomorrow. I will get this fixed dang it.

Michael Mitchell wrote:He worked the heck out of the knot. Very good sign. I have my orthotic appointment at 4 pm today, so that is the other half of the equation. I was told I could run for 50 minutes, or until it really tightens, tonight. I will run at a 10 minute pace tonight, so that is 5 miles. The orthotics "eleviate" the knot even further. We, maybe, could be on the road to a 9 minute pace by late this week. Fingers crossed. Yeah, the back pain is almost gone too. I will "self" ART today before the appointment. I have ART at 6 pm tomorrow. I will get this fixed dang it.

Seems something is working and light at the end of the tunnel here!

I sure hope so. I really do. This is for the birds.....

I hear ya. Enough of having to baby our aging bodies!

Liz R wrote:I hear ya. Enough of having to baby our aging bodies!

Agreed. I went all of last year ( well before my October 30 race) not being hurt. I had not had my gastroc spasm on me since before 2008. Now this. Sigh.

I think you need to meet me at the All Comers Race on Thursday, that will fix up your back real quick.

Joel H wrote:I think you need to meet me at the All Comers Race on Thursday, that will fix up your back real quick.

Oh yeah, that will surely fix me. For good...injury for good. LOL. How was Alaska?

I am going to postpone my run until tomorrow at noon. I am still having issues with the gastroc and the achilles is starting to hurt a little. This is very weird. I will have a 20 minute Pilates session and go to sleep. I do think that the orthotics will do their job. It is just going to take awhile.

Well, it will come down to the noon hour. 50 minute run is on tap. My best friend told me that 10 minute pace's do bang on the knees and back ( and he is right), but I am afraid of tightening it up with an 8 minute pace this early. I will go with how I feel. I am also positive I may have to massage it a couple of times during the run. The point is getting the minutes in and stretching the gastrocs out. The orthotics folks took the extra side out of the insert to allow stretching. We shall see.

I hope it goes well. Listen to your body.

Julie wrote:I hope it goes well. Listen to your body.

I am trying, I really am. Very wary of today's run. It could end in 10 minutes or it could end in 50 minutes. Who knows? I have dealt with this so many times, it is just a matter of time before I am busting out the miles again.

I am pushing it back to 4 pm. I swear doubt is creeping into my mind. It is a mixture of "why I am doing this" and "boy, I need to get this done". Very weird.

Michael Mitchell wrote:I am pushing it back to 4 pm. I swear doubt is creeping into my mind. It is a mixture of "why I am doing this" and "boy, I need to get this done". Very weird.

I seriously think it is the heat frying your brain...and I am not joking! After coming back from near perfect weather I nearly fell apart on Sunday and I am pretty sure I starting seeing things that weren't actually there. Also, I think I sweated more in the first 2 miles on Sunday than I did on all of my runs combined in Alaska and that was 6-7 runs of 6 miles a piece (and I didn't drink a single ounce of water during any of those runs). This weather is seriously messed up.

Go get it done or you will be kicking yourself later for not doing it.

Yeah, I know. I have the music picked out too. Streets from Savatage. Amazing Progressive Metal CD. I am just worried that my gastrocs might sieze in 10 minutes and I will have to stop and jump on the bike. I guess I am just gun shy. I have been running for 31 years and I am gun shy. Go figure. Yeah, this weather is some messed up. A meteorologist on the weather boards (KHOU) that Ounce and I hang out on is already bemoaning the fact that the days are getting shorter and it will get cooler. What the heck? He gets all July, August and most of September for heat and he is crying about this. Oh yeah, he is a cyclist too. He hates the winter. LOL

Got 5 miles done in 50 minutes. Actually it was ok until the end. The knot is back, but I should be able to knead it out. If not, I will bike for one hour tomorrow and then get ART done. After the ART, I might be able to run tomorrow night. I have 5 miles this week. It will be a good two weeks until I am back to normal.