run this amazing day

1. I am slowly but surely recovering from last weekend/the past 2 weeks.  I still have some pain when I walk, but each day I wake up and very definitely feel better than the day before.  I'm doing my PT exercises religiously, I'm steering clearly of any and all things that cause pain, and mentally, I am feeling just fine.  I can say with confidence that making the decision to run last weekend was absolutely the right one.  It has left me with no anxiety about not being able to run right now, which is a refreshing change from the 2 weeks leading up to the race.  I've got 6 more weeks to get back on my feet for the 70.3, and the less I can run right now, the more I can ride, anyway.  I'm not sure where this calm demeanor and patience with myself has come from, but I will happily roll around in the sweet life where there is no stress about running. 2. I gained about 3lbs during my "taper."  Part of me is mad, 3lbs?!  And part of me is like, is that all?  I sho

My puppies, they love to run. So do I.

I think the best way to do this would be to evaluate the first 7-8 weeks and ignore what went on the last 2.  Because swimming 15000+ yards over 8 days and spending the rest of the time in bed eating Oreos by the handful is not exactly what anyone would recommend for a proper taper. Here's a shot of my original training plan (click any of these to make larger): And here's a shot of my executed training plan: The obligatory disclaimer: what worked for me might not work for you.  It might not even work for me the next time around.  Also, I did not get injured from any aspect of this plan.  I got injured because I got realigned/released 2 weeks before the race, which triggered a whole slew of problems.  External forces, not anything wrong with my training. So, what worked?    Swimming as active recovery - most weeks I swam on Monday to give my legs a break from the weekend.  This left my legs feeling pretty fresh by the Tuesday evening track workout.   Running 4 days a w

I wasn't ready to talk about this on Friday.   I saw my PT Thursday evening.  Essentially, I was in so much pain on Wednesday because my body was trying to re-un-align itself.  I felt flat and defeated, but asked the million-dollar question anyway: I can't run on Saturday, can I?  I was surprised when she told me to try it.  She said, get up, go to the start, see what happens.  If it gets to the point where I am limping badly or physically unable to go on, then stop.  She said I wouldn't be damaging myself in any permanent or irreversible way by running, but to expect a bit of a set-back.  The hardest thing, she said, would be managing the pain.  And finally, I think I started to see the lesson in this mess.  How strong am I?  How hard and long can I fight?  It was so clear, what I would do.  I would start.   I know that all of you guys know this, but I've been in a pretty deep hole these past 2 weeks, dealing with this injury and the pain.  I've had some of t

...running the National Half tomorrow.  I wish you the best of luck.  I hope you crush your personal goals and have solid races.  May you neither blister nor chafe nor vomit nor cry.  May your bones, muscles and ligaments carry you easily to the finish.  Smile and celebrate your race, celebrate the fact that you are alive. I'll see you there.

1. I know you guys are tired of hearing about this injury soap opera, but trust me, I am WAY more tired of living it than you are of hearing it.  I saw another (new) PT yesterday.  Hey, your SI joint is out of alignment, did you know?  So she put it back, very gently, which of course brought my pain back up from an 8 to a 10.  I guess the reason it hurts so much is that as soon as someone aligns it, it starts trying to un-align itself again, which results in my sacrum grinding against my illus and the big fat stack of spinal nerves that live in there.  Yes, I said "grinding" and "nerves" in the same sentence.  Oh, and she agreed with Dr. P that my piriformis problems were actually a symptom of another problem (everything on my right side being tight + bad alignment) and that the pain I was feeling in my piriformis was actually my sciatic nerve being compressed.  High fives for getting incorrect treatment in PT for 3 months!  So I left PT barely able to walk and had

  Little Miss Molly. Beautiful Graham! photo credits Hilary Kline Also, the verdict from the fabulous Dr. P: Lower back strain, to the point that it's pulling my spine down (it was CURVED on the xray!) and all my hip bits up.  He put me on super steroids and said I need e-stim + heat, so off to PT I go.  After a day of steroids, I feel maybe 5% better, so I'm hopeful.  More of an update tomorrow after today's PT session.  

I hit rock bottom. As you know, I spent Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday in bed.  Friday night I had to go rescue the poet, who fainted at urgent care at the thought of a tetanus shot (I know), and then we had to go to CVS to get him some antibiotics.  On the way into CVS, I slipped in the parking lot.  I didn't fall, just slid a little on some loose gravel, but the way I grabbed myself sent ridiculous and searing pain everywhere.  And about 10 steps later, I could no longer walk.  Literally not one more step. I'm not sure how I got back to the car, but I sat there while the poet waited on his prescription and bawled my little eyes out.  And when we got back home, and I didn't have the strength to lift my legs out of the car, I knew I was in a dark place.  That's it.  That's the moment where I hit rock bottom.  I could not take another moment of being in that kind of pain.  We started talking about going to the emergency room right then, and I started googling

Yesterday marks the one-year point since the first post on this blog (which was unbelievably lame, but I think that's how a lot of things start out in life).  When I started it, I just wanted to have a voice in the community of runners that already existed.  A way to pipe up and chime in, instead of just standing outside with my face pressed up against the window.   Look what that little voice has become. A year later, I think this blog has lived up to its name (although recently I have considered changing it to "injured this amazing day").  A great deal of it IS about running.  But I'm also hoping it is living up to the other half: being thankful for this - for every - amazing day. There isn't much I don't write about.  A great deal of it has, oddly enough, been about running.  More has been about recovering from injury, and the ups and downs that come with training.  A lot has been about triumph.  I  finished a triathlon .  I ran again after surgery .  I s

It's now been a week since the sports massage that kicked off this wonderful chain of events, and I am not noticeably better.  I'm actually pretty (irrationally) angry at almost everything and everyone, and while I really do appreciate all of the comments, emails, calls, texts, it's hard to glean the support that is at the heart of it and ignore the pieces of "advice" that make me purple with rage. Yes, I own a foam roller.  I purchased one in 2004 and spend plenty of time with it on a regular basis. No, this IS NOT BECAUSE I DON'T TAKE ENOUGH REST DAYS.  This happened because I was out of alignment, and someone put me back, and none of us realized that I didn't have the strength in a few very small but important muscles buried deep inside my core to hold my sacrum where it was supposed to be because those muscles had never needed to hold it there before, or that my hyper-mobility would allow my joints to move around in such a way that would cause this pa

1. I spent the first few days being stalwart but, you guys, I am really really not okay.  I am trying not to completely harass the internet with how completely not-okay I am, but I am not doing well.  And it's not even (totally) about the running at this point.  I'd like to be able to get out of bed without stabbing pain in my back.  I'd like to be able to drive to Target without having to think about whether or not an hour is enough time, because it hurts to put any weight on either leg so walking is pretty slow, or if it's even worth the trip because I'm hurting THAT badly.  This isn't like my IT band, where it hurt to run, but otherwise I could go out and have fun and live my life.  I've essentially been in bed for 4 solid days and it is NOT okay.  I do know that I am doing everything I can do to help this heal, but it's not happening quickly - if at all.  And yes, I have a foam roller.  Yes, I've stretched!  I've iced and seen a great PT and

Beth let me come visit the cold plunge pool at her gym yesterday in yet another effort to calm things down. It was cold. SI update: very definitely not better.

Well, it appears that I can still - sort of - swim. I (very apprehensively) went to the pool last night to test out both swimming and pool running.  Swimming seems to be okay - there is some slight awareness going on when I kick, which I think is from body roll, but it's pretty slight and I'm hoping I'm not making anything worse.  I'm going to go bazooka-insane if I can't do anything, so swimming it is.  Pool running was another story - I thought I would try it without the belt, because working the core is how this will heal, but I was a mess after 2 minutes so I went and got the belt.  With the belt, I was able to very slowly and gently cycle my legs without pain or discomfort.  But when I got out of the pool afterwards, things felt a bit weird and tight, so I think I might nix the pool running for a few more days. However, I'm bored to tears with my current swim sets and would love some input on ways to mix it up.  Here's what I did last night: - 1000

I'm been having my usual piriformis problems the past few weeks. My step back week seemed to make it flare up.  Cycling makes it feel much better, and I don't notice it while running, only after.  About a week ago it started to intensify a bit.  I've been really good about icing, stretching, and foam rolling, but to no end.  Since I've graduated from PT, I figured I just needed someone to dig their elbow around in it for a while, so I scheduled a sports massage appointment for Friday based on the recommendations of my training partners.   It (my piriformis) was the usual amount of cranky after Tuesday evening's track workout, and while it felt amazing during my Thursday evening tempo, it had tightened up again by the time I drove home.  So I felt like the timing for this appointment was perfect.   It was very unlike other sports massages I've had.  We talked and then she spent some time evaluating what was going on in my body.  All my piriformis problems a

It rained pretty steadily throughout the day yesterday.  Like most runners, I hate going out to run in the rain, but once I'm out, I'm pretty happy and feel like a badass.  The rain died down a bit just in time for me to show up at the track for tempo.  Only 3 other - much faster - people showed up.   I was ordered to decided to just do a 5K tempo instead of the usual 4 miles - I've got a key long run coming up this weekend, plus a race that I'm not planning on racing, although no one believes me!   My tempo pace felt the same as it always does - comfortably hard - and it was actually pretty windy around the back side, so I was surprised to hit the .25 split almost 10 seconds ahead of where I usually do.  I heard, "too fast, slow down!" float back to me as I passed, so I relaxed the pace.  It started to feel hard where it always does - about halfway through - and I was thrilled to bits when Jessica (who had only done a 1M tempo because she's working b

1. I've had a knot in my calf since Sunday.  Felt fine on the recovery run, fine at yoga, and about 10 minutes after I got home something woke up and started yelling.  I iced, advil'd, foam rolled, and stretched Sunday & Monday.  Tuesday it was quiet so I figured it had gone away, but track on Tuesday night woke it up again.  I rolled, advil'd, and stretched my brains out all day yesterday, but  add that to the tangled hip/piriformis mess that came back with a vengeance during step back week and  by the time I got home I was beyond cranky.  I scheduled a sports massage for Friday morning and then sat in this for 20 minutes to try and calm everything down. It looks kind of badass but really I was just too lazy to ice one part at a time.  I started a new pair of shoes last Saturday (same model, new pair), so I'm hoping that once my legs adjust the calf thing will go away.  The hip/piriformis mess it appears I am just going to have to live with, as I've been treati