"There's only one hard and fast rule in running: sometimes you have to run one hard and fast."








Saturday, September 18, 2010

Don't Run, Can't Race, Won't Repeat

Time for an injury update.

The back pain has narrowed down to where I can trace it. There was a sore hip flexor (gluteus medius), but there's pain along two different nerves under the muscles: sciatic and I think L4; people seem to think that I claim to know everything, but I don't know my nerves - and I assisted my brother who taught neurology to medical students (which included a former girlfriend he called "the short, fat one" and who I have only referred to in past posts as "evil," but this is going further afield than usual, even for me). The last couple of times I tried to run, there was a sharp incapacitating pain that resolved after about 20 strides, so there's something structural amiss. [Did someone say "piriformis?"]

I've been doing 30 minutes of stretching and strengthening exercises in lieu of running. I can't walk, bike, swim, row or anything else, so the aerobic base will go to zero if I don't mend in 6-8 weeks. My achilles tendons and especially my hamstrings are ridiculously tight, so if I can correct that, perhaps I can stave off injury better next year.

I've tried a few short strolls, can't call them walks, and there's pain on the outside of my left heel, where there isn't any muscle, tendon or ligament, so it's probably a stress fracture. At this point, I don't even bother getting x-rays; how many times can you hear, "yep, it's broken, you should give up running" before you either agree or stop getting advice?

Lastly, I have had my first encounter with asthma. I've had allergy problems for years, but I wake up in the middle of the night, wheezing and panting and coughing. I take a decongestant and sit up for a while (reclining makes the coughing much worse) and eventually get back to sleep. Four days in a row, now. When I was growing up, my brother Tom had asthma and we shared a bedroom; I remember being annoyed with his waking me up - now I'm starting to understand what he went through, just wanting to be able to breathe, forget about hopes and dreams and anything else, that next breath is all you want.


Other than that, all is well...

4 comments:

S. Baboo said...

Sorry about the injury but I did like your blogging lesson. Your comment has me thinking I might consider offering a buckle for those who complete my race reports.
I got the mile splits from my Garmin 310XT and the assistance of a portable Duracell USB device charger. I basically run through the day on a single charge of my Garmin and then about the time night falls I hook my Garmin up to the USB charger and carry it with me. After about 90 minutes my Garmin is fully charged and I give the charger back to my crew or carry it with me. It is very light and small. The Garmin continues to record as it is being re-charged. I learned this from a guy who did the same thing at Hardrock and captured his splits as accurately as Garmin will.

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

Ian loved that video - he was down here watching it with me.

Scream'n Turtle said...

Almost the same issue's I have-except the asthma thing-I want to stay far away from that.
Don't think we have the same genes do you?
My dad was a milk delivery person in Iowa.!!
Any way-keep positive, and hopefully your issue's get you back on the trails soon.

SteveQ said...

@G: Glad to introduce the lad to both the great Dutch cartoonist Ub Iwerks and to Howlin' Wolf.