No Running - Week # 6.
Weeks of healthy running since Thanksgiving 5 out of 15 (according to my training log).
So this is my session to whine.
Whaaaaaaa.
Ah, much better.
How did we get here?
Event #1 - the mother of all flus. The weekend before Thanksgiving 2009, I started to feel a cold coming on. At the time, OK, no big deal. Take a couple days off, sleep a ton, get better on a few days. Ha, ha, so young, so naive. Of course we had visitors in town and it's Thanksgiving, so much for rest (oh yeah, drinking while sick is like throwing gasoline on a fire). I took 2 solid weeks off - no physical activity whatsoever. I also spent an additional 10 days slowly coming back as my symptoms took that long to work themselves out. To be complete, I saw my doctor after 5 days and still strong symptoms. He ran a bunch of blood tests - liver enzymes came back positive for a Mononucleosis-like virus (the Mono-specific test was negative, so doc suggested I had something in the Eppstien-Barr family of stuff). So that was fun, but it's OK, it was November, time to rest anyway, right?
Event #2 - The big blowout
Started running again over Christmas break and things seemed to be going well. Built weeks of 17, 25, 35, 34 and 40 MPW. In retrospect, it may have been aggressive, but keeping in mind my weekly average prior to my illness had been 33 MPW (for 8 weeks), this seemed reasonable. Then I did my first long run (16 miles) of the season with a group of folks on Ridge Rd on Jan 9. Felt tightness and discomfort in my right hamstring and lower back, but it wasn't any stronger than I had experienced in previous runs - it had always cleared up after a good rest day. Not this time. I was uncomfortable on my off day the next day. Then big time pain during a short (6 mile) run on Monday. Uh oh. Tuesday cut short, Wed cut short and here we go. Limping while walking. Can barely take two running strides without keeling over in pain.
Besides the mileage build, I must also point out that I am riding a new bike in a new position. Bought my first tri-bike in late December. I got Paul to do a 2-d motion capture fit. I have a lot of confidence in the fit since Paul has done bikes for me before. But of course anytime you make a change like this, there is some additional stress involved.
Specific Symptoms: Pain in my right butt cheek. Weakness & instability in right leg.
Initial direction: Pirifmormis
The Road Back
I'm still on this road, but I'll capture where I've been so far. Took 1 solid week - no running (week of Jan 18). Continued a regular swimming and biking routine. Neither of these activities seem to cause any pain or issues, so I've continued to hit those fairly aggressively. Nice thing about Triathlon right? Keep hitting the other sports while you rehab something (famous last words right?).
Finally went to the doc after 2 weeks of running & continued pain. Got referred to a PT doc at ACAC. First full PT session was on Feb 8 - so basically an entire month of pain & no running. Yipee.
As of this writing, I'm in the middle of my 3rd week of PT. We're doing: deep tissue, electrostim, stretching and strength work (cords, lunges, abs, etc). After the session on Thursday, things seemed to loosen up. Pain had been slowly subsiding in my rear end & was basically gone. The strengthening seemed to be going well, exercises get easier and easier.
So, yesterday (2/15), after talking with my PT, I attempted to run for the first time. Did a session of alternating 4 min walk, 2 min run for 30 minutes total. My lower back got tight in less than 2 seconds. I felt some discomfort (I won't call it pain since it wasn't anywhere near the pain I had been feeling) in the lower back and right leg while running. During the walk session, I could feel everything loosen up and subside. This morning, i woke up and felt fine, so no "morning after pain". Also a good sign.
Meanwhile I have to say, it has been many years since I swam as well as I am. So I've got that going for me, which is nice.
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