4/6 - WhoDatRunner - 500 Festival Training Series 15K - Indianapolis, IN - <1:17

4/20 -- spaniel -- Indiana 100 50-miler -- 6:20; finish, damnit.

Scratch.  This would be about the absolute dumbest thing I could do right now.

 

Tough to do and accept but it's probably the right thing at this point.  How are things coming along?

The gluteus medius or whatever that was the root of the pain is more or less OK...I can feel it, especially if I sit too long, but even running it no longer limits me.

Now that I force myself to run with correct form, it is blindingly obvious how weak this hip flexor is.  Here I was doing 20-30+ mile runs not all that long ago, and now all I can do is 6-7 every other day with good form before that left hip flexor is exhausted and starts to get sore.  So I am going to slowly build back up as quickly as its strengthening allows me to.  It will be a process but I still plan to run the Indy Mini in May with whatever fitness I have left.

I saw the chiro yesterday and have one last visit next week.  He claims he can see the improvement already.

Make sure the car's alright before you stomp on the gas pedal again.

This is such a hard thing. If only we had bodies that could be analyzed as easily as cars. Hmmm.... I'd like to call up a running analogue of Click and Clack: "well the left hamstring hurts, but only for the first half mile, or if I do speedwork. That's more on the upper, medial end. Oh, and if I sit too long, it gets really uncomfortable, but on the lower, lateral end."   "Oh, you need ultrasound and Graston on the semitendinosus, and extra strengthening and stretching on the adductor magnus."

Granted this is not unlike what we hear from PTs, chiropractors, massage therapists. But in my experience it's a wild guess as often as not, and deciding when an "issue" rises to the level of an "injury" is a very fuzzy thing. If I waited until I had no issues to stomp on the gas pedal again, I would never stomp on the gas pedal.

This article (Rethinking Running Health) said it well:

There isn't a fine line between health and injury: There is no line. We are all, at all times, on a continuum between being unable to walk to running freely without pain -- the closest we can come to being "injury-free" -- yet even then we're managing defects, weaknesses, imbalances, scar tissue and the stresses of the activity itself.

 

Scratch.  This would be about the absolute dumbest thing I could do right now.

Done. Bummer. Sounds like you're getting a handle on it, though. It'll happen.

Done. Bummer. Sounds like you're getting a handle on it, though. It'll happen.

Same thoughts here. I'm sure the scratch was the right thing to do and I'm sure you will be back at it sooner than you initially thought.

 

There isn't a fine line between health and injury: There is no line. We are all, at all times, on a continuum between being unable to walk to running freely without pain -- the closest we can come to being "injury-free" -- yet even then we're managing defects, weaknesses, imbalances, scar tissue and the stresses of the activity itself.

Thanks for sharing that piece bhearn, so true.  I far too often view the aches and pains signs of training and progress and as a result, just keep hammering away.  The time blurs along that continuum.

4/6 - Double Oak Duathlon (Qualifier for Age Group World Championships in Ottawa, Canada in August) - 5k run/12.5mile bike/2.5k run - There are 17 in my AG and 5 are out of my reach. Last slot to make Team USA is 6th place and that's my goal.  It's a long shot and it'll take my best, but I have a chance.