Howdy 1500'rs. Happy 4th of July!
Thought I'd start July since we're a little late on it. I've been getting in some runs but it seems like I'm not managing more than every other day lately. I'm battling a slight pain in my left leg, it's up high in the front opposite my groin. In or under that muscle fascia that's there. It's been bothering me for at least 4 weeks now. I sure hope it's not the hip joint.
On a better note on the run I did Saturday there is a section of wooded trail no more than 100 yard long that spans a creek and joins up two streets that I run. It's up in the hills of Saratoga where there's lots of open space and mountainous terrain. So I'm running pretty hard on this trail connector when a bobcat goes across the trail in front of me. About twice the size of a decent-sized housecat. Probably no more than 15 feet from me. He goes across the trail and stops and looks at me, before I had a chance to react (as in stop) he turns to this fence that was 6feet high and jumps right over and was gone. A little scary. I didn't know he was coming and he didn't now I was coming. If I'd been there a few seconds later he'd have bumped into me! Anyway, all's well that ends well - just two friendly trail users passing by on their daily rounds!
Thanks for starting us off, kcam. Being curious about your bobcat sighting, I found this interesting article. It seems they're not uncommon in suburban areas, but not often seen.
https://blog.nature.org/2020/01/15/is-there-a-bobcat-in-your-backyard/
As for your pesky hip pain, IMO it's highly unlikely to be a hip joint problem (having spent 15 years working for an orthopod with many joint replacement patients. Pain from an arthritic hip is generally felt in the deep inner groin.
As one of my favorite YouTube physical therapists says: "ALWAYS THINK MUSCLE."
How about the pectineus muscle? Seems like the right location and can be injured in running -- with healing facilitated by rest.
https://www.physio-pedia.com/Pectineus_Muscle
https://www.rehabmypatient.com/hip/pectineus
I'm not making any attempts at running until I can put weight on my right leg painfree. I've got my right SI joint well and truly jammed. My PT says he's tried all he knows - which wasn't much. I went to a manual therapist who worked on it twice with some positive result. BUT both times when I went home and did some stretches and used the massage gun and tennis ball on the muscles in the days following, this only aggravated it to high heaven. I really messed it up this morning and now it seems worse than it was at the start. I'll have to go back to her and then abandon all thought of trying to manage it myself.
It's a HUGE bummer because just yesterday I hiked a mile out and back on the Olympic Adventure Trail -- the primary local trailrunning venue where I have run countless miles over the years. It felt great to be out there again -- it feels like forever since I last ran there. Hopefully I'll be able to hike there again next week - and extend the distance.
Don't make excuses for why you can't get it done.
Focus on all the reasons why you must make it happen.
I was out for a run early Sunday morning running through a cemetery in the next town over and had a similar experience. I wasn't really paying too much attention because i was in a cemetery and there aren't a lot of cars to watch out for when suddenly there was a coyote that was running parallel to me about 10 yards to my left. I jumped a little, it got startled and ran off the other way. Needless to say I was keeping an eye out for it for the rest of the run.
running-wise though I am doing okay. Knock on wood, my knee is feeling okay and foot seems to be healing so I've been able to get my mileage pretty close to 30 miles last week as I am into my training for the Falmouth Road Race now. Not planning to run it super fast, but would like to get under an hour if I can for the 7 mile race - ran it in 1:06 last year when my sciatica was really flared up.
Rough part (not really rough though) is that I am away in Australia/New Zealand for two weeks at the end of July, beginning of August so I'm really not sure how much actually hard training I'll get in while I am gone. But not rough because hey, I'm going to Australia.
Thanks for the info, Dr HappyFeat! Ya know, why in hayl can't I do what you did and come up with some likely candidates? I mean, it is MY leg ... Anyway, Pectineus seems very likely. I'll try some icing on it next time it's bothers me.
kcam Yeah, well 4 weeks is long enough for something to be going on that I'm gonna be curious what muscle and why. Ice after is always worthwhile. You could try heat to warm it up before running. Maybe ease up on fast paces for a week or so and see how much that helps it recover. And last, but not least, check to see if you have a knot anywhere in your upper thigh that could be referring the pain to that spot.
JeffD Glad your running is going well. Awesome upcoming trip!! Are you going on your own or with a tour? I've never been there, but RA'er pukekura lives in New Zealand. We keep in touch and I've seen many gorgeous photos of New Zealand from his trail runs/races and hikes.
kcam Yeah, well 4 weeks is long enough for something to be going on that I'm gonna be curious what muscle and why. Ice after is always worthwhile. You could try heat to warm it up before running. Maybe ease up on fast paces for a week or so and see how much that helps it recover. And last, but not least, check to see if you have a knot anywhere in your upper thigh that could be referring the pain to that spot. JeffD Glad your running is going well. Awesome upcoming trip!! Are you going on your own or with a tour? I've never been there, but RA'er pukekura lives in New Zealand. We keep in touch and I've seen many gorgeous photos of New Zealand from his trail runs/races and hikes. We have a lot of coyotes around here. They can make quite a racket at night when they are hunting - very vocal. I've only seen one once when out running and that was because it wanted a deer carcass that was laid out on the bike trail.
JeffD Glad your running is going well. Awesome upcoming trip!! Are you going on your own or with a tour? I've never been there, but RA'er pukekura lives in New Zealand. We keep in touch and I've seen many gorgeous photos of New Zealand from his trail runs/races and hikes. We have a lot of coyotes around here. They can make quite a racket at night when they are hunting - very vocal. I've only seen one once when out running and that was because it wanted a deer carcass that was laid out on the bike trail.
We are going on our own - we are actually heading there for the Women's World Cup so we will see two soccer games in NZ and then two in Sydney. But we have a lot of fun stuff planned while we are there - white water rafting, skydiving, surf lessons, visiting Hobbiton from the Lord of the Rings movies. Should be a great trip - just have to get through the next few weeks of work and stuff.
Should be a great trip
omigosh! that sounds amazing!!!
So excited for the trip!
Ran some intervals today on the treadmill - 6x2 minutes with 2 minute jog, followed by 4x1 minute with 1 minute jog (okay I only did 3 of the 1 minute intervals).
Overall it felt pretty good and started the intervals at about a 7:30 pace. I gradually increased the speed on them, finishing the last one minute interval at just under a 7:00 minute pace. I was pretty happy with it, and now we wait to see what happens over the next few days to see if my legs rebel against the speed. My legs have been feeling pretty good so I'm hopeful that I'll be okay.
I will say it is still mentally crushing when I run these. I was running that last one minute at about a 6:55 pace and it felt pretty hard - I probably could have held it for longer but it still was tough. And my mind of course had to wander over to the fact that I used to be able to run a 5K in a 6:09 pace. Had to reign myself in mentally when that thought creeped in there. Build slow, don't get injured. That's my new motto.
JeffD - Stick with that new motto! It's a good one.
It's so hard not to compare what we used to be able to do with today's reality. Been doing that for years. I always think I'll get back there.
Hope springs eternal! I know I'll never run the times I used to but, like Jeff, I do always think back about how much faster I used to run those intervals. I do however think/hope I can get back to the same Age Graded scores. Back at my best I used to be able to run races in the 80-85% range nowadays I run in the 70-75% range. I SHOULD be able to run 80-85% again (though the actual times will be much slower).
Sounds like a wonderful vacation, Jeff, enjoy! Our next one is in Switzerland for a whole bunch of hiking. That'll be in early October, before the snow sets in.
Off to ice my Pectineus muscle!
Just popping in to say hello. My walks are still going well but I've been too busy to start throwing in some running. Still working on the house remodel. The room with the nailed drain lines is done and I'm on to the dining room. The problem in this room is the very uneven concrete slab. Finally got the floor smooth and will be laying the floor this week. Trying to get the room done this week since we have uninvited guests arriving on Saturday and I need to get the dining room furniture out of the guest room. My wife's rude, selfish and loud cousin (and equally loud and rude wife) invited himself to 8 days of our hospitality and my wife is to kind to tell him to eff off. He was kind enough to give us an itinerary of events we will be taking him on while he is here.
My wife's rude, selfish and loud cousin (and equally loud and rude wife) invited himself to 8 days of our hospitality and my wife is to kind to tell him to eff off. He was kind enough to give us an itinerary of events we will be taking him on while he is here.
!!!!!!! Jeff, you are a saint to even consider this prospect. That's an incredibly long time for them to stay too. Wow! Just wow! I feel for you, I really do.
I would draw the line at letting them stay. I might go on ONE of their outings but the rest? Have fun, I got other things to do.
He definitely would not be staying if I wore the pants in the family. The most aggravating thing is the years of my wife complaining about his family. The parents of this cousin would drive down from Ohio to Virginia unannounced and just expect everybody to drop everything and entertain them. Just literally pull into the driveway and start unloading their luggage. Now we have a second generation doing almost the same thing. At least he has given us a couple weeks notice that we will be hosting him. But I don't think I can stress this enough, with all that being said the volume of this rude SOB is unbearable. He is the loudest person I have ever been around. If I am stuck in a car with him I have to wear earplugs. He somehow managed to find a wife recently (he is 50ish) that is nearly as loud as he is.