Let me start off with this: the quote from my last posting was "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger".... well that's a bunch of BS. Don't believe it. Apparently, doing a 20 mile progression run a few days after an 8K is not wise.
OK, everyone can say it now... I'm an idiot! You told me so. But at the time, I was able to rationalize what I was doing: A) I wasn't sore after the 8K and I tapered a ton the previous week for the Shamrock. B) The first part of that 20 was feeling good (and to clarify, I was even feeling good after too). C) I WAS listening to my body and just rolled with it. D) The weather turned to HELL on Earth, but it wasn't killing me. SO, IF A+B+C+D, THEN it should be alright to finish the run strongly. The old saying "Listen to your body". Well my was speaking loudly and saying, "Giddy up".
Apparently, that still wasn't not smart logic. Doing a hard 20 a few days after an 8K is still not wise. It took its toll on my nagging hip.
On Wednesday night, I did 5 easy, but I was definitely pretty sore during that run, especially my hip. It just didn't seem to want to loosen up at all. Thursday was off. Friday's goal was for an easier 8-10 miles, then 15 on Saturday. Half way into Friday night's run turned into a mess though. My hip was just wouldn't loosen up. I stopped to stretch for a couple minutes. Then started running again. Half mile later, the pain became unbearable.... everything tightened up so much that I literally couldn't take one more step. Running any further was out of the question. I knew it was over. The question was "how much over?"
I hobbled from the lakefront path over to Irving Park, grabbed a cab and went home. Walking was even difficult at this point. I was cold, in a relative good deal of pain, and extremely disappointed with myself. It was really a very depressing experience. I had no idea how much damage I actually did to myself. The tachometer has been riding on the redline for a while now, and I finally blew past it and the engine shut down.
After getting I home, took a long hot bath (heat seems to feel better on the hip than ice), stretched, got on the foam roller for like a 1/2 hour, iced, and slugged down 800mg of Motrin.
Saturday, I felt a little better. Not a ton, but enough to want to attempt a little rehab. I did some very basic leg exercise and core stuff at the gym, then spent the rest of the day taking it easy. Sunday, I felt a little better. I took it completely off from physical activity.
Monday, I felt a little better. I emailed teammate, Jill Lohmann (aka the life saver) first thing in the morning, and was able to see her later in the day. We basically came to the conclusion that its a soft tissue injury (very good thing - as opposed to the hip socket), and that there has been a chunk of scar tissue around the the ilium and the "iliac crest", where some major connective tissues have become irritated. This is where the TFL, Glutes, ITB, abs, lat, blah blah blah... all come together. Basically a clusterfuck. Per Jill's recommendation, I ran very easy on Monday night from the store, and then she checked me out again afterwords. Things went much better than Friday, albeit I was mildly sore.
Tuesday, I went in to see a colleague of Jill's to have a technique called ASTYM done. Its purpose was to try to loosen things up, and especially break up the chunks of scar tissue to promote faster healing. It was kind of a funky "scraping" of the skin/muscles/tendons using plastic tool. Nothing painful - but like trying to flush the effected area out.
My initial impression is that it may have broken up some of that tissue. I ran later at night, and it seemed to be a little better than Monday's...... this is very good! I'm seeing progress. I have another ASTYM treatment on Thursday evening.
SO - I've come very close to what might be a marathon breaking injury. I'm trying to manage it as much as possible and be as careful as possible. If the hip seizes up like last Friday, then I'm in trouble. Since then, the pain has subsided. I have 13 days to go before Boston, so of course I'm a bit paranoid. Welcome to a marathoner's taper!
At this point, the hay's in the barn. I know I'm in great shape. For now, my most important goal is to get to the starting line healthy. If I keep things in check, I should still have a blow out race. It'll require a less aggressive taper, which isn't ideal, but it'll do. I'll worry about my pace expectations next week.
OK, everyone can say it now... I'm an idiot! You told me so. But at the time, I was able to rationalize what I was doing: A) I wasn't sore after the 8K and I tapered a ton the previous week for the Shamrock. B) The first part of that 20 was feeling good (and to clarify, I was even feeling good after too). C) I WAS listening to my body and just rolled with it. D) The weather turned to HELL on Earth, but it wasn't killing me. SO, IF A+B+C+D, THEN it should be alright to finish the run strongly. The old saying "Listen to your body". Well my was speaking loudly and saying, "Giddy up".
Apparently, that still wasn't not smart logic. Doing a hard 20 a few days after an 8K is still not wise. It took its toll on my nagging hip.
On Wednesday night, I did 5 easy, but I was definitely pretty sore during that run, especially my hip. It just didn't seem to want to loosen up at all. Thursday was off. Friday's goal was for an easier 8-10 miles, then 15 on Saturday. Half way into Friday night's run turned into a mess though. My hip was just wouldn't loosen up. I stopped to stretch for a couple minutes. Then started running again. Half mile later, the pain became unbearable.... everything tightened up so much that I literally couldn't take one more step. Running any further was out of the question. I knew it was over. The question was "how much over?"
I hobbled from the lakefront path over to Irving Park, grabbed a cab and went home. Walking was even difficult at this point. I was cold, in a relative good deal of pain, and extremely disappointed with myself. It was really a very depressing experience. I had no idea how much damage I actually did to myself. The tachometer has been riding on the redline for a while now, and I finally blew past it and the engine shut down.
After getting I home, took a long hot bath (heat seems to feel better on the hip than ice), stretched, got on the foam roller for like a 1/2 hour, iced, and slugged down 800mg of Motrin.
Saturday, I felt a little better. Not a ton, but enough to want to attempt a little rehab. I did some very basic leg exercise and core stuff at the gym, then spent the rest of the day taking it easy. Sunday, I felt a little better. I took it completely off from physical activity.
Monday, I felt a little better. I emailed teammate, Jill Lohmann (aka the life saver) first thing in the morning, and was able to see her later in the day. We basically came to the conclusion that its a soft tissue injury (very good thing - as opposed to the hip socket), and that there has been a chunk of scar tissue around the the ilium and the "iliac crest", where some major connective tissues have become irritated. This is where the TFL, Glutes, ITB, abs, lat, blah blah blah... all come together. Basically a clusterfuck. Per Jill's recommendation, I ran very easy on Monday night from the store, and then she checked me out again afterwords. Things went much better than Friday, albeit I was mildly sore.
Tuesday, I went in to see a colleague of Jill's to have a technique called ASTYM done. Its purpose was to try to loosen things up, and especially break up the chunks of scar tissue to promote faster healing. It was kind of a funky "scraping" of the skin/muscles/tendons using plastic tool. Nothing painful - but like trying to flush the effected area out.
My initial impression is that it may have broken up some of that tissue. I ran later at night, and it seemed to be a little better than Monday's...... this is very good! I'm seeing progress. I have another ASTYM treatment on Thursday evening.
SO - I've come very close to what might be a marathon breaking injury. I'm trying to manage it as much as possible and be as careful as possible. If the hip seizes up like last Friday, then I'm in trouble. Since then, the pain has subsided. I have 13 days to go before Boston, so of course I'm a bit paranoid. Welcome to a marathoner's taper!
At this point, the hay's in the barn. I know I'm in great shape. For now, my most important goal is to get to the starting line healthy. If I keep things in check, I should still have a blow out race. It'll require a less aggressive taper, which isn't ideal, but it'll do. I'll worry about my pace expectations next week.
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