Week 5

Injured.

Angrily injured.

After feeling the buttock and hamstring pain on Sunday, I took Monday and Tuesday off, with some stretching and weight lifting instead. Monday was so bad that I could barely walk without serious limping. On Wednesday I was feeling better and thought I'd try a run with one of our track athletes who was also nursing an injury. Though the pain came and went through the run, it was a hobbling, slow run. The next morning, I attempted a run that went about the same, but more pain towards the end, and limping back home. This was definitely not normal soreness and it wasn't subsiding as I had expected it to. So I decided to bite the bullet and rest it, maintaining hot/cold alternations and lots of foam rolling.

Three more days of no running, but ellipticalling instead. I felt some tension while on the machines, but no pain, thankfully. This would be a sufficient substitute until I could resume running. Meanwhile, I researched. Relentlessly. And tossed between piriformis syndrome and a fractured sacrum, both of which could mean a long recovery. I made an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon friend who thought there could be a hip issue. I researched Active Release Technique (ART), and began trying to target the precise point of the problem. I saw a massage therapist friend on campus who gave me a brief massage and assessed my muscle tension. In the past, I was never good at healing and recovery, always trying to train through the pain. But this was different - I am older, I am recovering from childbirth, and I am considerably wiser than my twenty-something self. I was going to recover like a champ.

When I saw the orthopedic surgeon, he confirmed what I thought: the piriformis muscle. He tested my mobility for strain and pain; I was hardly feeling pain while walking, stairs, elliptical, or weight lifting, but felt horrible pain if I tried to run. Impact injury. He said I was basically doing everything I should be doing, and that I needed to be patient and continue treating it until the pain is gone. My May 4th half marathon could possibly not happen. I was more worried about affecting my September full marathon. Thankfully, he said, there didn't seem to be anything worse going on. Just a slow, painful muscle strain. I'm not as young as I used to be, and my body is not going to heal as quickly as it once did.

Friday will be an appointment with an ART specialist - maybe he will profoundly help my issue. Until then, I will continue treating it with rolling, hot/cold treatment, ibuprofin, careful movements, and as many healing foods as I can.

I have decided to cut back my projected mileage, and return to my pre-baby marathon training plan, and lessened weekly miles. This isn't the time to make a major change in my capacity as a runner; I need to focus on just returning to where I was before. Instead of peaking at 80 miles/week, I will peak around 55 miles/week. Starting with about 33 miles/week when I do return to running. This move actually feels quite good: comfortable, familiar, and I know I am capable of doing it. But slowly. Patiently. Gradually. It is frustrating not being able to launch myself into sub-elite training right off the bat, but it HAS only been 6 months since Jack was born, and I really didn't give my body what it needed to adjust into running effectively.

Lesson learned. Moving forward, carefully.

Week 4

This week was the first week that my running went as planned. I actually enjoyed the fartleks quite a bit, and found my pace ahead on the intervals. My legs felt stronger, and my "easy pace" is finally getting faster - in the 8:30/mile range. Highest mileage per week so far, at 48. All in all, a fantastic week!

Until Sunday's long run.

On Saturday, I felt a little bit of lower right back pain forming while on my easy 9 miler. This has happened in the past when my mileage starts increasing, and usually goes away. Didn't think anything of it. While chaperoning the Prom, I cut loose and danced a little bit, and felt the back pain then too. Just figured I am older than I used to be, and dancing with the teens was maybe not such a good idea. Sunday morning, I laced up the Mizunos for a long progression run, with some acceleration in the last 10 minutes. This run was going very well, and though at the turn around point I did feel a little heaviness in my legs, I held pace and felt great. But with 3 miles left to go, the lower back pain returned. And began to worsen, working its way into my glutes.

After hobbling back from the 12 miler, I could barely walk. Icing my back felt good, but the pain was worsening. It took away my breath as I put pressure on my right leg, which subsided somewhat when I used the roller, but returned shortly later. This was worse than my aches and pains of the past, yet the onset was not as sudden as a typical injury.

Therein lies the elephant in the room....slow onset injury....overuse injury....

I had most likely increased my mileage too quickly, by about 25% in one week. Wayyyyyy too much. On top of that, I have been neglecting strength training since going back to work and not having the hours in the day to get in a morning run plus an afternoon strength workout. This was a huge mistake, especially since in coming back from pregnancy, I had likely lost considerable muscle strength that had kept me healthy before. More loss than I had realized.

Now is the process of healing my back and glutes - likely a sciatic nerve problem - while adding strength training into my routine, and taking the mileage a little easier over the next few weeks.

Morale of the story: don't neglect strength training, runners! You MUST ensure that your frame is strong enough for the running stresses you are putting on it! It is so easy for us to forget the importance of this.