djplong Posted July 10, 2015 Report Share Posted July 10, 2015 I figure from here on it, I'll just keep posting to ONE topic instead of spreading all over several... It's agonizing when you are SO close and barriers keep getting put in your way. Last week I was progressing through the last two weeks but something has happened. After last Wednesday, I had new pains and they were pretty bad. I didn't think too much of them because I only needed an extra day of rest (to Saturday) before tackling W8D1 - and I made the whole 28 minutes! Later in the day, after icing my knee down, I noticed a lot of pain coming from somewhere near each hip and shooting down my legs. Sunday was worse - I could barely get out of bed because of all the sharp stabbing pains in my upper thigh - especially my left side. At least Monday I could walk a little better (I had to go back to work) and Tuesday was better still. I thought about running on Wednesday but by the time I got out of work (and had done a lot of walking there) I was feeling the pain and didn't want to push it. I took Thursday (yesterday) off and, around noontime, though still feeling a *little* pain, took a run around the neighborhood to see if I could run through it. Almost. I did about 25 minutes and started to feel my left leg getting weak so I called it and walked the rest of the way home. Today, the pain is predictably bad. If it wasn't for whatever is going on somewhere near my hip, I *know* I could have done the 28 minutes and I *might* have been able to go 30 and hit W8D3 a little earlier than expected. I'm 4 months in to this 8-week program. I guess at the age of 52 it takes a little more to stretch out the endurance than it does if you're younger. I'm *so* close to the end of W8 I can practically *TASTE* it - at which point I want to improve my speed a bit before continuing on to the 10K program. I'm "into" this enough that it really irritates me when I can't go out. I don't want to backslide and lose all the progress I've made.. I've lost 15 pounds and some people are starting to say that they can see the difference, even if I can't. I even bought a heart rate monitor to use during these runs to have more stats on my MapMyFitness entries (and my heart rate looks good). I'm debating making an appointment with a sports medicine specialist. My right knee still bothers me a bit but the icing and ibuprofen have done wonders for that. I could *never* have gotten this far without help from so many directions - to say nothing of the support I've gotten from my wife. Having her say, a few days ago, that she was proud of me for having stuck with this for so long sent my spirits soaring. I haven't really hit any of my real goals yet. I haven't really finished the program. I haven't run any races so, no medals (though I'm signed up for the WDW 5K & 10K in January). I've lost 15 of the 47 pounds I want to lose. And I can't maintain a 6:00/km pace (so that 30 minutes = 5K) but I seem to be able to maintain about a 7:00/km. But in each and every one of those, there has been OCEANS of progress from my couch-sitting days. Even yesterday while battling the pain near my hip, I was thinking that I would never have been able to run a couple of kilometers WITHOUT pain just a couple of months ago - never mind WITH it. I guess part of me is afraid of what a doctor might say - even though my GP and PT said my knee was ok (this was before the hip flared up). This is the only methodology for weight loss that has actually WORKED for me that didn't involve depression or divorce (or both). I *can't* lose this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djplong Posted July 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2015 Well, on Wednesday I went to see the specialist. The good news is that it's none of the things that I feared. No arthritis, hip degeneration, stress fractures, displacements or anything like that. What it IS is bilateral hip flexor tendinitis. It's back to physical therapy for me (I'd just stopped going to rehab an injured shoulder a month ago) but the evaluation won't happen until NEXT Wednesday.. (In my best Inigo Montoya voice) "I hate waiting".. The good news is that, eventually, I can get back to running and the doctor said I have more than enough time to make the January races I signed up for. However, since it's going to be some number of weeks before I can jog again, the thought of doing Montreal in September is pretty much off the table. So far I've discovered I can do the recumbent bike without pain to help make up for the lack of running. I think tomorrow I'm going to try and see how a session on the Nordic Track goes. My weight loss has certainly leveled off but at least I can still say I've lost 15 pounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KellyAnn Posted July 22, 2015 Report Share Posted July 22, 2015 Ohhhh, good luck to you. We will be watching for you. Keep us posted. If you eat high protein, low carbs, you can lose weight too if you are sidelined for a bit. Hugs to you!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djplong Posted July 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2015 Yesterday was the evaluation with the physical therapist. The same woman I'd been seeing for my shoulder. She told me that, as soon as she saw my name on the schedule, she figured I'd be coming in for something running related. The news is pretty much 'good'. Some is frustrating. The root of my problem turns out to be the defect I was born with - bilateral club feet (think 'legs and feet look like a pretzel' at birth). In 1968 I had my Achilles Tendon reconstructed and somewhat relocated to try and relieve pressure. While that allowed me to walk, I didn't know it was setting me up for something decades later. Long story short - I can't raise my foot much above the 90-degree angle that the leg & foot make. I can do about 2-degrees whereas "normal' is about 20 degrees. My shriveled, miniature Achilles tendon keeps things too tight. This transmits the tightness in a connect-the-dots manner through my calf, my knee, my hamstring and into the hip flexor muscle that threads through my pelvis and attaches to my spine. That's what's hurting. My tendency to lean forward a bit when jogging meant that all the effort in lifting my leg was coming from THAT muscle instead of being spread out. The core muscles, being unconditioned, allowed the hip flexor to be in places it shouldn't, causing the irritation that resulted in tendinitis. So now I'm back to exercises to stretch the areas that need stretching. In a twist of fate, one of the exercises is the exact same exercise I had to do over 40 years ago when recovering from the surgery! The best news is that I'm anywhere from 1 1/2 to 3 weeks away from returning to jogging. The therapist analyzed my walking gait to see what other problems we'll need to work on. But the best news is that everything that is causing problems is FIXABLE. The things that are NOT fixable (lateral angle of my feet, curvature in my shins and a couple of other things) are not going to cause problems for what *my* goals are. I just have to be a little more conscious of them and adapt accordingly. If I wanted to be an ultra-marathoner or a really competitive racer, these would present problems but those are not my goals. I don't think I've ever looked forward so much to something I've never been fond of doing But even in that, my attitude has changed in these 4 months. It's like I *want* to go through the sweating and the fatigue and the pain to get to the goals I have in mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roman Soldier Posted July 23, 2015 Report Share Posted July 23, 2015 Keep positive it's an inspiration to all of us, I'd try low impact high cardiovascular so you don't lose your fitness Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djplong Posted July 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2015 I hopped back on to the recumbent bike to keep things going. I'm trying to repair (again!) the odometer on my Nordic Track 505 (or find a replacement - and that's proving impossible at the moment) to possibly use that as my heart rate doesn't get up too far on the bike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJ Posted July 27, 2015 Report Share Posted July 27, 2015 Way to go - it's good to hear that you have a plan going forward and that the injury is manageable. You're progress and perseverance has truly been an inspiration (I remember when I was in the 'lurking' days reading your stories and repeats of weeks and thinking 'This guy has that determination - what an inspiration'. Here's to hoping that the injuries heal quickly and that you continue with that great spirit! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djplong Posted July 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 Tuesday's PT appointment was more exercises, more ultrasound on the affected area and more advice on what to do. I told the therapist that I wanted to run my first 5K - a small local event for charity on August 14 - and I had hoped to start jogging before then to get my legs used to the work again. Because of that, she's upped the exercise regimen and suggested more walking (did a mile yesterday while at work and felt the ache afterwards). She also said that, when I return to jogging, to do a 5 minute walk followed by a 5 minute VIGOROUS walk for a warmup and THEN start jogging. Today is the next appointment and I'm really hoping to feel good enough tomorrow to start stretching things out with the longer walk (maybe the old 5K route around the neighborhood I mapped out back in March). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djplong Posted July 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 And the news keeps getting better. After all the stretching and lifting and ultrasound, I asked the therapist what 'sign' I could look for that would say I'm ready to start jogging again. She suggested walking 20 minutes a day and icing the affected area down after that. If I can go 5 days without things getting worse, I can start jogging again. This could be as early as Tuesday which would allow me to get back on the program with more than a week's time before the 5K charity run I want to do on August 14. I'm trying to contain my optimism as this IS predicated on me getting through all the walking first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roman Soldier Posted July 31, 2015 Report Share Posted July 31, 2015 Nice to see you are keeping going and positive, you WILL do it, I've pulled my achilles tendon running too fast but a couple of days rest stretches and ice packs and I completed wk5d3 so it's now becoming an activity I'm looking forward too, up to now it's been soo tough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djplong Posted August 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2015 Last week was a setback. Pain coming back was a very bad sign. The good news is that the right side hip flexor appears to be completely healed. No pain whatsoever. The left side is the troubled part. If I don't take the ibuprofen on schedule, the pain gets bad enough to cause a limp. So, the therapist said no more exercising of any kind (no walks, no jogs, no bike riding) until we get that side quieted down.This is driving me up a wall. I'm wondering where I'm going to be when I can finally start jogging again - how much stamina will I have lost and where in the program will I be? So I did what anyone would do. Saturday I bought a bike. Wasn't expecting to. Just stopped at a bike swap that the big bike store in town was having - and only heard of that because we brought my wife's bike in for service. Bikes have certainly come a long way since I last rode some 30 years ago. But I want something low-impact that I could maybe do on the off days when I get back to jogging.. Next appointment is tomorrow but I don't know where things stand right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djplong Posted August 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2015 What a difference a few days make! After going through a routine at the physical therapist, she decided on a new tactic. Power my way through it. Whole new set of exercises to do every day at home *and* was allowed to walk or bike (no jogging) for 10-15 minutes per day. The next appointment two days later had a slight improvement so she modified my exercise schedule by putting a couple more things on it (side planks, among others). So I started religiously doing the routine and biking the 7km route that mapped around the neighborhood. My next appointment is on Tuesday and I have a LOT of good news to report. The pain is CONSIDERABLY reduced. The exercises are becoming more "doable" and today I did a bike trek across the river and back - about 9 miles altogether. My weight is down to 180 (17 pounds vanished from my frame) and I'm beginning to see the difference (using a different notch on my belt). Looking at the stats on my iPhone, I can really see the difference in what I've been doing. Now I just have to keep going. I may not be able to do the 5K Color Run in Loudon on the 12th but I just learned of a 5K Halloween Costume run in Boston on 10/31. Maybe I can do that one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJ Posted August 17, 2015 Report Share Posted August 17, 2015 Great news! Sounds like the plan is working nicely! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djplong Posted August 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2015 I feel like a yo-yo. All the good vibes I had went out the window yesterday when the therapist wanted to see how I jogged - to analyze my gait. All it took was one landing on my left leg - the very first step - and the pain was back in force. Walking, biking, exercising - all that I was able to do with, at worst, a bit of an ache making it seem like things were really getting better. I'm beginning to wonder, not only if I'll be able to get back my stride enough to do a 5K and 10K in January, but if this will EVER heal! The therapist is trying to keep my spirits up and is now recommending trading off biking and walking on alternate days.. This is SO frustrating.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djplong Posted September 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2015 2 1/2 months of this would have driven me insane if I hadn't taken up bike-riding. Bought a used bike that I've been riding all over to at least get SOME exercise. I can walk without a limp but the ache is still there. Sitting the wrong way for too long makes the inside of the hip worse. But the good news is that, at the rehab center 2 days ago, I was doing short laps on the grass in back of the building as the therapist analyzed my gait. It hurt a bit - but it was an ache as opposed to the sharp pain a month ago. My therapist was watching me and making suggestions on how to improve my technique - it's something I'll have to concentrate on. I'm still losing weight - though at a slower clip. Some of that is due to other stresses in my life that got turned up to '11' after being pretty much at a '0' for a LONG time. I'm back to being optimistic. Though I admit I was a bit surprised how winded I was with those few short laps (though that came after the stationary bike, the treadmill and other exercises before we went out back). Lots of emphasis on stretching exercises. The GOOD news is that my right side is STILL completely healed - no relapse so my left side SHOULD eventually return to normal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJ Posted September 23, 2015 Report Share Posted September 23, 2015 Glad things are progressing - even though it may be slower than you want. And nice Spinal Tap reference! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djplong Posted October 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2015 Had the final (for now) PT session last week and it was the typical good news / bad news scenario. We talked about me getting back to jogging and, when it happens, where in the program to restart. The good news is that she (the therapist) thought it would be OK to restart when I get back from a business trip to Hawaii (a few days from now). The bad news was that she recommended I start from the very beginning. This doesn't bode well for me trying to stretch out to 10K by early January. But, I'm going to do what I can as soon as I get back next week. Hopefully I can alternate between jogging and biking to get my endurance up quicker and my weight loss accelerated a little bit. The best news is the lack of pain when I walk. I'm traipsing all over Oahu now and there been almost no pain - even when I had to do a quick full-blown sprint to get away from a wave that had overrun the jette on which I was standing (The wave won, I lost, my shoes and socks were soaked!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djplong Posted October 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2015 Ok.. The training classes I had for two weeks at work are over. The business trip to Hawaii (with some vacation days tacked on to the end) is over. It's time to get back on the horse. It's taken three months - but I'm back to where I was... ...in March. Ok, that was too much drama, and not entirely accurate. In reality, the news is good. Yesterday I went out and jogged for the first time since I was taken off jogging three months ago. I took the therapist's advice and went back to the beginning - W1D1. I aced it. My wife even went out with me and kept up. (She's also signed up for the races in January in Florida but hasn't been training) Felt *slight* pain during the jogging segments, nothing during the walking segments and this morning I feel *fine*. All during the jogging segments, I kept thinking about (and trying to apply) everything my therapist told me. Push off my ankles, keep the torso straighter, roll through each pace, etc... Given that I now have just under three months to train for the WDW 5K & 10K races on consecutive days in early January, I have to see if I can accelerate the 5K part of the program to get to the 10K part. Looking at the entire schedule, it's 14 weeks and I know I'm going to hit roadblocks in the 10K part. I may only do one or two of a given week's iterations (if all 3 are the same) but I'll really have to be paying attention to what my body tells me. I can't risk another injury because I simply won't have time to heal. On top of that, in my best Ed Stark voice, "Winter is coming". At least I'll have access to an indoor gym at work complete with a track. All I can say is thank god I bought the bicycle and that the injury didn't affect my bike riding. At least with that, I was still able to get some exercise while "on the shelf". In the three weeks of having my life interrupted (training classes and business trip/vacation) I put on a couple of pounds but, weighing myself after the run yesterday, I'm back to 175 so that's 22 pounds gone since I started this odyssey. 25 more and I figure I'll be at a much more ideal weight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djplong Posted October 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2015 Decided to skip on to Week 2 on Monday since W1D1 didn't feel like a challenge and everything felt pretty good afterwards. W2D1 went fine. Felt some pain early on, but not towards the end. Getting back to jogging in the park really helped my state of mind. Today I decided to stay on course with W2D2 and my wife even joined me. There was a point near the end where I felt like I really wanted to break out and run a little faster. I use the series of MapMyFitness+ apps (MapMyRun, MapMyRide, etc). I've noticed that, on the jogging legs, when I get the progress reminders in my ear they're coming in at a pace under 6:00/km whereas they used to come in at or over 7:00/km (when I was doing the program before my injury). 6 minutes is the pace I want to be able to do for a 5K - to finish in a half hour. If these stats are accurate, the coaching I've gotten from my physical therapist (while rehabbing my injury) and riding around town on the new bike seem to have put a little bit of speed in my step! Now the goal would be to hold that pace as the jogging segments get longer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djplong Posted October 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2015 Friday I did W2D2 and it didn't feel like enough. It was almost too easy... Yesterday I started W3D1 and THAT wasn't enough. I had too much "in the tank" and the end of the segments to let it go - so I improvised. After a bit of walking, I ran an extra 5+ minutes. No more than that - I didn't want to push things too far - but I got that feeling of stretching my endurance out - that ache that tells you you're building something inside. By this morning, almost all the aches are gone. Today is for getting back on the bike and tomorrow it's W3D2 and maybe more....I'm hoping that getting back into a regular routine will get me back to losing more weight. I seem to have stalled out around 175 (down from 197 in January). Jeshi 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJ Posted October 22, 2015 Report Share Posted October 22, 2015 Nice job! Glad to see you're on the regular move again and pain free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djplong Posted October 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2015 Wednesday was W3D2 and I still had too much in the tank and did another 4+ minute jogging segment at the end. I decided that W3 wasn't challenging enough and changed my plans to skip biking to let my legs rest up and skip on to W4D1. That worked better than expected. Last time, in March/April, it took me nearly 2 weeks to conquer W4D1. This time (on Friday), I nailed it first time. I felt like I was actually starting to challenge myself. Sunday was the same thing - a bit of a challenge but still nailed it even though it took a couple of tries last time. Looking at the statistics, I'm still getting faster and going further in the same amount of time. I get the weirdest feeling when I start out on the warmup walks. THAT's when I feel a twinge in my hip or aches in other places. I start feeling pain within a minute when the jogging starts but MOST of it goes away fairly quickly. By then, I'm not feeling ANY of the aches or pains I felt at the beginning - all I'm feeling is what would be the 'normal' fatigue. I think it's a case of mind over matter. Given that it's a challenge now, I'm not going to skip anything. On my schedule, W4D3 will hit Wednesday and then I'll start W5 on Friday. I'm getting more optimistic about my prospects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djplong Posted October 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2015 I checked the weather yesterday and it didn't look good for today (Wednesday) and tomorrow so I bumped my schedule up a day - foregoing the 2 days rest I was planning on. I also decided to skip W4D3 and head on to W5D1. My logic, if you could call it that, was that I was going to do 15 minutes of jogging instead of W4's 16. Nailed it. I *still* had something in the tank at the end and decided to do another lap around Swan Pond (rather picturesque part of the park where I like to run) with put about another half-kilometer in my rear-view mirror. When all was said and done, I'd done just over 5K in 38:36 (including the walking warmup/cooldown) at an average speed of 7:35/km. My running segments seem to be in and sometimes under the 6:00/km pace I'd *like* them to be (which is well below the pace I was doing when I first went through the program before the injury).Last time I made it through W8D1 before I got sidelined and I was doing 4K at an average pace just over 7:00. This is all very encouraging - especially since the early run pain goes away so quickly. It really is turning into more of a mental willpower thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJ Posted October 28, 2015 Report Share Posted October 28, 2015 Great job! Glad to hear that your injuries are subsided and aren't flaring up. Sounds like you're getting back to pre-injury form! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djplong Posted October 29, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2015 Thanks, Steve. "Cautiously optimistic" are the words I've been using lately. I can't deny that I'm scared of what COULD happen. After all, last time, it wasn't anything specific that I did. I didn't land wrong on a rock or fall off a curb or anything like that. Just an incredible amount of pain after the last session I did (W8D1) and I was rather euphoric over having completed it and being SO close to finishing the program! I've been concentrating like a mad scientist on the suggestions I got from my physical therapist and the sports medicine specialist - head up, shoulders back, feet pointed slightly outwards (to keep the knee pain away) and trying to keep a posture as though someone had tied a string to my navel and was pulling me along (a suggestion from the doctor that he got from the book "Chi Running"). All of it seems to be working and I just want to keep this going. In about 65 days, my wife and I are heading to Florida and are entered in a pair of races. An injury now would almost guarantee that I couldn't run in them. I've used up all the 'slack time' that I had in mind when I first started this odyssey earlier this year. One other thing - I noticed your tagline quote "...against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit". I have a similar feeling that is best expressed by the cartoonist known as "The Oatmeal". I haven't run marathons like he has but I love the way he puts things: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/running Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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