Welcome

I feel like I took one step forward then two steps back last Saturday. After the run, I watched a show with my boys and had a hard time sitting with my SI joint pain. The same pain the insert was supposed to alleviate has taken a turn for the worse.

I left the opportunity to run open Monday and Tuesday but I had no desire to go out and took it as a sign my body needed the rest from Saturday. Today I ran with Adam at lunch and the SI joint is as bad as it was when I first injured it May-June of 2013. The hip felt ok today but I felt dejected limping back to my office. A broken man.

I am looking forward to my appointment with Dr. Toronto tomorrow. Onward and upward!

Lunch

Ran again with Adam this time around Harvard/Yale. Nice day. Not sore from yesterday but certainly not feeling good.

I have been so caught up in my Giants and...working...that I forgot to write an update. I went to Dr. Toronto yesterday at his new facility in the Old Mill office complex. I really like him personally and it's clear he has seen his fair share of runners over the years and knows what plagues us. The issues identified are more or less the same but another completely different approach this time.

Instead of a shot, he prescribed cortisone pills to reduce inflammation and put me on a gentle strengthening stretching routine aimed at producing the correct muscle memory in my left hip for running. He sees the three injuries all the time and has a tried and true method. After three days of cortisone, I let him know if the inflammation is down. After five days, I do a run and see if it generates the irritation. Depending on how I develop we move on from there to strengthening activities (he says the ones from TOSH are good but premature since I need to heal first).

On we go.

Lunch - 30 minutes of stairmaster. Toronto prefers elliptical to stairmaster but I work harder on stairmaster (and don't have an elliptical at work) so I did stairmaster with 2.5 pound weights for 20 minutes (so 5 up and 5 down with 20 minutes with the weights). It felt like a pretty good workout and got the HR up close to 160 without ever going very fast on the stairs.

30 minutes on the elliptical at home. I wanted more but the kids weren't having it. Thinking about another session tonight.

Lunch

30 minutes on the stairmaster with 2.5 pound weights in each arm for the first 25 minutes. I got breathing pretty good but I truly hate cross so 30 was all I could muster. Also my left calf was uncomfortably tight so I didn't want to mess with that. Good times indeed.

I was told to try a 2-3 mile cruiser after five days of cortisone pills and some PT. Felt ok - minor pain at the hamstring attachment but nowhere else. I ran in front of a car and had to speed up and that threatened to aggravate the hip. 7:52 pace. On we go.

Lunch

60 minutes on the stairmaster with 2.5 weights. I feel like I need a head band and wrist bands to wipe the sweat. And spandex would work better than shorts.

I did arm reps in every direction every two minutes and that helped break up the monotony. With weights in hand and 5 floors per minute, my heart rate climbed into the 150s for the latter half of the workout until I cooled down at 55 minutes. Felt like a good workout. I'm gaining weight. I need to extend my workouts. It's still going to be a while before i can do any meaningful running.

80 minutes of yoga. Other than a little PT, entirely off for nine days which is the longest brake in a few years. I started to feel unhealthy.

20 minutes of stairmaster with weights. I wanted to go 60 but I had strong mental resistance. With the long workout yesterday in the 9 pm hour, I decided my body was saying back off a smidge.

30 minutes of stairmaster. Various PT.

I am under no specific regimen right now. I get such conflicting views on everything, I don't trust anyone. And while their explanations of what is wrong are attractive, their solutions do not make intuitive sense which is what ultimatley causes me to walk away.

I at least feel like I know what is wrong. High hamstring tendintis/tendinosis, adductor magnus strain and various points of inflammation from all of it. Nothing serious. I strongly believe it all derives from weak and imbalanced hips and glutes, and hamstrings, psoas muscles and piriformis muscles that do not have full range of motion. The trick is where to begin. Some have me doing things that are too hard and cause strain. Others would have me do minimal movements that do little more than irritate muscles without any noticeable improvement. The one constant is that they all have completely different approaches. I have been learning a lot and I have ideas, but I am afraid to run after my hip cramped up a couple weeks back and I feel like I can't get out there again until I achieve no pain in these areas. My focuses will be strengthening and stretching with a good dose of yoga as part of the mix. And enough cross to stay somewhat fit (I hate it so). If I don't see improvements through November, I will seek out additional guidance.

A little check in 30 minute cruiser on the BST behind my office. No different as expected.