Running Talk

I woke up early, before the alarm went off this morning, with some nervous energy about the run I had planned for the day. In the past week, I had run 30 miles for the first time in months. Last year at this time, I was pushing 50 mile weeks, but I had already laid the groundwork for an injury that I am still dealing with. I trained through the injury (osteitis pubis, if you want to google it), and ran two marathons last season, including a PR in Austin in February. In short, I was running while developing what soon would have become a stress fracture in my pubic bone. After the marathon, I turned myself in for treatment, got officially diagnosed, and have been getting physical therapy ever since.

The first step in treatment was 8 weeks of no running, while trying to rebuild some serious muscle weakness in my left hip and glute. Apparently, you can run a marathon while major muscle groups are totally misfiring. Pieter the physical therapist, and his minions, have built me back up slowly, testing me first with water running, then progressing to what is now 5-days-a-week with one run being what I call a "speed test." Pieter wants to know what happens when I go for a faster turnover, to see how the injured area responds.

Mile repeats, and hill intervals weren't enough for Pieter, so today was the day for some 400 meter intervals at the track. Running faster than 10K pace is more stressful on the body, especially a 42-year-old body. When I start training for another marathon, I don't plan to ever run 400 meter intervals, but for Pieter, this kind of run is good data. Overall, I was pleased with how the run went. Every time I have done a "speed test," I've felt good during the run, and then tightened up in the hip later in the day. I've had less of this tightness today, though enough to remind me me that I'm not "cured." I see Pieter tomorrow, for the first time in four weeks, and am looking forward to to assessment of the situation.

It is frustrating to not be able to make any real running plans (for future marathons, and the like). I was talking with Carrie last night about how I planned to schedule runs once school started again. I might be back in marathon shape for the winter, or I might still be struggling. Meanwhile, Houston (January) is sold-out, and the chance to be ready for San Antonio (November) is gone. It may be a year of half-marathons, if I can't start training for a full in time.

The subtitle for this summer's blog includes "running less." Well , I'm tired of running less, and would like to get going again. But pushing too much, too soon, is what got me into this mess, so I have to be patient.

At least I am able to run around the trail at Lady Bird Lake, with views like this:

Peace,

JS4