Peaks and Valleys or: Speaking of "Staying Honest"

***Get comfortable, this is a long one.***



Phrases in my google search bar over the past week:

"athletic pubalgia"

"iliopsoas tendonitis"

"overtraining syndrome"


On Monday my hips were so sore that it slowed me down at work. I now attribute this to wearing heavier shoes for the later-week jogs I did, taxing those hip flexors a little more than they're used to. This was just regular old muscular soreness, but in a time when every little ache has me worried about injury, I was a little anxious.

I decided to rest until I felt better. I felt OK on Tuesday, but gave it another day. Wednesday I felt good and I got up with the sun, out for 45 minutes jogging. Felt decent, but kind of frustrated. To be honest, the whole heart rate monitor idea (keeping my HR below 150) is causing me more strife than it's worth. It results in very slow and somewhat uncomfortable jogging.

It was more of the same on Thursday, 45 minutes or so, and some periodic wind sprints were relieving, but they made me aware of a tightness in the right side of my groin that's been lingering for the past few months. I resolved as I was stepping through my front door to put the sneakers in the closet for a while. Which is an idea I've toyed with since.

So, as is evident in my extreme paranoia of injuring myself, my fear of anything besides light jogging (hence the HR restriction which I'm deciding is more or less a subconscious manifestation of this fear), and my continuing difficulty with these periodic attempts to rekindle my daily habit, I'm obviously feeling pretty off kilter right now. I can't tell if I'm depressed and frustrated because I'm having trouble with this, or if it's the other way around.

Of course, this is related to things bigger than running in my life right now as well. And I realize that I can't run (or jog) from my problems. At least not in an unprescribed manner.

By the way, I should mention that I feel pretty darn good right now. Just so you're not worried I'm typing this from some dark room hugging a bottle of hooch or something. I merely find it important to convey what's going on in my head. And I'm accepting that the issue with my hips is related to an imbalance of some sort. The whole stress fracture issue (left foot) at the beginning of the summer had kind of a cascade effect where I was compensating a lot with my strong leg (the right one), especially when biking. On numerous occasions I caught myself pedaling solely with my right leg out of fear (and some discomfort honestly) that I'd reaggravate the stress fracture. This clearly led to an overuse injury of some sort which is getting better, but still lingers. So I've given myself a new challenge, and that's to stay still until I can't stand it anymore. Then I'll start some core strengthening exercises for a little while before trying running and cycling. And I'm gonna run, not jog. Well, maybe some jogging. The difference between this and similar "resolutions" earlier this year is that I have confidence that things will heal. It's just a matter of time.

On a different note, I've been thinking a lot about long term plans. I've mentioned before that I wanted to build up to a marathon next June. Grandma's Marathon specifically. If you know me than you know this is the first and only marathon I've run, and it holds sentimental value to me in that regard. It'd be wild to cross that tape again after so long away from it. Plus my grandfolks live in Superior, and it'd be nice to see them.

I've never mentioned this before (on this blog), but something I've always wanted to do is an extended bike tour. Some of you may have heard me mention a trip I'd envisioned after graduation, a self-supported circumnavigation of the great lakes. Well, my brother Nate has recently discovered a passion for cycling, and he's been asking me to ride coast-to-coast with him. I muddled over this for a while and decided that if there's a time for me to do this, it's next summer, with family. Grandma's is in June, and we'd have to leave around that time at the latest, so I'm now having second thoughts on the marathon. It's something I can come back to, and I don't know if I'd ever have another chance to take a two month tour. Priorities. Nate's already started "training" for it so I better get on board soon.

So as it stands now, I'll be retiring this blog for awhile. As I don't feel like I've been training (running or otherwise) for a good time now, I don't see any reason why I shouldn't take a little break from things. The fact that it seems mentally insurmountable to rest is probably a good indication that that's exactly what I need to do. When I get back to things, which might be a New Year's thing, I'll hopefully be doing a balance of running and cycling, so even then the format of this blog will change.

Thanks for listening, and good luck to all y'all in whatever you're doing.

Staying Honest

Got out early this morning before settling in to some studies for the day. Great sunrise, and for the second day in a row I caught the gargantuan freight barge that seems to frequent this part of the river as it was towed downstream by tugboats. Jogged halfway over the Ben Franklin Bridge before turning around and retracing my steps. In the last 20 min or so my hips got tight on me, serving as a reminder that adaptation is a long term process. 55:13 easy.

In the Clouds

I was a little hesitant to go out this morning after some poor sleep and band rehearsal (beer rehearsal) last night. Glad I did, as I touched base with one of my favorite sensations that running brings me. With my head in the clouds, feeling kind of mentally groggy, my legs took me on a windy trip around Penn's Landing and Old City. The feeling was fleeting, but it's the first time I've felt it since early summer. I can best describe it as a bypassing of the mind, so that motion doesn't originate in the head, but instead in the legs. I got rained on, and it felt good. 60 minutes of slow easy jogging. Legs feel good, foot still feels weird.

Shorts in November?

Someone was apparently surprised to see me walk by in shorts in a tank top, peanut butter and bananas in hand.

Woke early without an alarm this morning.  Trotted around Penn's Landing for a while and wound up at the corner store for the above-mentioned breakfast items.  Sun was poking through the clouds above the Ben Franklin Bridge.  Beautiful grey morning.  Watch died on the way out of the house, but it was somewhere around 45:00.  Felt pretty good.  Was listening to Thelonious Monk, and almost busted out in a little jig down on the promenade.

Hot Dank Poorly Ventilated

The particular gym I visit occasionally can be described as such.  Was there after work today feeling kind of tired but I thought I'd give it an honest try.  Waited in line for a treadmill for a while and then decided to forget it and head outside.  The wind and drizzle was refreshing, and I got off to a good start.  Ended up with some figure 8's through and around Powelton Village.  Eventually, the strong wind gusts, rush hour traffic, and some irritation in my foot converged to dampen my spirits a bit.  I guess 3 out of 4 isn't too bad.  21:56 easy.

Check Your Head

Yesterday afternoon, got out for 44:43 on a loop through Old City that I haven't done in a while. Slow but otherwise things felt fine.

After class and taking care of some things at school tonight I went for a spin to shake out the election jitters. 34:13. Again slow but feeling pretty good.

So it seems that a freak combination of some indigestion, a bit of muscular stiffness, some irritation from the saddle on my bicycle, and my hypochondria had me pretty worried that I had an inguinal hernia. I saw a doctor today and I'm relieved to say that there's no visible evidence of such. To play it safe, the doctor ordered an ultrasound, which I'll do tomorrow morning. I'm not ruling out the possibility of some tendinitis or something around the pubic bone area, so I'll continue to be conservative just to be safe. Otherwise, I'm hoping tomorrow will be my last visit to the doctor for a good while. Maybe instead of an ultrasound they should do a brain scan.

Breaking Out

Of my house between study sessions this afternoon. Runs are good for these. 47:xx including three striders in the grass of Penn Treaty Park. Beautiful day out there, felt pretty good even at slug's pace. Wanted to keep going.

Weekly Injury Update

I'm thinking of changing the name of this blog. Ideas so far:

"The Latest Ding"

"Discomfort Monitor"

"The Running Chump's Field Guide"

Actually, the current title is fitting enough.

To get to the point, another issue has popped up on the radar. I'll spare you the list of symptoms. I was one of the lucky 2% to be born with a hernia (actually two, one on either side). It was repaired when I was three years old, and the surgery is probably one of my earliest memories. I think all the biking over the summer opened one of them back up, and it's steadily becoming more and more uncomfortable. Strange thing is that it doesn't hurt while jogging, only after cycling. Looking back, the first symptoms came last month while riding to the shore.

So, all I know to do is to continue to take it easy, ask the doctor, and hope I can get whatever's going on fixed. Happy Halloween.