Category: Cycling

Constant Struggles

On By LeraIn Cycling, Life, runningLeave a comment

I’ve been having a really hard time since the 5k. Somehow, despite everything I try and all the effort I put in to following the advice I’m given to the letter, I can’t catch a break. At my last physical therapy session before the race, I was told that after it was over, I should take a break from my workouts for two weeks and rest. I had already decreased my biking for weeks before the race so I wouldn’t work my trouble spots harder than they were already working, which made sense and I figured the sacrifice would be worth it. I was at least able to keep training and run my race. My PT wanted me to decrease my biking even more, which knocked me down to just 3 days a week of only 20-30 minutes and absolutely no running for the duration of the break. During that time, I missed running and was anxious to get back to training for the next 5k, but I really missed biking. I was riding 6-7 days a week before, and between 45-90 minutes each ride depending on the day. Last year I was able to easily log 15-20 miles a day, and for the last month it’s been 5-6 miles on average. Biking was how I erased my stress, and I am really having a hard time not being able to bike as much as I want.

The two week break felt like it lasted forever, but my pain steadily decreased during that time. My first run back felt amazing, and most importantly, there was no pain. I thought I was finally in the clear. My second run that week went well, too, but my third one was when I knew I was getting my hopes up too high too soon. All of the pain returned near the end of that first week back, which was last week. Fast forward to this week, and it’s still here. I ran twice already and am planning to run again tomorrow. I decided to follow the C25K (couch to 5k) program exactly as laid out unless I need to make modifications. Even though I was able to do more a few weeks ago in terms of endurance, I’m hoping that keeping it easy and steadily increasing my runs with a progressive plan will help keep the pain manageable enough for the next 6 weeks until the race.

So, basically I’m stuck at what to do. I absolutely don’t see the point in taking time off if it isn’t going to help. No, 2 weeks isn’t a long break, but the time before this I took 5 weeks, and the time before that, 16 weeks. What’s the point in taking a break if it doesn’t even provide lasting relief? I could take more time off, but it’s not guaranteed to even work, and I can’t afford to miss any runs leading up to the race. I’m only running 3 days a week, so it’s not like I’m overdoing it. I’m keeping my bike mileage down for now. But what else can I do? I’m doing everything my PT taught me how to do, and the unfortunate thing is that he’s now on medical leave for a while longer and he’s the one that actually knows my case, not to mention that all my PT benefits are used up for the year and having to do self-pay is already going to limit how much I can go because it isn’t cheap. It’s certainly not something I can do more than once a week. I was thinking of calling the clinic and asking if I can do an appointment to come up with a different home plan to try. The rest of the staff at that clinic is awesome and I wouldn’t mind working with any of them, but I have so much going on that I fear whoever it ends up being is going to be overwhelmed with everything I have going on.

As of now, the exhaustive list is:

  1. Left gluteus medius tendonitis and trochanteric bursitis
  2. Left TFL injury of some sort based on the stretches I can feel for that area
  3. Left proximal hamstring strain
  4. Left piriformis tightness, which leads to pain
  5. Left SI joint area pain when I run, and ocassionally with prolonged walking
  6. Right hip flexor tendonitis
  7. Right hamstring strain about two inches above my knee
  8. Right ankle mystery problem (still no official diagnosis after 2.5 years)

It’s really depressing to see everything in a list, but it is what it is. I started having most of these issues after my surgery, but I thought it was related to 10 weeks of crutches, and a few months of wearing the walking boot. I know for sure my body wasn’t moving ideally for a long time after my surgery, so it easily could have been that. I’ve had gluteus medius tendonitis before, about 11 years ago, but it went away pretty quickly and didn’t come back until 11 months ago.

My PT thinks a lot of it has to do with my ankle not letting me walk properly. I’m sure that has something to do with it, but I have another theory. Personally, I think it’s mostly related to me having a short right leg (anatomical origin as measured in special x-rays). I’ve been researching a lot, and the pain pattern I have is common for that issue. I have a 1 centimeter heel lift in my right shoe, but it’s not enough to fully level my pelvis. Running really aggravates everything, but I don’t know what else to do for it. I can’t use any higher of a lift in my shoe without my heel slipping out. There’s only one other nonsurgical option, and that’s getting my right shoe built to the correct height to even my legs out. I don’t know if it would help, but I’ll certainly be asking about it at my next follow-up with my specialist next month. The only problem with messing with the sole of the shoe is that I don’t know if it would render the motion control useless. I really need a motion control shoe to keep my ankle mostly happy when I run. Without it, I had a lot of ankle instability.

Anyway, forgive my ramblings. I guess I just can’t keep it bottled up anymore and needed to complain in a way that wouldn’t annoy anyone too much. I’m hoping I have time for a PT appointment next week to learn some new stretches and exercises I can try and see if that helps. I certainly have nothing to lose.

5K Training

On By LeraIn Cycling, Life, runningLeave a comment

Somehow yet another month has slipped by without an update. As predicted, I ended up back at physical therapy for all of my injuries. Better to work on them now before they stop me 100% from doing anything, which was the route I was headed down if I continued to ignore them. My PT knows my goal and how determined I am to meet it, so we’ve been aggressive at the stretching, and I started doing some strengthening this week. I’ve managed to keep running 3 days a week out of sheer stubbornness. Usually it hurts some, but no more than when I’m not running, so I’m going to keep at it. I absolutely refuse to stop again unless I’m told by a medical professional that I should. This is the third time in a year I’ve started trying to run, and I’m going to do everything I can to keep at it.

I decided to sign up for the 5k Dr. S told me about, which is hosted by the running group I joined. I can’t believe it’s only 12 days away. Considering I had to cancel the one in February due to injury, saying I’m looking forward to it is an understatement. I can’t even describe how ridiculously excited I am to finally be this close to that goal. I know I won’t be able to run the whole thing because I won’t be done with my training plan, but if I work in intervals, I should be able to run 80% of the time. I’ll push myself to do what I can, but I’m not going to stress out about it. I’ve also cut my cycling down for now to see if that helps the pain and stiffness in my hips and hamstrings. I think my every day bike habit is hindering my ability to rest well enough, so from now until the race, I’m only riding a few days a week and at a slower pace and less time than I’d prefer. It will hopefully be worth it come race day.

Lastly, I really love being part of a running group. I’ve mostly interacted with the members on Facebook, but I was able to make it to one group run so far, and it was awesome. Having some support out there makes a big difference, and there are a mix of beginners and non beginners, so there are people who understand the struggle to start running and people to look up to for future goals. Everyone has been amazing so far. I plan to do two more group runs this week, and I’m really looking forward to it. I’m learning a little about park runs and trail runs through them, and while I’ve only done one trail run so far, I loved it. Being in the woods surrounded by nature was refreshing. I just have to be careful I don’t roll an ankle on the uneven ground, which is why I haven’t been again yet. I do that enough on flat ground to the right ankle, which, as y’all know, already has problems. I don’t need another injury right before my race. I seem to be a magnet for them this past year, and enough is enough.

That’s all I have for now! I’ll let everyone know how my race goes, and maybe even post some photos!!

A Busy Past Month

On By LeraIn Cycling, Life, runningLeave a comment

Well, it’s been a heck of a month since I last wrote! As usual, this update will be a bit of a mixed bag of good and bad, but that’s just life for you. Sorry that this is so long! I really need to make it more of a habit to write more than once a month.

I finally got my bike back on July 9, after about 5 weeks at the repair shop. It was a long wait! It’s nice to have safe, functioning brakes again! I almost threw myself over the handlebars on my first ride because they were so responsive. However, I’m not a huge fan of the tire they put on the bike for me because it’s so heavy, but considering I had no other options, I’ll take what I can get. I can always switch it out at a later time. My speeds are slower than they used to be by 1 mph, which isn’t a huge difference, but it puts me back in the light cycling speed bracket 😦  Once the tread wears down a little, I might have more luck.

Next, the early success with the cortisone shot is fading. I still feel better than before, but I’m thinking when I go for my follow-up in two weeks, I’ll be back at physical therapy. I’m not even sure if it’s the same muscle (my left gluteus medius) that’s bothering me, or if it might be my TFL. Both are on the side of the hip where it hurts, and I did have tightness in my TFL when I was doing PT in the winter. I also am 99% sure I have a proximal hamstring injury on the same side, but I need it properly diagnosed by a doctor. Lastly, I’m also having trouble with my right hip flexors and some very slight occasional pain on the side. I’ve been stretching daily to try to relieve everything, but nothing is working to resolve the issues. I ordered a smaller diameter foam roller since the one I have is too big to get all my muscles well, so I’m hoping that might help. Despite all this, I have been able to run, but my pace is really suffering most days. It doesn’t hurt more while running or immediately after, which is the gauge I was given by PT to measure whether I should stop, so I’ve been trying my best to work through it.

I saw Dr. S for my elbow again yesterday, which is better than before thanks to therapy, but it still bothers me at work most days and lately every day when I ride my bike. My arm has also been hurting in the triceps area (which seems unusual for tennis elbow judging by my doctor’s puzzlement) and sometimes up to my shoulder and down through my middle finger. It’s not like that all the time, but it’s enough that it’s a bit worrisome. He gave me a referral to a sports medicine office, but warned me that they don’t like to take his patients if they aren’t athletes. As someone who is an active cyclist and who would love to play tennis again someday or sign up for martial arts, I’m hoping to have some luck. He also put my right ankle on the referral, so maybe someone might be able to figure out what’s wrong with it finally. I gave up on the ankle after that disastrous second opinion back in January, so I guess it’s time to try again.

Also while I was at my appointment yesterday, Dr. S talked with me a bit about running and what might help with some of these ongoing injuries. He suggested doing a video analysis of my running form, but I can’t find any good information from the place he suggested. He said they did it for him at the YMCA in a neighboring city, which does have a specialized physical therapy clinic, but it looks like I don’t have insurance coverage there. I’m not sure if the clinic I always go to would, but at the very least they might be able to just watch me run and make suggestions. I’ll look more into that after my orthopedics appointment, because, like I said, I have a feeling I’ll end up back at physical therapy.

Lastly, Dr. S told me about a local Couch to 5k running group at one of the parks close by, so I did some searching and found the group on Facebook. It will be nice to meet some other beginner runners in the area. I’m not doing that particular program, but I am doing a run/walk interval training program similar to that, so I asked to join the group and was accepted. They do group runs a few nights a week, which I will try to go to on the days I don’t have the afternoon shift, but in the meantime, I can hang out and meet some people online in the group. They’re hosting a program graduation 5k that benefits an area children’s hospital, but I don’t think I’ll be ready in 5.5 weeks. I might see where I am and maybe I can do the interval thing to finish, but I’ll have to consider how safe it might be with my nagging injuries.

June Letdowns

On By LeraIn Cycling, Life, runningLeave a comment

It’s been a heck of a month, especially since I don’t even have my bike right now. Three weeks ago, I was riding it and the front tire went flat. I had to walk it home about a mile and replace the tube. After I had it repaired, I rode just over a mile and it went flat again. I inspected the tire and saw nothing in it, which I expected since the flat was happening on the rim side. Last time that happened, it was the rim tape that needed to be replaced. I was tired of dealing with the issue, and the brakes needed to be repaired anyway, so I just took it to the local bike shop to let them deal with the issues. They told me it would be 2-3 weeks because they were really busy, which didn’t bother me all that much. Well, I called today (week 3), and they told me it would be a couple more weeks because they were waiting for a tire to come in, because thanks to COVID, there’s a shortage of them now. The guy told me the mechanic left me a message last week, but there’s no messages in my voicemail. I had him check my phone number just to be sure it was correct, and it was, so I don’t know what happened with that. All I know is that I’m going to lose my mind not having a bike for several more weeks, even though it may end up doing my body good.

As anyone who’s been reading this knows, I’ve been having trouble with my hip again, gluteus medius tendonitis to be exact. I took a month off from running and felt pretty good last week, so I tried a run, and I only got 8 minutes in before the pain was worse than it had been in a long time. I fought back tears walking home; I was beyond frustrated. Last week, I asked my past physical therapist about when a cortisone shot would be wise to consider, and he said, “Now.” I thought it over, and ended up scheduling an appointment with the doctor who treated it last time. I got really lucky and got an appointment for yesterday, his only opening until after the Fourth of July holiday. Someone must have cancelled right before I called. I’m so glad I didn’t have to wait three weeks to see him.

The appointment went well. I was 99% sure he was going to suggest a cortisone shot as the next course of treatment based on our discussion last time, and I was right. I know it has the potential to cause problems if done too frequently, but it was only my first one, so I wasn’t too worried about it. The shot was almost painless, which was a pleasant surprise because the size of the needle was huge. It was no worse than a normal injection. The doctor told me that if I didn’t have improvement in a week, he was going to give me a standing order for physical therapy. In the meantime, I’m working on my home program stretches. I wanted to ask my PT some questions today while I was doing occupational therapy for my elbow, but he wasn’t in the clinic this afternoon, so I have to wait until Thursday. I was curious about when it would be safe to start trying to run again, what other things I should be doing at home besides stretching, if adding strengthening to my program again would be helpful and when to do it, and what would happen if I did need to return to the clinic. I’m not sure that it will be necessary to return, but I want to know what kind of things we would be doing there since I can do 80% of it at home. I don’t want to waste his time. I’m getting ahead of myself, and I need to be patient and give the injection time to work. Today is my day off from work, so I won’t really know how it might hold up until later this week, and especially when I start running again. I was told at the doctor’s office that I could run in a few days, but that doesn’t seem safe to me. Maybe I’m just too afraid of hurting myself again, but I want to talk it over with my PT to know for sure. I really trust his judgment and he’s more familiar with my goals.

In other news, this week is going to my last week of occupational therapy. I have almost the same strength and flexibility in my right wrist now as I do in my left. The only deficit I have on my right side is that my strength with my arm extended is low because of the pain it causes at my elbow. At least I have one thing going right for me for a change. My shoulder is still sore at times, but I’m hoping that will eventually go away now that my elbow is improving.

I really hope July is a little more positive for me. I was going to run a 5k, but that’s unrealistic at the moment, so I’m going to a local lavender festival with a friend instead. It’s the same day as the race was supposed to be, so at least I still have something to look forward to. If I can get my bike back, I’ll be all set. I also started looking at a new 5k goal, and I think it won’t be until October, but it will be a Halloween themed race held at an orchard, and runners are allowed to dress up in a costume, so it’ll be fun to think about what to dress as. Given all that’s happening with my hip, I’m not sure trying to race any sooner than October would be wise. I’m going to be training slowly so I don’t have any other issues, fingers crossed!

February Update

On By LeraIn Cycling, Life, running, UncategorizedLeave a comment

A few things have happened since last I wrote, and I thought I’d fill all of you in. First, I had my annual appointment with my primary care doctor (Dr. S is the absolute best) to re-evaluate my asthma, and we decided that I could try to step down on my daily medication. Now, instead of a combination inhaler with a steroid and long acting bronchodilator, I’m trying just a steroid inhaler. I’m actually a little nervous about how it will go because I didn’t do well when I tried that three years ago. I’ve had excellent asthma control for the last few years, though, so it makes sense to see how I do. If worse comes to worse, I just go back to taking the combination inhaler and we try again at some point in the future.

While I was at the doctor, I asked him to look at my elbow, and I was right: it’s tennis elbow. He said he knew almost immediately because my case was so textbook, which never happens with me (usually I have weird issues). He told me to try a brace on it, ice it, stretch, and use ibuprofen as needed, and if that doesn’t seem to help, we can try physical therapy. I also brought up the issue of my hands tingling, and he said it’s bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome. He gave me braces to wear at night to keep the nerve from getting compressed. I’m hoping it helps and the problem resolves. It’s really annoying trying to hold a fork or spoon, pen, or crochet with my hands tingling and going numb. Bloodwork was ordered just to make sure it wasn’t a systemic issue, and everything came back normal, so it’s just overuse like everything else. I follow up with Dr. S in three months to make sure everything is on track.

Getting quite the collection of braces going.

In other news, physical therapy for my hip is going well. I’ve had 3 ASTYM treatments so far, and I’m hoping that will resolve the last of my hip woes. My therapist told me he wanted to do it because other nearby areas were starting to get tightness in addition to the gluteus medius: the gluteus minimus, the tensor fasciae latae, and the IT band. I’m glad he discovered that before I start my running program up again. The last thing I need is another problem starting or coming back.

I’m counting down the days until I can start running again: 17 days left! I’m not allowed to run until the last week of February, but I’m going to ask at PT if I can at least do some really short interval runs (30 seconds at a time). If I can’t, that’s okay. I’ll do what I have to for proper healing. I was given the go ahead by my physical therapist to do a 5k in mid-May, so I’m doing the one the local zoo hosts. It raises money for conservation and I get free admission to walk around the zoo afterward, so it’s a really great event. The best part is that I have two friends who want to run it with me! I’m looking forward to it more than words can say. I really hope I can make this one! I plan to run at least 5 races this year, especially the holiday ones. One of the local orchards does a Halloween race, and then there’s the Thanksgiving turkey chase. Other than those two, I’m not sure which ones I want to do yet. There’s a women’s only one in the summer where each runner gets to go down a long flight of stairs individually at the start that sounds cool, and there’s a state border run that I might do, too. I have plenty of time to decide, though, so no rush!

Lastly, work is still ridiculous, but I made it clear I wasn’t able to work so much overtime anymore given all of my new injuries. I think we might actually be getting a manager soon. I was told they were doing interviews today, so I’m hoping someone can take over by next week. I really hope it’s someone who is easy to work with and can work around all of my upcoming appointments and race dates.

A Hard Start to the Year

On By LeraIn Cycling, Life, runningLeave a comment

This week has been extremely challenging. Work is basically a nightmare. Half our staff is gone and I’ve worked overtime the last three weeks. While I have no problem working extra once in a while, to expect me to run that whole place without a pay raise is unfair. I can’t physically handle the extra work and it’s really taking a toll on my body. I don’t have enough time to do everything I need to do, and I feel like I’m drowning. I know that sounds a little dramatic, but this is more stress than I thought. We still have no boss, and I haven’t heard if there’s an estimate. I refused to work 6 days this week to let my body rest, and I guess the boss two levels over me didn’t mind. I had told her I was having difficulties with injuries, so I guess she understood. I’ll do 6 days next week since I’m off on Saturday because it won’t seem so bad having just had a bit of a break, but I’m hoping that will be it. We should be getting a part time assistant manager in soon, and that should make it possible to have a better schedule. She used to work for us before and wanted to come back, so even if I have to work longer shifts twice a week to get two days off again, I’m okay with that. She may not be able to start next week, but the week after I’m hoping everything will be finalized and I can feel a little better physically and mentally.

The worst thing that happened to me this week was that doctor’s appointment for a second opinion about my foot. I wrote before about how the surgeon who did my Achilles tendon thinks it’s arthritis, and I’m just not sure that’s all that’s going on because one of the places it hurts is too superficial and not in a joint. I wanted to hear someone else’s thoughts on it because I’m just not willing to undergo another surgery after I worked so hard to get to the point of being active again after the last one. This new doctor, I’ll call him Dr. E, was something else, and not in a good way. For the two hours I spent at the office (part of that was waiting for x-rays), I saw him for all of ten minutes, if even that long. He didn’t ask any of the usual questions any other doctor asks, like what the pain feels like, what makes it worse/better, etc. He looked at my foot and compared it to the left and declared that he saw nothing wrong. He said my bad foot had good strength and movement, but I wasn’t having a particularly painful day when I went because I had that day off from work. It was still visibly swollen and tender to touch, so I don’t know how he thought that was okay. The only thing he told me he could try was a very restrictive brace that wouldn’t let my ankle move at all, but I’d have to wear it for four months. I just can’t stand the thought of giving up biking and running for four months after fighting so hard to gain those things back last year. I’ve tried immobilizing it before with no success, so I guess I really don’t see the benefit of going through that again for such a long time. I wouldn’t mind trying a supportive brace that would allow me to still be active, but I was basically shut down any time I tried to ask a question. He told me he was sorry he couldn’t help me and left the room. No follow-up, no trying to figure out a plan, nothing. I cried most of the drive home out of sheer frustration.

This week I also had a follow-up with the doctor treating my hip injury, and that appointment went much better. He said it’s healing a little slowly, but that doesn’t surprise me considering the hours I’ve been working. The doctor told me that it takes about three months to fully heal this kind of injury and that I didn’t need to come back for another appointment unless things started bothering me more. He also told me I still shouldn’t run for another six weeks and that he’ll leave the decision of more physical therapy up to me and my PT to discuss on Friday.

So there you have it: not exactly the greatest week, but at least the hip is moving in the right direction. I’ll take slower progress over none any day.

Battle Plan

On By LeraIn Cycling, Life, runningLeave a comment

My hip pain has not resolved despite it having been seven weeks. I talked to my physical therapist a couple of weeks ago and he recommended a new doctor to me who is good with younger active patients with hip injuries. I looked him up and he’s published a ton of research and is team physician to several area college teams. I had my initial appointment with him today, and he seems to be really good. I didn’t tell him what my PT thought was going on at first just to see if he thought the same thing, and he did: gluteus medius tendonitis and trochanteric bursitis. He’s having me do formal physical therapy (I was just doing stretches on my own at home) and he’s going to reevaluate in six weeks and if it’s not better by then, he’ll try a steroid injection.

I called my physical therapist as soon as I got home from my appointment and he told me he had a light afternoon and offered me an appointment 45 minutes from the time I called. I was really glad to be able to start today so I can recover sooner. The only downside is that if this injury had waited a month, my insurance would cover it because my benefits would have reset. That means I’ll be doing self-pay until New Year’s, by which time I’ll be almost done with my course of treatment if all goes well. My therapist and the office manager were really apologetic about me having to pay myself, but I honestly don’t even care that my benefits are used up. I knew that going in and I knew what the fee was from last time, so it was expected. I’m just glad to be able to get some help getting back to my normal activities and not being in pain every day. The cost is worth it to get my life back.

Today’s PT session focused on a thorough evaluation of my hip injury and setting up a plan. My therapist told me that we needed to try to figure out why my foot is still an issue because if I’m limping on it and not walking normally, it will affect other areas of my body. I was very happy to hear that because I would love to know what’s actually wrong with my foot. I have nothing against the surgeon who fixed my tendon; that’s 90% better or more than it was before surgery and I’m grateful for that, but there’s no way I’m having surgery on my foot again anytime soon until I feel absolutely certain of the problem.

Other than those two appointments, my day was filled with lots of phone calls and emails. The asthma inhaler I had been taking all year is suddenly not allowed to be filled at the local pharmacy anymore. Instead, it has to be filled through the mail because it’s a maintenance medication, which costs more sometimes. At the pharmacy, I was using a manufacturer coupon to get the copay reduced to $10/month. The mail order pharmacy doesn’t take coupons and the copay there is $63. I emailed my family doctor and asked to switch to something with a lower copay and he was nice enough to change it for me without me coming in for an appointment. The weird problem is that the generic version of what I switched to costs $40 more per month than the name brand, and the doctor sent the generic on the prescription because generic is always cheaper, except apparently in this case. I found that out because I called the mail order pharmacy and made them give me the copay amounts to make sure they matched what I was told they were supposed to be by the insurance company, and indeed the name brand inhaler is cheaper than the generic. So now the pharmacy is supposed to contact the doctor’s office tomorrow to get the prescription changed to the name brand, and hopefully that will clear things up. I bothered my doctor so much today with an email chain while we tried to work out the issue that I really hope tomorrow will be the last I’ll have to cause him trouble.

That’s all I have for now, and hopefully the next time I write I’ll have some good news. I’m benched from running for the next six weeks but I can still bike as long as it doesn’t hurt, so at least I can try to keep up my conditioning. I have major doubts that I will be making my first 5k in February. I wasn’t given a clear answer when I asked my PT, which I understand because it’s still too early to know. If I have to push it back, so be it. There’s no use stressing about something I have little control over. All I can do is put my best effort into PT and trust that God will let everything work out eventually. So, until next time, I hope everyone is doing well!

Tendinitis Again

On By LeraIn Cycling, Life, runningLeave a comment

I had my physical therapist look at my hip today and he said it was likely gluteus medius tendinitis/muscle strain. I got lucky and don’t have to do formal sessions again, but he gave me some stretches and exercises to work on for the next couple of weeks at home. If those don’t make the injury better, then I’m supposed to call and let him know, but I’m hoping they do the trick. I can’t run until the pain is almost gone or I risk it becoming an ongoing issue. The good news is that I can bike as long as it doesn’t hurt, so I’ll keep doing that in the meantime. Hopefully I’ll be back to pounding the pavement soon!

Injuries Galore

On By LeraIn Cycling, LifeLeave a comment

Hello, all. It’s been an interesting month to say the least. I thought when I graduated from physical therapy, I would be okay for a while, but a week and a half ago, I did something to my hip while I was running, or more accurately, it just decided to get angry at me for no reason 24 minutes into my run. It hasn’t gone away yet, so Monday I’m planning to call my physical therapist and see if he can look at it. Hip injuries are one of his areas of specialty, so I’m hoping he’ll be able to see me next week. Michigan is thankfully a state where I don’t have to get a referral from a doctor to see a PT, which saves me some time. I love my primary care doctor, but there’s usually a week or two wait for non-urgent conditions. The sooner I can get this injury looked at and treatment started, the better. I haven’t been running since it happened since just walking aggravates it, but at least I can keep up my conditioning by biking since that doesn’t hurt it. I was so close to my goal for easing my way back into tennis, and this is going to set that goal back probably at least a month, if not more. At this rate, I won’t be able to play until spring since I just play at the local parks and the snow will be here before too much longer.

In addition to my hip, I’ve got a few other areas that are starting to rebel against me, so being able to get some help from my PT should hopefully fix those before they become real injuries. The Achilles tendon I had surgery on is bothering me in a different place than it has been, along with my right hamstring just above my knee, my right hip flexor, the outside of my right leg (I suspect it’s the IT band), and both legs just above my knee on the front inside side. Everything but my hip is only bothering me occasionally, but prevention is key. I can’t say I didn’t expect problems after not having been able to run for more than two years, but I didn’t expect everything to fall apart all at once. I made it seven weeks on my running program (this would have been week 9), so at least I was able to start. Hopefully I can get back to it soon. I need to be race ready by February!

Other than all the “fun” injuries, the NSAID trial is going really well. I have a lot less pain in my foot now compared to when I started it. I’ve even had three days without any pain there whatsoever. It’s been such a luxury getting out of bed in the morning and not having pain right away as soon as I stand up, or working all day and having very minimal pain most days. My only concern is with long-term side effects, which I’ll be discussing with my doctor when I go back in a week and a half. I also worry that the medication is masking some of pain from the areas that are bothering me, and I’m hoping I’m not unknowingly doing damage to them.

Lastly, this month I’ve been dealing with jury duty. My local court has people on call for an entire month, so I have to keep calling in to see when I have to show up. Thankfully, I’ve only had to go once so far. Just when the judge was starting to interview prospective jurors, the man on trial decided he wanted to take a plea deal instead of having a trial. I guess he decided it was in his best interest since he showed up late and slightly drunk (a cop had to come do a breathalyzer test on him), and the judge told us all before we left he went to a four year prison sentence with the plea deal instead of risking up to life in prison. I don’t remember all the details, but if he had shown up on time and sober, his sentence would have been a lot less, but the judge said that he had the ability to add time for those reasons in addition to his crimes. Thankfully next week is the last week, and I’m hoping there’s no trial scheduled so I have more time to get some help for my hip. I’m working six days straight next week, so I need all the time I can to properly rehab this problem.

Learning to Run

On By LeraIn Cycling, LifeLeave a comment

Today was a milestone day for me: I got to run! My physical therapist only cleared me to start with 100 yards a couple of times per week, and at a pace barely faster than a walk, but it’s better than nothing! He said once I know how my Achilles tendon responds, he’ll let me do more. I’ve been doing ASTYM for the last 6 weeks or so, and it’s really been working well. I have more movement in my tendon now, still not 100% but definitely better than where it was, and I can feel my calf muscles contracting sometimes instead of me just kind of dragging my leg along with me. I’m off from physical therapy until September 5th to see how things go and to check in with my surgeon about how everything is progressing and to address the weird swelling on the outside of my ankle that has my PT baffled. He said it’s got the characteristics of an ankle sprain but I didn’t do anything to it and it’s been like that all year. I’m hoping I don’t have some other issue; that’s the last thing I need. I really couldn’t have asked to be working with a better clinic. I’m so glad they didn’t give up on me and were willing to keep trying new things until something worked. I made them a gift for the clinic with the only skill I have: Japanese. I wrote my favorite proverb that motivates me through the hard days, and my hope is that it inspires other patients there, too. Here’s what it looked like:

Other than trying my hardest at therapy, I’ve been trying to get out biking. I’ve found that about once a week I can do an hour long ride, but the other days are shorter. When my physical therapist asks me every week how much I’ve been out, I usually tell him, “Not as much as I want”. He laughs at me for always saying that, but it’s true. Compared to last year, I’m doing about half so far. A couple of weeks I’ve gotten as high as 70 miles, but most weeks hover at 45-50 miles. I know one day I’ll get there again. I did make a new friend while riding: a cute little frog that didn’t want to leave my bike.

It’s been a long process, and I seem to be taking longer to recover than most people with the type of surgery I’ve had, but I’m at least moving forward, and slow progress is better than no progress. Now I’m off to bed, but I’ll leave you with a parting gift: How I’m sure I looked when I ran for the first time in a year. Bonus points if you know what this is from!