Saturday, March 28, 2015

Hip Hoop Hooray!

This is the stupid wire hoop that caused so much pain
Every week before my long run, I drive bottled water to a few different hiding places along my route that I'll be passing by in a few hours.  Is it inconvenient ... a little.  But enjoy the time before my run just mindlessly driving and relaxing, typically before dark, focusing on my run.

But this morning when I dropped off a bottle near Red Lobster, I thought, "I wonder if that #%@*!'ing wire hoop is still over there in the grass."  You'll remember from my last post, that during my long run last Saturday, my foot tripped on a wire hoop and I fell on the concrete, landing on my inflamed left hip. Well, it didn't take too much looking before I found the #%@*!'er in the same grassy hiding place ... like a python stalking it's next rabbit or hamster that ventured too close to it's hungry jaws.  And even though I still have no idea what this is, other than a makeshift bear-trap for runners, I immediately picked it up and put it in the car, just to make sure I didn't trip on it again this week.  Score.

Why all the concern over a stupid little piece of cylindrical metal?  Well, this little guy caused me A LOT of pain this week.  Just when I was starting to get over the minor Bursitis pain I was experiencing, the fall last Saturday left me with a huge bruise, and a lot of pain directly on the top my Femur.  So much pain that I actually skipped two runs, which I never do.  And it put a pretty big dent in my half-marathon training since I only ran a total of five miles this past week before getting in 13 today.  But I think I'm finally turning the corner with the hip issues!

My run on Saturday went fairly well.  I iced afterwards, and as I sit here writing this about two hours later, there's no additional pain in the area.  I really tried to push my tempo and ran most of it fairly fast.  Here are the splits ...

2.5 miles warm up, then 9 miles ... 7:16, 7:00, 6:43, 6:48, 6:42, 6:35, 6:34, 6:35, 6:31, then a 1.5 mile cool down

My Spring race at the Prairie Fire Half Marathon is still five weeks away, with basically all of April to train.  And the good news is, that even with a sore hip, if I could averaged a 6:35 for four more miles, I would have been right at my current half-marathon PR.  So hopefully missing a couple of workouts and resting my hip didn't adversely impact me too much.  The biggest thing I notice right now when I run is tightness in the area.  It doesn't really hurt, but my leg's not swinging free and easy at all, it's really really forced.  So we'll see how training goes.  I really wanted to PR in Wichita, but I don't know if it's going to e possible. I'll probably make a call on the race in a couple of weeks depending on how training is going.  Anyway, that's about it.  Have a great week!
... Be Great Today!

7 comments:

  1. I can't believe you went and got the hoop! Very rude of it to stick around the scene of the crime like that. It's great that you can hit those speeds without pain, but the lack of motion is worrisome. Keep up the NSAIDS.

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    1. Thanks for the info Grace, I was actually going to email you and ask about the NSAIDS.

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  2. You won't have made too much of a dent in your training by missing two sessions. You don't lose fitness that quickly. So much more important to get a handle on the injury and not cause any more damage - which you know cause you looked after yourself.

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    1. Yeah, I really didn't mind missing the better part of one week, I just don't want to make it a habit

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  3. have you done Prairie Fire before? Last year I looked into doing the full (in Oct or Nov) but then I got injured so I never went. Just curious about the course. Based on your 9 mile tempo run I'd say you are ready for a new half PR! Go for it!

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    1. Tia you should absolutely do Prairie Fire. I don't know where you guys are in Arkansas, but Wichita if you're on the Western side of the state, Wichita wouldn't be too bad of a drive. It's one of the flattest courses I've ran. They have Spring and Fall races called Prairie Fire, and I've done the Fall marathon. To date it's probably my biggest marathon "fail" ... but that was 100% my fault. It's a great PR course. The Spring half is pancake flat, so hopefully it will produce a fast race. Both races are fairly small too, so I'm sure you'd be one of the top finishers, if not win them!

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  4. I am not surprised by your going back for the hoop. I once stepped on a stone that made me fall flat on my face and injure my shoulder. It took a few months to recover, but I went back and looked for the damn stone. It was still there, but I threw it away in the grass. Glad to hear that things are looking up!

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