Resurrecting Chicago

Simple answer - you're not 25 anymore (where your body can handle most all you throw at it), and also, there is no shortcut in running. You have to build up gradually. Just be patient, it will come in time. Rushing it will just bring on injuries.

Mark, Seth and John, you are all right on the money. I tend to jump in with both feet and have not mastered the art of knowing what is enough and what is encroaching on too much. Reminding me that I'm not 25 anymore does hit home as I really don't feel like I'm much older than that. Compounding it is that I really had a 20+ year hiatus from any real form of consistent physical activity. The final factor in all this is that I have no issues while doing my workouts, the only symptoms show up after the fact, so no immediate feedback. Stir it all up and what I find is that I have lots of enthusiasm but not a lot of calibration for what is enough and what is too much. Ack.

So 3 days of complete rest are now behind me. Today, a more restrained, short 10-mile ride. Tomorrow a slow swim workout covering the distance but at low effort. I'm still working out all the details for the longer term, but I think I'll cut what were my planned runs in half for a while then build back up - perhaps use the elliptical for a week, keep the swimming activity to 3x/week as that is total aerobic and zero impact, and on the bike front back off on the intensity of the rides, perhaps lowering the HR target on those as a built-in effort limiter. And as you suggest Seth, remember the long-term goal and that training is exactly that.

1600 easy swim today. Successfully fought the urge to stop by the gym on the way home for an hour on the elliptical which was tough as I feel OK to do it. Slow and steady right now . . .

I think you've got the weather we're supposed to have!At least everything is green here.

Today was an easy 5.5 miles @ lhr. ITB is feeling fine at this point, but the AT is still a bit niggly after the run. Ice and Advil in use to address this, along with gentle eccentric stretching and visits to my DC for Graston/ART. Got my home electrostim unit based on Schuey's recommendation, will be looking for guidance on how best to use that to stimulate healing there.

Rain is forecast for today. Not a big surprise in most of the country, but here in the SF Bay Area it is 6 o'clock news leadoff material. Our annual weather patterns usually have any real rain end in April, but this year the weather gods seem to have forgotten that little tidbit. Glad to see it as it will keep things a bit greener longer and keep the dust down on the running trails.

Still getting used to this Graston . . . Since the ITB is doing so well, he focused on the AT today and started out by saying, "This is going to be an intense session" which was good to know in advance. Sort of. Ended up doing Active Graston where I was standing alternately on my toes, then down to flat for 2 seconds, then back - extending and contracting the tendon so that he could find all the juicy spots to attack. Then it was raising the toes and lowering. When we first started Graston he told me it would be based on what I could tolerate, that some people have higher pain thresholds than others. Today, we got close to crying uncle. Whew!

Supposed to report back to him after my run tomorrow so he can plan for the next session. Since I've had multiple low grade aches and pains from the bottom of my foot to the ITB, the next session will be one that will address from the PF to the hip with a combo of Graston and ART. Promises to be intense, but everything he has done so far has had a positive outcome, so I'm up for it!

Glad you found someone you can trust and can help you with your injuries! Don't push it too hard although it's fun to run in the short term it's not always the best move if you're still injured. But you're working with someone and I'm sure he'll let you know what's enough. Heal up!!

Today another easy 45 minute ~5 miles @ lhr of 140 avg and pace of 9:10. Aerobically the run felt like nothing and I was really tempted to keep going but did promise I would dial it back, now didn't I? Followed up with 18 holes on an absolutely spectacular day outdoors.

The Graston aftermath is pretty spectacular as well. Very pronounced surface bruising from the bottom of my calf muscle to my heel. Doesn't hurt but does feel a bit tight, so spent time today stretching it out periodically. No issue at all during the run or after, so a definite improvement. But yep, it is ugly right now. Can't wait to go to the pool tomorrow and show that puppy off. . .

Tom H wrote:Today another easy 45 minute ~5 miles @ lhr of 140 avg and pace of 9:10. Aerobically the run felt like nothing and I was really tempted to keep going but did promise I would dial it back, now didn't I? Followed up with 18 holes on an absolutely spectacular day outdoors.

The Graston aftermath is pretty spectacular as well. Very pronounced surface bruising from the bottom of my calf muscle to my heel. Doesn't hurt but does feel a bit tight, so spent time today stretching it out periodically. No issue at all during the run or after, so a definite improvement. But yep, it is ugly right now. Can't wait to go to the pool tomorrow and show that puppy off. . .

Did you do the Grason by yourself or have someone do it? I'm having scar tissue issues and tried to do it but I wasn't quite sure what to do on my own so I wondered if this was something you needed help with.

Chas, this is my first exposure to Graston so am going to a practitioner. I don't think I could have gotten it right on my own now having done that. There is definitely a feel, rythym, and intensity that I likely would not have gotten right. Check my June 28 post above - I don't know that I could have done that to myself as I don't think I could bend that way any my self preservation instinct probably would not have let me achieve the intensity he did.

Tom just read through all your posts about the solution. Graston, stretching etc. You certainly are attacking this IMO properly. Whenever I get a niggle I am on it like bees on honey. For me it is ART, Ice, warmth, stretching etc. My shi does some GRASTON mainly for ITB. It hurts like a bitch but then again whatever gets me back on the roads pain free. GREAT JOB and so glad your run went well!

Kenny B. wrote:Tom just read through all your posts about the solution. Graston, stretching etc. You certainly are attacking this IMO properly. Whenever I get a niggle I am on it like bees on honey. For me it is ART, Ice, warmth, stretching etc. My shi does some GRASTON mainly for ITB. It hurts like a bitch but then again whatever gets me back on the roads pain free. GREAT JOB and so glad your run went well!

Kenny, thanks for the feedback. I know you have had a lot of experience dealing with this stuff, so it is good to get your opinion on how I'm addressing it. I just wish I wasn't becoming so experienced at it, that I had one of those bodies that could just take whatever I threw at it. Oh wait, I think I did - about 30 years ago! All kidding aside, I'm actually quite proud to be acheiving what I am at this age, so if I have to learn a little sports medicine along the way to make it possible, so be it.

Tom H wrote:The Graston aftermath is pretty spectacular as well. Very pronounced surface bruising from the bottom of my calf muscle to my heel. Doesn't hurt but does feel a bit tight, so spent time today stretching it out periodically. No issue at all during the run or after, so a definite improvement. But yep, it is ugly right now. Can't wait to go to the pool tomorrow and show that puppy off. . .

Yowza, Tom! They're going to think that you got into a car wreck or something! They must work it pretty intensively to cause that much bruising. I can see why it would be tough to do this to yourself.

Tom H wrote:

Kenny B. wrote:Tom just read through all your posts about the solution. Graston, stretching etc. You certainly are attacking this IMO properly. Whenever I get a niggle I am on it like bees on honey. For me it is ART, Ice, warmth, stretching etc. My shi does some GRASTON mainly for ITB. It hurts like a bitch but then again whatever gets me back on the roads pain free. GREAT JOB and so glad your run went well!

Kenny, thanks for the feedback. I know you have had a lot of experience dealing with this stuff, so it is good to get your opinion on how I'm addressing it. I just wish I wasn't becoming so experienced at it, that I had one of those bodies that could just take whatever I threw at it. Oh wait, I think I did - about 30 years ago! All kidding aside, I'm actually quite proud to be acheiving what I am at this age, so if I have to learn a little sports medicine along the way to make it possible, so be it.

This will just make you smarter athlete overall. It is something amazing when you know the solution because you know your body so well. I like think it is part of the sport!

Mark B wrote:

Tom H wrote:The Graston aftermath is pretty spectacular as well. Very pronounced surface bruising from the bottom of my calf muscle to my heel. Doesn't hurt but does feel a bit tight, so spent time today stretching it out periodically. No issue at all during the run or after, so a definite improvement. But yep, it is ugly right now. Can't wait to go to the pool tomorrow and show that puppy off. . .

Yowza, Tom! They're going to think that you got into a car wreck or something! They must work it pretty intensively to cause that much bruising. I can see why it would be tough to do this to yourself.

A little photographic evidence:



And nobody even noticed at the pool! Maybe it was all those funny goggles they were wearing . . .

Wow, that looks bad, although since it was from the therapist, I guess it is good?

Now that's just wrong.

JohnP wrote:Wow, that looks bad, although since it was from the therapist, I guess it is good?

Sometimes it is all about trust. The good new is that it looks bad but is really painless now. During the treatment, couldn't say that

Pfft. That's it? I was expecting black and blue. Wimp.

Mark B wrote:Pfft. That's it? I was expecting black and blue. Wimp.

I knew I could count on you for support, Mark I'll tell him to break out the box of medieval tools next time . . .

Today was a cross training day. 1500 in the pool and 21 miles on the bike. All nice and easy. All is feeling fine, but will continue with the recovery approach for a bit longer just to be sure.

Tom H wrote:

Mark B wrote:Pfft. That's it? I was expecting black and blue. Wimp.

I knew I could count on you for support, Mark I'll tell him to break out the box of medieval tools next time . . .

It doesn't count unless they break out the leeches.

Or work you over like this:

Tom glad to hear that you are feeling better. I don't think I will every let anyone do that to my body. Sorry anything that is going to bruise me like that not going to happen. My PT guy is really good about taking care of my trigger points for me and I use ultrasound to break up scar tissue. I'm glad it is working for you but again no thanks!

On another note as for being all in in your training I think that is a good thing. Really! The reason I feel that way is that as you do this more and for longer you will no were your redline is and how hard you can push it before going over that line. Sure you might be stepping over it here and there right now but that's fine you are getting better at it. For example this last time you realized you had step over the line took some time off and getting treatment. That is a sign that you are in tune with your training and as time goes I feel that you will have less of these issue due to being able to train at or just below the line that you know you can't cross.

How is the stim working out for you? Any questions?

Schuey, thanks for all the feedback. Surface bruising aside, Graston does seem to work for me thus far. As you say, I'm definitely in all the way to my eyeballs, so am open to different approaches to taking care of issues when they come up. I've only had ultrasound for PF issues, so don't have a lot of experience on it, but give me time I'm still on a voyage of discovery with my home electrostim unit but am finding some good stuff on the 'net on the ways it can be used. I do see a lot of notations that it is very individual and everyone responds a bit differently. I did overdo it a bit yesterday with a bit too much current such that the calf muscle actually felt a bit fatigued today - but it did have no impact on my activities. Do you primarily use yours to treat injured areas, or do you also use it to simply increase blood flow to areas that got worked hard to speed recovery, or something else?

Spent the last few days up at Lake Tahoe attending a wedding, along with all the excess that entails. Treated the time as rest/recovery time only taking long walks ~5 miles. Today was a mix of Pilates/5M run/5M walk. Things didn't go quite as anticipated as the plan was to run early in the cool morning but the Pilates instructor had to reschedule our class to the morning. I've got a neurotic dog that is scared to death of fireworks, so couldn't run when it cooled off late in the day as I had to take the dog on a long walk as fireworks started to try and keep him distracted. Didn't work so well. As I type, he's pacing back and forth, hiding under the recliner, sneaking behind the couch, etc. Poor pup. He's on puppy Prozac for separation anxiety (I told you he was neurotic) and we doubled up for this evening. So this means I got to do my run midday when it was in the mid/upper 80's again. Chose to ignore HR on this run as I knew that with the heat, it would be an exercise in frustration to keep it in the LHR range. It was a tough effort, but felt really good to push through it.

In the category of "something only a runner can appreciate" - On Friday night in Tahoe I noticed a sharp pain directly on my right hip bone and then my left lower back/hip. Great, I thought, now I've done something in training to irritate new parts of the body. Crap. It didn't dawn on me until today that in fact this was not that at all. You see, I've just started using bicycle shoes with cleats when riding. This is great for for number of reasons, but as part of the learning process, you will fail to get out and you will topple over. Which I did last Thursday. On my right side, both shoes still clipped into the pedals. Landed on the hip bone and caused the left side to bend over abruptly. So my wife could not understand today why I was so happy when I told her, "Hey, I'm not injured, I just got hurt!"