A little run

5 weeks and a day post-op. The doc said I could start running at 6 weeks. I just got back from the gym. I was going to do a 4 minute walk/1 minute slow run a couple times on the treadmill, for a total of 2 minutes of running. I just wanted to see what it felt like....and if it caused any significant soreness the day after (stay tuned...) This will ultimately give me a feel for how the recovery this time will progress...always curious...

After running for a minute, I felt good, so I ran another minute, and I still felt good, so contemplated running another minute......but thought better of it. And after 3 minutes of walking, I ran for another couple minutes, for a total of 4 minutes of running, close to .5 mile. I felt some pulling in the front of my hip, but it went away. No soreness right now, but the real question is what it feels like tomorrow. For comparison, at 10 weeks out from my previous surgery I ran for 6 minutes and felt issues. I could have run for 6 minutes today, but I'm trying to be good.

Update: the day after, no soreness that I can tell. Note, I've had a low-level soreness since the surgery that hasn't changed much....

I forgot to mention that I've been doing the elliptical at the gym and biking on the roads for the last couple weeks. Neither one makes the hip sore. I've been more motivated by trying to work off the junk that I've been eating over the holidays, esp this white chocolate covered stuff our neighbor brought over...

Feelin lazy

Things seem to be going well as far as how the hip feels. I guess that's blog worthy. I took my stitches out on Tuesday. I've been to the gym quite a bit. I've done core work, biking, and lately, walking on the treadmill. I can walk a mile up an incline without issues-- maybe more, I don't know. I'm walking pretty slow. Everyone in the gym walks faster-- I spy on their treadmill speed. I had forgotten how long it takes to go from "walking" as in "getting around" to "walking briskly" or even "walking well". It takes time. And I'm not as motivated as last time, unfortunately. A long recovery takes lots of patience, and I feel like I've largely depleted the reserves. I'm not going to do anything stupid that might delay my recovery, but I'm feeling lazy when it comes to doing the work. I need to change my ipod mix, literally, metaphorically.....

I like the gym

I finally made it to the gym. I think the last time I went there was in March. I went for a 40ish minute affair during lunch--- no biggee. Not much has changed, but they have better smelling soap these days-- less Drakkar Noir and more cool cucumber, natural essence.

I focused on core exercises and did a 20 minute bike. I feel good now. I'll be back thursday.

I also talked to my doc yesterday to ask him what my recovery should look like. I'm no longer using any crutches. My hip feels better now than it did the day before surgery. He was happy to hear this of course, but he wants me to take it easy for 6 weeks while my femur rebuilds it's strength. There is a risk of stress fracture in the femoral neck because of the bone material he removed. But at 6 weeks I can start my tentative running sched--- starting with walk/runs, etc.

A 3-hour grind

I was ready to have surgery on Tuesday, but still--- surgery is scary. The IV goes in, the sedative, and after what seems like seconds, you wake up, but hours have passed, during which a team of medical professionals have done a series of things to you that you have absolutely no recollection of. Perhaps they encountered a minor emergency. Perhaps they encountered a big one. Perhaps they had a question that only you could answer-- is this the hair transplant guy or the hip surgery guy... or the transgender patient. The point is-- you're gone, out, and you can only hope they do the right things. Before going under, they gave me a pen and asked me to sign my affected hip-- extra assurance, but it only made my mind run wild as I waited my turn.

I was in surgery for 3 hours. My doc was very upbeat when we talked the next day. He showed me lots of pictures of what he did-- various shots of instruments cutting, shaving, grinding into bone, cartilage, it's hard to tell-- I call it arthro-porn. I could sense genuine pride in what he'd accomplished. What I call the "money shot" was a before and after x-ray of the femoral neck-- distinct bumps before grinding, no bumps afterwards. The labrum looked good-- the repair from a year ago had taken. The entire 3 hours of surgery was spent grinding on my femur-- osteoplasty. How boring that must have been.... This is to fix my femoral acetabular impingement (FAI) which wasn't quite fixed in my last surgery.

I'm not sure what that means for my recovery-- it would make sense that grinding on some bone wouldn't require much recovery when compared to labral repair. And 3 days after surgery I'm already able to walk without pain. I'm still using the a crutch to get around some, but I can tell that it won't be long before I toss it. I've been riding the stationary bike also-- 15 minutes last night. For comparison, I was 3 weeks post-surgery before I could do these things a year ago. Everything looks and feels good. They even used the same holes in the side of my buttock from last time, so no new scars on my ass, not that I'm concerned or anything.

But to be honest, I'm afraid to get too excited.

Day before surgery, part deux

As I mentioned in the last entry, I was thinking about getting another surgery. Well, I'm about to get on the bus that will take me to Houston for surgery tomorrow.

When I started this blog and chronicled my first surgery about a year ago I expected that my torn labrum and hip surgery was going to be a 6 month setback. Back in July, things were looking pretty good-- I wasn't where I was before surgery, but I was able to bike and run without pain. Now, the hip hurts even as I sit here and type, and I haven't exercised in weeks. So, in summary, I got hip surgery and wound up worse off than I was before-- yet-- here I am about to get more. What makes sense to me is that there is something mechanically wrong with the hip-- something inside the joint is irritating the cartilage-- I can feel it. And it makes sense that if it's mechanical, it can be removed, neutralized, whatever, and my hip will be "fixed". We'll see. Maybe the state of the art in arthroscopic hip surgery is partly hit or miss. My doc told me after my first surgery that it would be about a year before I knew for sure that the surgery was a success-- I think this is what he meant. So, a year from now, I'll know if tomorrow's surgery is (was?) a success.

What is my goal? First, no pain. I don't like to feel pain when I bend over or when I sit. Second, I want to be able to do some kind of cardio exercise pain-free, preferably not swimming-- ie, biking or running. No running is something I can deal with-- I've been dealing with it, but I need to do something-- so I hope the bike can work for me. Third, if I can get back to running, well.... obviously I'd be very happy.

This surgery will be a pain in the ass for me (pun absolutely intended) and everyone in the family. It makes me feel good that Christina understands how important this is for me and is willing to add more chaos to our lives by giving me the green light to re-cripple myself. My mother-in-law is flying down from Jersey to give us a hand. My uncle-in-law is going to host me in Houston. I know they don't read this blog, but I'm thankful.

more surgery?

I drove to Houston last Wed to see my doc. I was scheduled for an MR arthrogram, ultrasound and follow-up discussion all in the same day. His building is a one stop shop for sports medicine-- last Nov I visited the the surgery facility, pharmacy, and starbucks without leaving the building. And last Wed was similarly convenient, except the driving to Houston part. Sports hernia was very unlikely he said, so we skipped the ultrasound-- but I got the MR arthrogram. This is where they inject a magnetic dye into the joint to provide some contrast during the MRI scan. While the needle was inside they also injected kenalog (a steroid to reduce the swelling) and an anesethic called marcaine. The marcaine is a diagnostic tool-- if the pain symptoms go away immediately after the injection, the source of the pain is in the joint, instead of the surrounding muscles, tendons, bones, etc. The days before the appointment I had run some relatively hard miles so my hip would be sore when I arrived, and indeed, the marcaine seemed to get rid of the soreness-- ie the pain was coming from within the hip joint, which left me wondering-- had I torn the labrum again?

My doc showed me the MRI images-- I can never see what the heck he's talking about, even when he points to specific things. The labrum was intact, but he pointed to a bit of bone on the femoral head (I think) that could be causing some impingement in the joint and possibly some damage to the cartilage, and possibly some pain. It's on the posterior side of the femur, which is consistent with my symptoms-- notably, the consistent pain I get when I bend over and stand on one leg-- this has always been my best measure for how sore my hip is. The pain elicited by this has been there since my injury started, roughly 2 years ago, and has continued after surgery and during recovery. So does that mean that this could have been the problem all along? And addressing this, ie, grinding down that spot on my femur, might actually "fix" my hip? Possibly. I'm pretty sure I heard him say that.

That leaves me with the decision-- is another round of hip surgery worth it? If it can possibly get me back to running, I guess the answer is "duh" it most certainly is. My reasoning is simple-- the hip is in poor shape right now, and it feels like it did about 4 months after surgery......so I'm probably only looking at a 4 month setback if I go for another round of surgery. Also-- the added challenges of Bubba have made it difficult for me to exercise, etc.....so it's not like I would be able to do much in the coming months anyway.

I have lots of questions for my doc, but I'm feeling like I should do this.

The R word

I've had a regression. I'm not sure what it means, or where it's headed, but some of my safe activities are no longer as safe-- for example, the bike, it leaves me sore, whereas in May/June it wouldn't. And running is out of the question-- well....I could probably do a walk/run, but I don't have the patience.

I made an appointment with my doc in Houston to look at my hip, do an MR arthrogram, get a shot of cortisone, and get a sonogram to rule out sports hernia. The symptoms for sports hernia (aka athletic pubalgia) are very similar to a torn labrum. And it isn't uncommon for both conditions to occur together. The idea that I might have another condition makes me hopeful, surprisingly enough-- maybe I can get it fixed. The torn labrum isn't getting better as far as I can tell.

Bubba is now 11 weeks old and is challenging us, so I don't have as much free time to obsess about these things. I've been trying to ride the trainer at night-- that's been working. Now I bike and watch trash TV. And I've been doing a 15 minute core workout most days. It's amazing how long 15 minutes seems..... my hip feels better lately-- maybe it's the core work. I'm a computer guy....ie weak core....

Definitely lame

It appears that the hip is in worse shape than I thought. I took all of last week off and then ran 2.5 miles on Saturday pushing Banjo-- despite taking it slow and limiting the distance, the soreness was there, not bad, but bad under the circumstances. Sunday I felt OK, and feeling somewhat inspired by the olympics, I tried to run 4 miles, but at 2.5 miles into it, I had to start walking because things weren't feeling right. I'm not sure what this means in the long term-- but I'm not going to run in the coming weeks. My patience for this is running low.

I'm assuming I can still bike reasonably well. Logistically, it's more difficult mostly because I can't ride at night. I've been looking at trainers-- devices the turn your bike into a stationary bike. Some hook up to your computer and allow you program workouts, etc. Sheesh, has it really come to this?

Kinda lame

Well, the soreness that was developing in my last post got worse through my recovery week. I was hoping to hit it again this week and log another 25 miles or so, but I'm lacking a clear direction on where to take it. This has happened at least a couple times-- a big chunk of progress followed by a readjustment period. It apparently takes more time these days to realize gains in volume, pace, etc. Two steps forward one step back.

I feel compelled to bike more, but it's hard to find time during the day with a newborn. I got out Sunday during Banjo's nap and rode about 30 miles at 2:00 in the afternoon. It was hot. I froze my water bottles, but ironically, the extra heat didn't melt them fast enough! I got pretty dehydrated. bleh...........

Like Dean friggin Karnazes

Well, not quite a marathon a day, but 4 or more miles a day, several days in a row makes me feel pretty good-- certainly not lame. Seems like lots of things can be happening at home, crying babies, 2-year-old tantrums, mother-in-law friction, work related stress, etc, etc, but as long as I get to run on a regular basis, I come back feeling good, like someone hit my reset button. 27.8 miles for last week. On Sat I ran on the trail with Banjo and my turnover felt good, better than I can remember. Saw lots of Gazelles, which was fun. I'm feeling some soreness lately, so I'm going to take it easy this week, throw in 2 or 3 days off, maybe get a bike ride in there...haven't biked in quite a while.

Leo Manzano just ran by my house. I'm drinking coffee and he cruised by.... I wanted to chase him to congratulate him for his 2nd place in the 1500 at the trials but his recovery pace looks a tad too brisk for me.

Not that lame anymore?

Of course, Bubba has made it challenging to get out the door for a workout, and the added stress has made me want to exercise more. Bubba spent 6 days in the NICU for a possible infection-- the whole thing was frustrating and stressful, so my first run since he was born was a fast 5 miler through the neighborhood at a pace my hip couldn't handle, so the next couple days my hip was pretty sore. I hadn't run that far since surgery. Then a few days later (last Monday) I ran 6 miles on a favorite route that I hadn't tried for almost a year-- south through UT, capitol, Lamar, and return on 34th. It felt OK, even though my hip probably wasn't ready for it. Afterwards, the hip felt sore in a new way, less achy, more burn? difficult to describe. So Wed, what did I do? I went out and did the same route again. I took it slower, and surprisingly, it felt good. I found my cruise gear. Thurs, Fri and Sat I ran easy 4 milers, putting my mileage for the week at 24 miles-- a huge jump from 16. The soreness has been almost gone. I'm sure it's closeby, ready to show itself. My old friends the shin splints are back, a sure sign of increasing mileage, and I'm happy to feel them again after such a long time-- they tell me that the hip is better. Actually, the shins are bothering me more. I've got a different bag of tricks to deal with them-- massage, calf raises, etc-- no complaints.

So my plan is to try to run 6 days a week for the next couple weeks, and then add a 7th day. For now, the evenings are working well-- no one minds that Daddy is gone then, and it's a heckuva lot cooler. It all has me thinking that I'm not that lame anymore. Can it be true? Granted, I only have 1 week under my belt, but 6 days of running in a week ain't that lame. Compared to a limp-inducing 15 minutes on the exercise bike, I've come a long way.

Introducing Bubba

Christina and I had our 2nd son last Thurs, July 3. We're calling him Bubba. He was born 30 minutes shy of the 4th-- how very unpatriotic of the little fella. Things are pretty hectic, of course. Lack of sleep, etc, etc. This is a running blog, so I won't go into detail, but suffice it to say that the quality of my workouts has suffered. Ha. I haven't done anything remotely like exercising since Thursday or self-absorbed like writing in this blog. I should be doing work related stuff right now, but I feel compelled to blab here a bit.

The last few weeks I've had a few highlights-- did the Shoal Creek loop in 8:56, 23.5 mph average and 20.1 mph average for the entire ride. I've *never* averaged over 20 mph for any bike ride. I did a 400m on a whim while returning a DVD and clocked 1:27, and it felt OK. Did a 55 mile bike ride the Sunday before last, and that previous week I logged 16 miles running-- 4 workouts, 4 miles each. I feel like I could throw a 5 miler in there and be totally OK. It's just hard to run more than 4 times a week and bike 3 times a week. And of course now, it's hard to do anything at all. I expect that I'll be exercising more after dark now that Bubba is here-- and I guess that means running more, biking less.

Running the numbers

I put all of my runs since Jan in a spreadsheet to try to extrapolate where I'll be in a few months. Here's what I found:

1) On average I've been adding 15 minutes of running to my weekly total each month. So for example, if I'm at 35 minutes per workout or 4 miles, 3 times a week, when will I be at 5 miles per workout? Ans: about 7 weeks. But then again, I don't know. It could happen faster, or my recovery and the improvements may slow down or stop altogether or even reverse for that matter. It will be interesting to see what the curve looks like in a couple months. One thing is for sure though-- 8 weeks from now I won't be running 7 miles. I'm used to measuring improvement in miles per week.... and I think this has been one of the problems-- it's difficult to apply my expected improvement in miles per week to each workout (.4 miles/wk divided across 3 or 4 workouts?) Hence, the weird units, minutes per week per month, but even these units are difficult to apply-- 1 mile/workout/7 weeks-- there, that's better.

2) I've run a total of about 85 miles since Jan. Shoes are lasting a long time-- big plus.

400s

Last night I went to the UT track again for circuits, but I got started late and didn't feel up to it, so during the warmup I resolved to run a 400m repeat or two. I haven't done any speedwork since surgery, except a random stretch here and there. I'm always curious to see where I am with respect to where I think I am. Got to the track and did some drills, then psyched myself up and took off. I tried to stay as smooth as possible, not push too hard, run by feel, finished in 1:31. Can't say I was thrilled with the time, but I'll take it-- felt like I was working pretty hard, concentrating intensely on what my legs were doing. I did a couple circuit like exercises and decided I'd give it another try. Took off again, this time I felt like I was more in control-- but I looked over at my shadow and thought I looked a little wonky, like I was working hard, and I guess I was. I thought for sure I was going to improve my time, but clocked another 1:31. Again, I'll take it. Hip felt a little tired after this, but not bad. I felt like my brain and my right hip were the only things on the track the whole time-- negotiating with each other. It's annoying-- hope this goes away. When I got home I could tell I had successfully made my hip pretty sore. But this morning, most of the soreness is gone. I figure I'll do another couple 400's next week and see how it leaves my hip feeling. If it's less sore, I'll chalk it up to muscle weakness, lack of speedwork for so dang long. Overall, I'm happy though. For comparison, I ran at 5:55 pace back in Feb for 15 seconds and was sore for 3 days.

Killing myself

Last Wed I ran to the UT track and did a wimpy circuit workout, 3x with 2 laps between. I was out of town thurs and fri. Saturday I ran with Banjo for 30 minutes, Sunday I did another 40 mile bike ride-- I felt competitive and pulled the group into the wind for long stretches, and nearly killed myself, had real problems finding a pace I could maintain. Monday I ran on the roads for 26 minutes, hard, almost like a tempo-- work related stress? Today I did the shoal creek loop on the bike, splits 9:23, 9:24, 9:19. I'm familiar enough with the course to where I don't think I can squeeze any more out of it except by getting faster. I was thrilled I could drop any time on that last repeat, nearly killed myself trying though.

Shoal creek shootout

I found this route on the UT cycling page-- it's a 3.5 mile loop with a slight incline and a stop sign or two. I've been riding it on tuesdays. I usually do 3 laps and time myself. I started at 10:39 a couple weeks ago and today I got it down to 9:23. It's kinda like running 3000m repeats as far as the duration is concerned. The whole affair takes me about an hour to ride there, do the laps and ride back home. OK, that's all, just log entry....

Run-bike-run-run-bike-run-bike

I've clearly been slacking on the blog lately.... I've logged every workout since my surgery here in my ramblings-- can I remember what I've done for the last 2 weeks since I got the bike? I doubt it matters too much.... What I've done in the last couple weeks is mix the biking and running-- run mon, wed, thurs, sat, and bike tues, fri, sun. It's a fuller schedule than I'm used to, and I'm sure that I'll deviate from it. I've had some good runs-- last thurs I ran on the trail for 30 minutes and did the last 2 miles at 7:30 pace, which was kinda stupid, but I wasn't pushing it, just running by feel....sorta.

The biking has helped with my hip strength-- biking is good for that it seems-- it emphasizes the quads, hips, buttocks, all that upper leg area. The day after biking my hip usually feels good. Today I rode 40 miles with a biking friend. It was fun-- we linked up with some other riders and did some good natured chasing, or whatever you call it when some guy takes off and you try to reel him back. I was able to hang with them, but I didn't do any of the pulling. I was paranoid I was going to overdo it and have to call a cab. I ended the day with a little in the tank, so that was good.....

New bike

It's been a long timesince the last blog entry. Let's see.... I took the next weekend off and rode a little bit on Monday-- that's Monday, April 28th. I ran for 20 minutes on Tues and Wed, and I felt pretty sore the rest of Wed and into Thurs. I think it was because I pushed the pace too hard. Then Banjo got a stomach virus and so did Christina. Luckily I didn't get it, in my stomach at least. The next Monday (5/5) I ran 20 minutes on the neighborhood roads and did the same on Tues. Thurs I ran for 30 minutes on the trail at 9:00 pace. It was a post-surgery PR. I felt pretty good afterwards and I'm attributing the success to the slower pace. It seems to help, so I'll continue to keep it slow for the near future. But later Thurs I had strange pains in my abdomen, followed by fever throughout the weekend. Did some tests and determined that it wasn't bacterial.... doc thinks it was a different manifestation of Banjo's stomach virus.

I've been fretting over which bike to buy for the last several weeks-- Wed I reached a decision and bit the bullet, bought a new bike and rode it Thurs for 20 miles. Strangely, the bike makes my hip feel better, and this is great of course-- it means that it can help me stay sane through the long recovery. I sunk quite a bit of money in the thing, a reward to myself for slogging it out all these months. I've sorta given up on making predictions with the running thing-- it makes me do things that I probably shouldn't do, and I ultimately get frustrated. Biking mixed with running is looking good. I'd like to shift much of my focus to the bike for awhile at least.

Reevaluate

26 minutes of running on Monday. 28 minutes on Wed and I felt a little sore. 25 minutes on Thurs followed by 40 minutes of aquajogging with Shannon, soreness increased a little. An hour of biking on Friday. A 1 hour walk-run on Sat because I had contracted some kind of weird virus from Banjo, chest hurt, made it hard to breathe. I think I ran for a total of about 25 to 30 minutes on the trail pushing Banjo. I was sore the rest of Sat. 1 hour of biking on Sunday. Soreness was light throughout Sunday. It's Monday, not sure what do to. Soreness is still there. Full recovery (do nothing)? Scale back? Bike? Gym? Time to reevaluate.

The 24 week mark passed last Thurs. Can't say that I'm comforted by this. Like I've said before, I don't know what is going to happen. I'll either improve some more.....or I won't-- both possibilities seem equally plausible at this point. Yeah, I know, I get a little sore and I'm headed to a dark place....poor me.

reconcilable differences

About a year ago I went to a running form workshop-- they film you running at various speeds and then you watch yourself frame by frame, looking for problems. I felt pretty good going into it-- I had never seen myself run before and I thought I looked pretty good, but the frame by frame revealed a minor trainwreck in each stride. My right leg was doing all of the work-- left leg was along for the ride. I guess I already sorta knew this. But since my left leg was taking it easy my right leg had to move quickly to get in position for each landing. And typically it would land too soon, creating braking forces and, well, pounding. This created problems in my stride that eventually led to (I think) the torn labrum on the right. Contributing to this (or caused by?) is a leg length discrepancy-- my right leg is 1/2" shorter than my left. This usually causes me to lean slightly and my right leg tends to land closer to the center line. With my right leg more under my body, it can generate more power. Also thrown into the mix is a slight twist in my left tibia-- it's a bone growth thing, something that happened as I grew-- it causes my left foot to point slightly outwards, reducing the power my left leg can generate upon push-off. It all adds up-- my right leg works much harder and gets most of the pounding. And my right leg has historically gotten injured more often.

The surgery has given me time to contemplate these things, and attempt to correct them-- starting over has this going for it. Lately I'm trying to bring my left leg in, such that it lands closer to the center line (and correspondingly, bring my right leg outward), so my left leg can generate more power via the glutes-- something my right leg appreciates-- now my right leg has plenty of time to get into position for a nice landing and less pounding. I think this small adjustment is having a big positive effect on my running lately.

I've been here before. My running log is full of this kind of theorizing. Each theory lasts as long as I feel good. 17 days and counting....

It's happening

After last Monday's very encouraging 20 minutes on the road, I did 22 minutes on the road without any issues Wed. Then on Thurs I hit the trail and did 22 minutes again. Sat I did 24 minutes pushing Banjo, again on the trail, and I clocked the final mile at 8:00, not that pace matters or anything... but I might have gone a tad overboard-- I was a little sore afterwards-- but seriously, I'm just being hyper-vigilant here-- it wasn't bad.... Just 6 weeks ago I ran a slow 24 minutes on the treadmill as part of a walk/run workout and was very sore for days....that's progress. Then today I went on the roads and did 26 minutes/a little over 3 miles. So far so good.

This is what I've been waiting for-- a slow but steady increase in volume without significant soreness-- the next workout builds on the previous-- and the feeling that comes with improvement. It all feels good. And it feels like I've turned a corner. (grimacing as I type this.) I'm hoping in the next week or so I'll hit 30 minutes-- it's a psychologically satisfying number.... and it's within reach I'm pretty sure.

Yesterday (Sunday) I went out on the bike and did 17 miles through the Redbud Trail area. It's really hilly-- did lots of standing in the saddle and the hip got a good workout, which was the goal. It felt good afterwards, better than before, and such is the pattern with the bike lately-- it's weird that it would feel *better*, but that is encouraging too-- I remember doing the same ride a few weeks before surgery and being sore the next day. So at 5 1/2 months post-op, I'm noticing a net improvement pre-op. I'm happy that it's happening, finally.

A good run

I had a good run yesterday. A great run actually. 20 minutes on the roads, no pain afterwards, and no pain later in the evening, which is when it usually happens. I'm cautious not to get too excited or read too much into it, just as I shouldn't read too much into a crappy run. OK, here's the real truth, something I've distilled from months of pondering the fate of my hip-- it's simple-- I don't know what the heck is going to happen. I'm improving for now, and that is good. And if I improve much more, I'll probably be able to run what I would consider a satisfying amount. And that would be amazing. But it may not happen. or it may...... I do not know.

I need to temper my excitement because it usually makes me do something stupid. But right now I'm sick, so I'm safe for a few days at least. Good thing I don't have a marathon this weekend... Go Boston!!!

Still weak

I mentioned that my hip is still weak.... I sometimes forget this-- back in November, a few weeks after surgery, I got off of the exercise bike and was amazed at how tired my hip was after an easy spin session. Why would my hip be so weak? Everything was still there, muscles looked fine, etc. It made sense that I would be sore, and the soreness would limit my activity. But weakness-- esp. profound weakness? Anyway, almost all of the weakness is gone now-- maybe 10% is left. And I'm trying to figure out how to address it.

Muscle strength is complicated. There's raw strength, explosive strength and endurance-- that is, I'm just guessing-- I don't know what the heck I'm talking about. At any rate, I feel like my hip's raw strength is decent, but the endurance and explosive strength is lacking. And I think more muscular endurance would give my running the biggest boost. Again, just guessing.... So I'm going to try to bike 2 or 3x per week for an hour or so, and possibly longer on the weekends to build some more endurance, see what happens.

not bad vibes

Last Sunday I felt good.... so I went to the gym and proceeded to overdo it, which made me good and sore Monday. I should know the pattern by now-- I feel good, which makes me likely to overdo it. I then overdo it, which makes me sore, this depresses me, I back off, until I start feeling good again, and so on.... Monday I went out for a 16 minute run on the roads, but my hip was sore, so I cut it down to 12. Tuesday I went to the gym and did an elliptical for 30 minutes. Wed I took off. Thurs I went to the trail and did 16 minutes. Friday I took off. And today I went to the trail and did 18 minutes pushing Banjo.

Not a bad week all in all. By Wed most of the soreness was gone, so I feel like I was able to steer myself out of the weeds and back on track. My trail runs on Thur and Sat were great-- being able to run for that long without soreness makes me feel like this whole hip thing is going to eventually go away. Whether that's true or not, it feels good.

I've noticed that my hip is still weak-- esp when I do lunges. My right hip has to strain more to get back up... so there is still weakness I need to address. When I overdid it at the gym on Sunday, I used too much weight-- I should do more reps, take it more slowly....

Good vibes

I don't want to jinx it, but I feel good lately. Monday, Wed and Thurs I did the sandwich workout and Saturday morning I went to the trail with Banjo and pushed him in the jogger for 14 minutes as part of another sandwich. I didn't worry about the pace, but I was well under 9:00 pace, not that it matters, but that too is encouraging. I saw lots of my old running buddies on the trail, which was fun. I'm gonna make this a regular Saturday morning gig.

Tuesday I went to the gym and did an elliptical with core workout. And Friday I aquajogged with Shannon. It has been a good week.

The sandwich

This gym thing has helped me realize that I need to choose workouts that don't make me feel like the life-force is ebbing from me. So yesterday during lunch I got out and did a 30 minute walk/run on the roads with our dog Lucy. I enjoyed it, Lucy enjoyed it, we were all winners. I did 10 minutes of walking, 10 minutes of running, and 10 minutes of walking-- I'm calling this the "sandwich" workout (I may have unknowingly stole the term from the Gallowalkers...) 10 minutes of continuous running was a post-surgery PR. And I didn't seem to be sore afterwards.

So I was thinking about tackling a 30 minute sandwich during lunch on MWF and going to the gym on TTh. The sandwich can progress to 9/12/9, 8/14/8, etc. Or maybe instead of 3 sandwiches a week, I could mix it up some more. Sandwich, wimpy plyometrics, sandwich...

I hate the gym

I've gone to the gym 9 times in the last 2 weeks. A typical visit entails 12 to 15 minutes of walking/running on the treadmill, sometimes I would do stairs carrying 20 pounds of weights for about 10 minutes in addition to the running, then I'd do ab work, 4-way hip machine, lunges, pull-ups, lower back machine, roman chair-- that's about it. Toward the end of the 2 week "trial period", I got sick of the gym, to the point where I felt like a small part of me died every time I stepped through the doors (seriously, it *sucked*) --- so my theory that I might get used to it didn't pan out. The soreness was kept mostly in check. Toward the end, it felt like it was catching up with me, but I think it was due to burn-out. Looking back on this, it seems silly to imagine that I would take to a 5x/week gym schedule when I hated going 2x/week. I guess I felt like my hip needed something difficult to make it better, and this was difficult. Also, I don't think there is such a thing as a "soreness threshold". It's more of a gradient-- the soreness builds gradually based on intensity and duration.

I'm not sure where this leaves me. I think the strength work in the gym is good, so I should keep going, but back off. The question I'm pondering lately-- what if I just take an extended break, maybe my hip will heal some. And maybe all this activity is prolonging my recovery. Hmmm...

Quick update

I've been to the gym 7 times in the last 9 days. One of the drawbacks that I hadn't anticipated is the soap. The stuff they provide is pretty bad-- I should bring my own, or I'll continue to smell like my over-cologned uncle, which ain't good by the way. Everything else seems to be going well though.....

A better strategy?

We spent the last week in Mexico. We weren't sure if a relaxing vacation with 2-year-old boy was possible or not, but it was a success. It was relaxing, and we're happier, I think. I've always suspected that I'm not very good at vacations, but this one seemed to work-- was it the free margaritas? Perhaps. Christina's mom came to help out, and although we realized that inviting her could be a big mistake, we had no urge to kill her, and in fact, that part worked out well too. We stayed in one of those all-inclusive beach resorts, the kind we used to make fun of.... but new realities.... Anyway, the day we arrived (Saturday) I did a 2/3 walk/run in on the concrete roads of the resort. Then did it again on Monday. Wed I stepped up to the treadmill in the empty resort gym and tried a 1/4 walk/run-- that made the hip significantly sore. It could have been the concrete from earlier in the week....but it was too much. Oh well. But I learned how to swim in one of the resort's colossal pools-- that was good, and I swam a mile nonstop on Friday, where previously I could only swim 50 meters before stopping and catching my breath. Swimming would be a great activity for me in theory given my hip and all, but I haven't decided if I like it or not. It's boring, I think. I'll try it in Barton a few times before I decide.

I've noticed that hip soreness after a workout sorta depresses me, esp if the workout is wimpy, and they're all wimpy at this point-- makes me question whether I'll be able to run any decent distance or pace, ever. And the soreness prevents me from exercising the next day-- none of which is good. So I think it would be best if I figured out what amount of running allows me to exercise 5 or even 6 times a week without soreness. Is it 10 minutes of running per workout? 13? If I stay below the "soreness threshold" as I'll call it, maybe I can push the threshold farther and faster than my current strategy, which I'd describe as the "2 steps forward one step back" strategy.

So I was thinking-- and this is the depressing part-- I'd visit the gym 5x/week, in the evenings, as a reward to myself I get to watch Jon Stewart--- 30 minutes of strengthening exercises in addition to running progression on the treadmill. The running progression (i.e. the progression of difficulty/duration from one workout to the next) will be very gradual. The idea is that I hang out around the soreness threshold to keep tabs on it, keep it in sight, and prevent myself from crashing into it. If the workout progression is too fast, I might overshoot (crash), which is what I've been doing. I'll try this for 2 weeks and see how it goes....too many hours in the gym will surely drive me insane or depress me or both. But then again I might get used to it.... Once I can run a reasonable amount, say 30 minutes, I'll do some of the running in the afternoon, outside on the roads or trail-- that should help keep me sane...

The strengthening exercises will be core work, emphasis on obliques, lower back, roman chair stuff, lunges, seated adductor and abductor exercises progressing to 4-way hip machine. To mix things up, I might swim. (I'm pretty uncoordinated, but I'd like to learn the flip turn.....)

Today is my son Banjo's birthday-- he's 2 years old! Yay Banjo! And by a surprising coincidence, it's my birthday too-- I'm 38. Uh, yay....

AT&T

Thursday I went to the trail and did about 2.8 miles 2/3 walk/run. And I felt good afterwards, no pain at all really, but as the day wore on, I could feel some soreness, but not bad.

Friday morning I aquajogged for an hour in Barton with Shannon and Liliana. Good times, forgot what we talked about though-- baby names? parenting? pot? hmmm....

I almost forgot--- The weekend before last was the AT&T marathon here in Austin. I ran it last year and PR'd by a significant amount, so it's a special race for me. (to be fair, I've only run 2 marathons, both here in Austin, but last year was a new course and new sponsor with more hills than previous years...) I met Shannon at a coffee shop and we biked around the course cheering for people. Brian Sell was running the half, and we got to see him at mile 12 flying at some sub 5:00 pace. He was about 2 minutes ahead of 2nd place. Incredible and inspiring. We eventually settled around mile 24 on the course and yelled for a good hour or so. Mile 24 is tough-- you are almost done, but 2 miles seems like forever. It was fun reading the runners' names on their bibs and giving them personalized cheers. The weather was good for spectators, which means it was too hot for the runners. It wasn't too bad though and I heard lots of good marathon stories afterwards, some of them were PRs, but lots of them were just good runs, and that's what it's all about, really..... Saw Megan, Erine, Amy, Pat, Alex, Kevin, Fletcher, and others....everyone looked happier than you'd expect after running 24 miles.

On track?

Some dead air on the blog lately mostly because of biz travels-- spent a couple days in Pittsburgh. Dang it was cold there. But I ate well and spent the "downtime" recovering from a treadmill workout where I finished at 5:55 pace just because I was curious..... and impatient after spending so much time at 10:00 pace. The faster pace didn't feel too bad, but I was pretty sore afterwards. (duh) But I still managed to run to a connecting flight on my way home a couple days later, so I don't think my urge to do something stupid was all that bad..... seems like I need to do those things occasionally to keep sane.

Saturday I did another 2/3 walk/run, 9:45 pace, 3% incline for 25 minutes, and felt a little sore afterwards. Monday I spent an hour in Barton with Liliana aquajogging. We talked mostly about running, stayed clear of running group gossip, unfortunately. Tues I did another treadmill run, 2/3 walk/run, etc, for 30 minutes. This put me at 2.5 miles total distance, 1.5 of it running. And I feel good today (Wed), very little soreness, so I might give it another go tonight. For extra incentive I can watch Jon Stewart at the gym (we canceled cable recently, and I need my Daily Show fix. Did you know that it's $2.99 per episode via podcast? what a sham.)

I should also mention that I talked to my doc on Monday and asked him if I was on track with my recovery. He was happy with my wimpy-ass workouts (my words) and said I am indeed still on track for a full recovery. Part of me believes him, but part of me sees a partial recovery where I'm constantly negotiating with the hip.... and then possibly finding another sport. And part of me thinks he's just dishing out positive thoughts even though he has doubts, or simply doesn't know. I certainly don't know-- maybe I should just believe what he says. But it's tough to imagine running 13 miles, which was a typical long run, when it's taken me 8 weeks to work up to a 2.5 mile walk/run. In 2 months I will be 6 months into my recovery, which he reiterated is when the recovery/improvement window starts to close. Wow, I used to think that a 1 month recovery was a big deal. oooof.

Oh, finally, I should mention to my many thousands of blog readers that Christina and I are pregnant again, due in late July. We're thrilled-- and everything is going well. But of course, I'm inclined to freak out about these things, so let the parental anxiety begin, again. We're going to Mexico next week to celebrate "the last days of one kid" and mentally prepare for numero dos. And our hotel has a good gym of course....

An unfascinating account

Did another treadmill workout, 4/1 walk/run, 7% incline, 30 minutes, except at the end, I made things a little more interesting and finished at 8 minute pace, just to see what it felt like, and it felt good, actually, no biggee. So Monday I think I'm ready to graduate to a 3/2 walk run. The thought occurred to me in the shower that there is no cheating the treadmill-- when you dial in 8 minute pace, you run at 8:00 pace, etc, etc. So what would happen if over the course of weeks, months even, you slowly cranked up the difficulty until you got to say, a 30 minute workout at 6:00 pace-- would it work? I've never been able to run that fast for that long, but I've never been very good at base building either. What usually happens, I think, is I get impatient and throw a wrench into my training by attempting something that's beyond me. Just a thought....I'd probably go nuts spending that much time on the treadmill. Listen to me-- I can't even run for 5 minutes, yet I'm talking as if.....

On Monday I did the 3/2 workout for 30 minutes. I eased up on the incline though, changed it to 5% because I felt like I was working too hard. I felt soreness afterwards, and it was greater than last week, but it wasn't bad-- muscle soreness? The workout added up to 2.2 miles, 1.2 of it was running.

Tuesday I visited my PT. He congratulated me for making it to 12 weeks. "No holds barred now" he said, which made me chuckle because I know it's not quite true-- the hip is improving, which is good, but it's far from no holds barred.

Wed I did another 3/2 walk/run for 30 minutes or another 1.2 miles of running. This time I felt pretty sore afterwards-- it could have been the squats and lunges that I did before, or it could be the running. Soreness in the groin, like before the surgery-- pain when abducting the right leg. I've felt it off and on since surgery. The pain is mostly gone when sitting though, which is an improvement.

Friday I did yet another 3/2 walk/run for 30 minutes, and I focused on keeping my right foot from landing on the centerline, which it usually does....one theory being that this isn't helping my hip any, and based on how it felt after the workout, there may be something to that theory, i.e. the hip felt much better than Wed. But it took lots of concentration to keep my feet apart. Did my foot cross over because of a weak glute medius? Wow, what a fascinating question! Something I'll have to ask my PT about....

And that concludes a fairly unfascinating account of the week.

Teeny tiny base

Last Friday I went to the gym and did 30 minutes on the treadmill, 4 minutes walking/1 minutes running at 11 minute pace. It felt better than before...and 11 minute pace felt like 11 minute pace, so I left the gym happy, and less sore than the previous treadmill workout.

Sunday I biked down to Barton and aquajogged for 1:15 with Shannon and we talked about family, among other topics, namely parents, and how they can be a pain in the ass. This time, unlike the previous Sunday, the hip felt fine.

Monday I jogged again on the treadmill. I gave 10 minute pace a try and it felt fine, so I hung out there for the rest of the workout. 25 minutes, 4/1 walk/run, 7% incline.

Tues I got up early and aquajogged in Barton again. Christine was there and we chatted about various and sundry topics and did a few short "speed" intervals. She left after about 40 minutes and I did a few laps solo. I clocked a 7:40 200m lap which I can compare to my notes and be satisfied that I'm in decent aquajogging shape. (I spent lots of time aquajogging about 18 months ago because of a stress fracture.) The temp was oddly summer-like, and my hip was a little sore afterwards-- I'm going with muscle soreness-- my hip flexor and psoas are weak.

Today I did another walk/run on the treadmill-- I was feeling a little sore going into it, but it went fine, no real issues. So.... that's 3 times on the treadmill this week without significant soreness. I'm going to claim that I have a base, a teeny tiny base (boy, they really don't get much smaller) from which to build my running. From here:

3/2 walk/run, 3x/wk
2.5/2.5
2/3
1/4
20 min treadmill, incline, no walking, 3x/wk
25 min treadmill
30 min treadmill
20 min roads
25 min roads
30 min roads
....

Once I get up to 30 minutes on the roads 3x/wk, I want to work up to 5x per week easy running of various sorts, circuit, grass, trail, hills, before I add speed. How long will this take? One day at a time.....

A typical dad

Sunday was the 3m Half Marathon, so I moved "daddy's morning off" from Sat to Sun so I could yell at the runners. By the time I got there, the lead pack had already passed, but the local champs were running by. The last time I watched a race, I yelled an enthusiastic "go Paul" to a guy named Peter. Hearing your name during a race can be a mental boost, but hearing someone else's name intended for you could be a slight downer, so I found myself being cautious and forgetting names. I've spent some time lurking on the local race photography sites trying to associate names with faces, probably more competitive than social of me.... anyway, I know some names of local runners and many don't know who the heck I am. I rode up the course on my bike trying to remember the names of those I recognized and yelling with caution. I found my friend Lisa at about mile 12 running well, and I turned around and followed her for a bit tried to think of encouraging words for the final mile. She finished with an impressive 1:22. I hung out with Gilbert and cheered some more, saw Hugo, Kevin, Alex, Jonathan, Julie.... everyone looked good, and it was fun to watch.

After the race I went to Barton Springs and aquajogged for an hour or so with running buddies Shannon and Kathie. This was my first AJ workout since surgery. I've been avoiding it because of the cold weather.... I could feel it working my hip in new, slightly uncomfortable ways, which is probably good, but I've been pessimistic about the hip lately, so I took it as an indicator that things aren't going well. And I took this negative attitude to my physical therapist on tues. I asked him questions about what would happen, for example, if I blew off my rehab, etc. I guess what I was looking for was some coaching, some words of encouragement, because it's been 12 weeks and, well, I was really hoping to be running, or at least close. He sorta blew off my questions, which pissed me off, so I made it clear that I was becoming skeptical about the whole thing, whether the exercises were working, whether he really understood what was wrong, etc. I was frustrated..... Will I run? If so, when? I wanted a date and anecdotal evidence that guys/gals with my particular problem get better, etc. I think he gave me what I wanted. 3 months. And he gave me some new exercises to target my iliopsoas. We'll see..... I can stick it out for 3 more months. I thought he might say 6 months....

Wed morning I got up early and met some fellow injured runners for more aquajogging in Barton. It was 37 degrees outside, cold enough to dominate many-a-topic of conversation here in Austin. I put on my wetsuit and nearly froze walking to the car. I cranked the heat on full blast and drove, and when I got there, it took me several minutes to gather the will to get out of the car and walk to the water. It was so cold that I had no choice but to get in, and the water was really cold of course..... Anyway, my hip felt better than Sunday. We "jogged" for an hour and that was fine, and I almost reached a comfortable body temp. When I got out, the cold felt "evil" on my wet skin. I made my way to the showers, but they were shut down because of the freezing temps-- wow, what an unpleasant experience. When I got home, the hot shower and hot coffee were incredible. Still, I think the aquajogging is good for the hip, so I'm going to try to do more.... It builds character-- something a typical dad would say. Tomorrow I'm going to the gym to do a treadmill run/walk, 1 minute run, 4 minutes walk for 25 or 30 minutes if I can tolerate it.

Recovery week

On Sunday I went for a long walk with Lucy and Banjo, fairly brisk pace for 52 minutes, another post-surgery PR, but I probably overdid it because Monday my hip felt pretty crappy, worse than it's been in a long time. So I decided to make this a "recovery week" and take it easy.

Tues: 8 minute of stationary bike, 21 minutes on elliptical.

Thurs: Did 20 minutes of walk/run on the treadmill at 8% incline, 4 minutes walking, 1 minute running at 11 minute pace. Felt OK, but the 11 minute pace and the soreness afterwards put me in a bad mood. i.e., it wasn't what I was expecting by now-- i.e., when I saw "running" on the rehab schedule, I had something else in mind, like, uh.....running.

Elliptical high score

Went to the gym yesterday with the intention of doing some treadmill running/walking, a 1 minute on, 4 minutes off kind of deal-- I'm feeling like I'm ready for something like that. plus the elliptical is getting pretty stale. But I forgot to wear my running shoes, which have been buried for a while, so I stepped up to the elliptical yet again.... 27 minutes later, I had bested my elliptical PR. I keep track of this stuff....I'm so cool! it was set last March while watching the Bourne Identity at the end of my marathon recovery period. The action scenes helped in that case. In this case, I somehow bested my pre-surgery PR. Do they recalibrate those machines? Seriously. Or could it be my generalized frustration coupled with work stress? At any rate, I'll take it as a sign that my cardio work is paying off.

Last Sunday I gave Christina a pass to sleep in and took Banjo out for a long walk to the turtle pond at UT. Do they hibernate? Banjo wasn't too disappointed they weren't there though. I walked for 45 minutes, probably 2.5 miles or so. 45 minutes was way more than I've done before (roughly 2x) and I was expecting repercussions, but haven't noticed any. My hip is responding well lately.

Update wed: did a tad over 12 miles on the bike. Went from my house to Great Northern/Shoal Creek and back again. Austin marathoners are familiar with this route. Averaged 16.7 mph including stops. Hip felt good.

Thurs: I was near the trail this afternoon, so I put on some running clothes and did a 30 minute run/walk, 1 minute on, 4 off, for a total of 6 minutes of slow running. It was really cold. Hip felt OK, not great, and I'm glad I didn't try anything tougher, and I may wake up sore tomorrow. I'll probably do the same workout next thurs and see if it feels better before advancing to a 1/3 run/walk. This is my first official post-surgery "run"-- I'm happy, I guess, but again, it's clear that it's gonna take a long time......I'm still thinking that hip surgery is kind of a bitch.

Fri: Later in the day Thurs, the hip was a little stiff and I was expecting the same or worse this morning, but it was only a little bit sore when I got up-- honest. Went to the gym and did 40 reps of 70 pound squats and then 21 minutes on the stairs. Hip felt good.

Less pink

9 weeks out, I think I can see where things are headed. I can extrapolate my recovery line into the future and see that this is going to take a long time. I can probably run mid Feb as the rehab calendar says, but it will be lots of time, lots of workouts, lots of building up, before I can run for, say, 45 minutes at a time. I can see myself running in the future though, and that is good. I told myself before surgery, trying to look at this whole thing squarely, that it was like starting all over again, but it's actually worse. Each extra minute walking, biking, stair climbing, etc isn't exactly hard fought, but it requires significant consideration and planning. If taking up running were this tedious, I wouldn't have started running in the first place....but then again I wouldn't know what I was missing either (what am I missing exactly?) My desire to run, wherever the heck it comes from, is still there, and apparently quite robust. It drives me. But I'm frustrated. Anyway, just trying to be real about this. I feel like I've been painting things slightly pink in this blog.

Really dang white

We went biking on the tandem again this weekend, but my hip hurt quite a bit at the beginning, which was a little odd-- the bike had never caused this much pain before. The pain subsided after a couple minutes of riding, but it got me a little worried. I was thinking about biking some more this week-- I'll give it another go, but be careful. We did a total of 2.5 miles to and from Mangia pizza.

At any rate, I did my elliptical/stair workout today and it went fine. I cranked up the incline this time, which worked my hips a little more and made it a tad bit harder. I did 20 minutes elliptical, 8 minutes stairs.

Update Wed: went to see my PT dude-- did the same exercises as usual, but added 10 minutes on the treadmill, which was exciting I guess, but I had to wear a harness that reduced the weight on my legs. It sorta took the zen out of running, but I shouldn't complain.

In the interest of full disclosure, I've run a few times lately for short periods of 1 minute or so. The hip feels strong, but the range of motion isn't there yet. And I'm fairly paranoid that I'm going to screw something up. The running hasn't made the hip any sorer though.

I went for a short 40 minute bike ride today (on the single bike), and it went surprisingly well, given the problems I'd had over the weekend. No pain this time. I even had a little power. I found myself standing in the saddle when accelerating from a stop, not because I'm stupid, which I tend to be, but out of habit, but I remembered my doc telling me not to do that, so I stopped it for the most part. The time passed really fast when compared to the stationary bike-- I had fun. I think I'll try to get at least 2 bike rides in per wk. I did about 8 miles today. Other observations: my legs are really dang white.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year, etc. I'd like to brag a little about a recent visit to the gym. 20 minutes on the elliptical at 370 calories, including warmup-- thats 1100 cal/hour, which was my pre-surgery lactate threshold. I was pretty worn out afterwards, but happy, in a sort of geeky way. I followed it with 5 minutes of stair climbing. I'm going to try to do some more stair climbing to mix things up and work the hip muscles a little more. The elliptical is great for cardio, but I don't think I'm getting a huge benefit for my hip muscles.

Today I got the tandem bike ready and hooked the trailer to it so our son Banjo can ride with me and Christina-- it's a human powered family vehicle. We did 4 miles total and had brunch. We hadn't ridden the tandem in 2 years because of the Baby Hole. It was fun, but cold. Banjo fell asleep. The hip felt OK, but occasionally I feel it move forward (or something) and it hurts in the front, a sort of hip flexorish pain. We'll plan on more rides, and work on extending the range that Banjo and my hip can tolerate.

I'm going to give the 3x elliptical, 2x long walk another try this week, my third attempt. Heading into Wed, things are looking/feeling good.

Wed update: did 20 minutes on the elliptical at 355 calories. 370 calories seems impossible without cheating somehow....dang... then I did 6 minutes on the stair climber. Felt good, but the real test is how I will feel the next morning. Someone at the gym noticed that I'm no longer on crutches, and I realized that I was pretty lame just 4 weeks ago-- that made me feel better, even though bragging about my elliptical workouts is pretty incredibly "lame".

I should mention that I somehow gained 5 pounds in the last month or so. I'm holding our Jersey trip mostly responsible. When we lived there I was significantly heavier-- must be the 9 months of winter. I'm going to try to lose the weight over the next month or so.

Thurs update: woke up and the hip felt great. Did a 20 minute walk and it went well. I'm still on track for the week.

Fri update: Did 22 minutes on the elliptical and 7 minutes on the stairs...hip still feels good, and it looks like I made it through the week. I'll try the 3x/2x again next week before cranking up the difficulty, but this is a decent base of fitness to fall back on. A base of fitness-- been thinking about this. I haven't been very patient in the past with building a good one. Gonna try to build a strong base this time.