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....