Broomball...and Checking

Saturday was our 2nd broomball game and I got checked into the boards. Well, I think it would be better described as checked over the boards. It knocked the wind out of me a little and I coughed. I tried the soccer move where I whined and rolled on the ground holding my leg in order to get a penalty (not really). I am surprised there was no penalty, since there is no checking.

Anyway, a couple of hours later I had my diagnosis of a fractured rib cartilage. It's in the area next to the bottom of my sternum. Not sure what all it means yet. I do feel like it's getting more manageable. Last night I biked for an hour, breathing hard with no pain. Just soreness afterwords. Tomorrow I'm going to see if I can run. Fingers crossed!

This weekend at broomball I will be joining my friend Drew as coach. Maybe I'm co-coach? Or I should be The Coach of Flair, teaching the team to have a little more grace and clown-like presence on the ice. :)

Diagnosis: Weak In the Hips

Most people have been weak in the knees before... and I believe that is usually associated with a good feeling of overwhelming emotion: Said in best falsetto girly-voice: "He is so dreamy he made me weak in the knees!"  But what about being weak in the hips? Same voice please: "When he gave me roses I got weak in the hips?"  No no. Weak in the hips just means you can't run for 2 weeks.

Some background: Ever since a few weeks after the marathon when I was wooed by the beautiful fall colors making a dumb decision to run at the very hilly and very off-camber Sharon Woods, I've had problems with my right knee. With what I learned from physical therapy when I was training for the marathon, I thought it was simply my IT band and that my body didn't appreciate the challenging terrain so quickly after running 26.2 miles. I tried stretching and even bought an evil foam roller. But soon I found I couldn't run longer than about a mile before the pain would start. And if I kept running I would be reduced to a limping walk. This didn't jive with my hip problems while training...I could reap the benefits of a good hip flexor stretch on my next run. Then around Christmas I noticed that I could pinpoint pain on the side of my knee and actually press on an owchie spot. I didn't think this jived with anything I'd read on IT band issues. After whining about it on facebook, a running friend sent me a word of caution that what I was experiencing could in fact be a meniscus tear. WHAT!? After more internet searching, I began to worry about that. Horray for the internet – unfiltered information at our fingertips. Dangerous.

I gave it more time and made fixing my knee an obvious and urgent resolution for 2010. After all, life without running has been nothing short of quiet misery, one that people with any kind of passion can relate to. This week I did a test run which netted the familiar pain at the same time stamp during my run. Damn. I called Oxford Physical Therapy. Denial was over and it was time to fix this.

So yesterday I had a screening at Oxford by the same guy who treated my hip issues while training for the marathon. After a bunch of questions and a lot of gentle and kind aggressive and painful poking around on my knee, he has come to the conclusion that my IT band is in fact tight beyond tight and my hips are weak. This is causing the band to rub on my knee, hence the pain. He watched me walk away and then back to him and said my hips drop when I walk, meaning the muscles aren't supporting my hips as well as they should. When I run, this becomes worse and causes my leg to not be supported well enough, in turn causing my IT band to extend farther than it should and rub.

He really doesn't believe it is a tear of any meniscus or ligaments because of the position of the pain (towards the back of the knee) and because no pain was caused by twisting my leg in all kinds of directions. So this is good news. It is "simply my IT band". But it is a lot more difficult to fix than I thought it would be.

So basically for the next 2 weeks, I am concentrating on continuing to spin and swim (cardio) and then trying to strengthen the hell out of my hips and legs. After that I'll do a trial run and see where I'm at. Each day that goes by is either going to be a move in the right direction towards being able to run again (i.e. if I do my exercises) or a delay in being able to run again and possibly not being able to do the Pig (if I don't do my exercises). I have to keep that in mind. It shouldn't be hard.

So here I go! I guess this is a 2 week challenge of sorts. Hopefully this blog will help keep me honest. I haven't done any exercises today yet (slap on the wrist!!!)

Test Run

Monday I went to the community center to update my monthly payment and do a test run on the knee. I plodded along on a treadmill at a very easy pace for 1 mile... no pain! Then around 1.5 miles I started to feel the familiar pain on the side of my knee. I ran until the 'mill said 2.0 miles and then stopped. Now I have an appointment with Oxford Physical Therapy on Wednesday. Booo.

So I am anxiously awaiting Wednesday's appointment to see what they say. My guess is I'll have to have an MRI. At this point, I just want to start working on getting it better so I can run again. I am losing my patience, but am so glad I can still bike and swim.

December Challenge: Day 16

Swimming progress! I went 100 yards without stopping 3 times! And I think I breathed properly a few times!

I started with 50 x 10 freestyle. I rested about 45 seconds in between each one. Then I did 100 of  reaching drills (not very successfully I'm afraid... was sharing a lane and I tend to go a bit crooked with that drill). Then 50 elbow drills, again, not too successfully. And then... I did 100 nonstop - x 3! Woot! I don't know how long I rested between them. It was somewhere around 45 - 60 seconds. The last 100 was a bit rough. However, during the 100s, I think I finally got my head in the right position to breath by just turning. There were a few breaths that felt really good. It's such an awkward feeling.

After the pool, I got on the treadmill for 20 minutes. Borrrr-rrriing. Man I hate treadmills. Also, my knee started hurting at 1.5 miles so I stopped and walked the rest. So it hasn't gotten better yet. But I also haven't been on the foam roller. I've been stretching, but not doing my hip stretches. Why? Why haven't I??? Grrr. This was not a happy moment, especially since I spent some time today looking at what races I want to do in 2010.

Totals:
1000 yards freestyle
150 yards weak-ass drills
1.5 mile running

Swimming!

Since my IT band keeps frustrating me, I've decided to switch gears for a while and try some other things to help it heal. I'm worried about losing cardiovascular fitness, gaining weight and losing my endurance since all I can seem to run is 2 miles before I have to stop. Not to mention this band needs to heal so I can start training again in January. Solution? I joined the local community center so I can swim. It's under construction right now, so there is a 25% discount. Plus you can do a pay-as-you-go monthly membership with no fee. So it is a really good deal for a place with a pool!

There are two pools in the facitily. The Leisure Pool has a lazy river, kid water things, a big tube slide, and oddly enough 3 lap lanes. The other pool is the Competition Pool, which is shared among the community center, high school and middle school. It's very nice, but I think it's going to be harder to get a lane there most days. Plus I learned after my first swim on Sunday that it's kept at 76º while the leisure pool is kept at a bath-water temperature of 88º. I'll take warm over cool, I'm not a competitive swimmer by any means.

I haven't attempted lap swimming since I had a membership at Lifetime Fitness. I have never had lessons or anything, so I'm not really sure I'm doing it right. I have looked up some pointers online for freestyle on triathlon sites and just try to keep those principles in mind while I'm swimming. Who knows. It feels OK. The hardest part is the breathing. It's hard for me to get the rhythm down. If any swimming readers have pointers, I'd love to hear them!!!

Sunday I went for the first time. The center opened at noon, so I went a little early to be sure I'd get a lane. A bunch of high school girls went to the competition pool side, so I went into the leisure pool side so I wouldn't have to compete for a lane. I don't mind sharing a lane, this was usually how I had to swim at Lifetime since it was always crowded. However, no one else was on the leisure side yet so it was just me and the lifeguards. I got a lane (the only one open because swim classes were about to start) and warmed up a little. Since I was the only one there, all 4 lifeguards had nothing to do but watch me, which was not what I wanted since I am self-conscious about looking like a flailing gorilla in the water. Soon the swim class started, so I began my freestyle crawl down and back, breathing every 3 strokes and trying not to look dumb.

Overall I think it went well. I ended up being able to go 50 yards before I had to take a breather. For 25 yards I could breath every 3 strokes. Coming back about midway down the lane I'd have to switch to breathing every other stroke. When I tried swimming before at Lifetime, I could barely make it down the 25 yards. But I also think I was going too fast. It's hard to swim slow, in my opinion.

I was in the water for about 50 minutes. I warmed up with the breast stroke and side stroke, or my interpretations of them anyway. I did a clunky freestyle for a while and then grabbed a kickboard and kicked for a few laps. Then I did more freestyle. I'm not sure how many total laps I did. Either 8 or 13 down and backs, which is 50 yards or meters each (not sure which the pool is yet). So I totaled somewhere around 400 - 650 yards or meters. I have no clue if that's good or bad. I figured to have my heart rate up for 50 minutes was a good start.

Back in the locker room after I was done, I snuck a picture of how goofy I look in a swim cap. My swimsuit is bright, construction barrel orange. No one will ever miss me coming.

After the pool I went to the dreadtreadmills and ran for 1.75 miles. I just had to see how my band would feel after the swimming. It felt fine. I began to feel the very early twinges, so I stopped when that happened.

So overall, I'm very excited to swim for a while! I wish I had someone who could give me some pointers in the water. Maybe I'll meet a friendly swimmer one day. I know there are classes offered too, so maybe I can check that out. Who knows, if I'm ever able to swim more than 50 yards at a time, maybe I can do a triathlon this coming year!

The Evil Foam Roller

My IT band is getting slowly better. Yesterday I ran for 23 minutes before it started to hurt at all. But it needs more help.

So I got one of these: (the short one in the upper right on its end)

Let's just call it what it really is, a torturous piece of foam.

I worked on one of these when I went through the short physical therapy for my hip hurting during the marathon training. It was 2 minutes each side of hell. But, it ended up helping a LOT. So I decided it was about time I'd get one so I can start running normally again.

What you do with it is lay on it on your side, starting at your hip. Then you roll yourself along it all the way down to above your knee. Then back up. For a long time. On both legs. Ouch.

So here I go to roll away...

IT Band

IT Band. (ii-tee • band) 1. Iliotibial band.   2. Super tight piece of crap in my leg stretching from my hip to my knee that causes my knee to hurt.

Two runs now have been cut short. But I hope that my knowledge gained from Oxford Physical Therapy, some ice, some rolling with the rolling pin, and the resurgence of my stretching (I have been bad) will get me back in a couple of weeks to regular pain free running.

In the meantime, maybe I'll hop on my bike trainer to keep up the cardio. Though biking has always hurt my knees... so maybe that won't work. We shall see!

My Hips Don't Lie

So after Tuesday night at the track, my hip wasn't feeling so great again. Each time I walked between intervals, it hurt a little. Oddly it didn't hurt at all when I ran. By the time we were home and into the evening it was hurting really bad. Then I didn't sleep well because I couldn't move in bed without really bad pain. Wednesday, I limped around all day and moved at slow speeds as if I had the flu. I was grumpy and the 800 MG Advil wasn't working. Greg convinced me to call Oxford Physical Therapy and made an appointment for the next day. I think I was in denial that something was wrong.

The appointment went well. Diagnosis is: hip flexors (i.e. everything in my hip) is tight. My IT band (iliotibial on the diagram) is a little bit tight, but not effecting my knee and I actually can't tell it's tight. He could tell by feeling it (gross). He thinks my bursae are a little swollen. The ligaments around them are all irritated and tight. And my quads are a little tight. Thankfully my piriformis isn't at all in pain. It's mostly all the big red chunks at the top of this diagram.






















I stretch after I run, but I've never really paid attention to what I'm doing and guiltily admit sometimes I don't stretch much or at all. You can't train for a marathon and not stretch properly.

So, I am going to do my exercises, not run 18 as planned this weekend, and start adding the mileage back easy. Good news is that I should still be able to run Columbus. I just have to take it easy for a bit and be more careful. Glad this happened now and not closer to the race date where I probably wouldn't have enough time to fix myself.

Today I feel a lot better and there is barely any pain. I am going to run maybe 2 miles later today and see how it goes. Baby steps. For my appointment next week, they are going to work on me and do some things to get my hip a lot better, which I have a feeling means hurt me to heal me.