Limbo

Howdy sports fans.  I'm sitting here in Ft. Lauderdale waiting for my flight so figured I would bring everyone up to date on the edge-of-my-seat gripping saga that is my recovery.

When we last left off, the endocrinologist confirmed osteopenia.  I then had another follow up with the ortho.  Unlike my previous visit to him, he was a bit more cautious after the DEXA scan.  No more sprint intervals.  Discontinue the functional progression chart.  We talked about pain levels and about what type of runs "hurt" the least.  The easy 3 milers, said I.  Then stick with those, said he.

Meanwhile, the endocrinologist gave me a referral to a metabolic bone disorder specialist at the University of Maryland.  Next available appointment -- January 30 (criminy -- that many people see this type of specialist??)  Anyhow, the ortho does not want me drastically increasing either mileage or pace until after I've met with the Maryland specialist.  How am I supposed to train for Boston?  Remember? I naively signed up for that race last fall thinking I'd be back running at full strength in January?

So, for the rest of November and so far in December, I've been running easy 3 milers about 4 times a week (12-13 mile totals).  This week, I've been in Ft. Lauderdale on business.  The hotel is 2 miles from the A1A -- so I did several 4 miles (to the beach and back!).  They were slow and felt OK (or at least they didn't feel any worse).  So maybe I'll step up my mileage to 4 milers next week.

So there you have it, sports fans.  I'm in limbo.  I can run -- but not much.  No one seems to know why I've gotten my second pelvic area stress fracture in 3 years.  Yep, I'm in limbo.

More to come...

Recovery (?) Continues...

Howdy sports fans,

In my last post, my orthopedist cleared me to start the slow road back to running. And slow it has been. It's quite frustrating -- when I resumed running in 2010 after my last pelvic injury, I felt a lot stronger than I do now. And nothing seemed to hurt (at least I don't remember anything hurting). Now? I'm doing the functional activity progression chart, but the pubic area is still sore. The ortho said it would be OK to feel sore at a 1 - 4 (out of 10) level, but the cut back if it was 5. Whatever that means. Sometimes I wonder: do I have a high tolerance for pain (something, I'm sure many marathoners have)? If the doctor felt this would he be saying -- whoa that's not good. Other times I wonder if maybe I'm just over-reacting; if the doctor felt this would he be saying -- this is nothing? Anyhow, I go back to the ortho tomorrow for a follow up.

Meanwhile, for those interested, here is my functional activity progression. When we last left off, I was still in the transition from walking to jogging. I was alternating 440 yards walking with 440 yards jogging (for 1 mile total); then it was walk 440/jog 880/walk 440; then it was walk 220/jog 1320/walk 220; finally, walk 100/jog 1 mile/walk 100.

Stage II was progessing from jogging to running. Basically, this was a repeat of stage I except replacing walking with jogging and jogging with running. By jogging, I was doing anywhere from 9:30 to 10:30 pace; the running, it was anything faster than 9:30 -- typically in the 8's although I attempted to do some of my LSD pace (7:30 - 7:45). Anyhow, this stage went as follows: jog 330/run 110/jog 330/run 110/jog 330/run 110/jog 330/run 110/jog 110; next it was jog 220/run 220/jog 220/ run 220/ jog 220/run 220/ jog 880/run 440/jog 440/run 440; next it was jog 440/run 880/jog 880/run 1320/jog 440; finally I was up to jog 440/run 1 mile/jog 880/ run 1 mile/ jog 440.

This week, I was doing Stage III -- progression to sprint running. The first day (last Monday), I ran on the Mall. Warm up of jog 440/run 1 mile/jog 440. The program then called for 2 repetitions of 50 yards at 50% speed, then 2 reps of 50 yards at 75% speed, finally 2 reps of 50 yards at 100% speed. I attempted to go MP (as 50%), Lactate Threshold or 10K pace for the 75%, and VO2max or 5K pace for the 100%. I say "attempted" because I don't think I was really able to maintain or even approximate any of those speeds. Using my Garmin, I approximated 50 yards on the Mall and did my short repeats. It was very sore running at that speed. The adjective that best describes how my pelvic area felt was "creaky."

I decided not to do the sprints everyday. I had meetings and doctor appointments on Tuesday (so just swam). The next day, I did an easy 3 miles (jog 440/run 1 mile/ jog 880/run 1 mile/jog 440).

On Thanksgiving, I went to the Churchill track for the next progression: after the 1.5 mile warmup, I did two x 100 meters (slow jog of 300meter recovery). I felt very sore doing those repeats -- although I was able to maintain VO2max (5:49 pace). Not only was I sore, but I was exhausted, just running 100 meters. And to think, I was doing 8 to 10 x 800 meters at V02max this time last year!!

Friday was an easy day (thank you Peter!)

Yesterday I was back at the track to do 4 x 100 meters (300m recovery jog). Again, I was able to run sub 6's for the 100 meters. But, it just doesn't feel "right" if that makes any sense.

Anyhow -- there you have. I have two more "sprint" sessions 6 x 50 meters and 10 x 50 meters and then I'm "done", whatever that means. I'll talk with the ortho tomorrow and figure out what "that means."

Meanwhile, I still don't know what's causing all this. A week ago Wednesday, I get a call from the endocrinologist's office: "Your DEXA scan results are in, the doctor would like you to come in. Are you free next Tuesday?" That can't be good. Of course, it's only the scheduler, so she can't give me any more information. Is this good news? bad news? Anyhow, Tuesday comes and I go to the endocrinologist. The DEXA scan confirms osteopenia (low bone density). In fact, the DEXA scan results over time (2010, 2011, and now 2012) show progessively worsening bone density. Yikes! BUT the blood results all were in the normal range. The endocrinologist is stumped and I'm now referred to a doctor at the University of Maryland who specializes in metabolic bone disorders. Meanwhile, I'm now taking 1500 IUs of Vitamin D3 in addition 400mg calcium per day.

More to come...

A Light at the End of the Tunnel?

Happy Veteran's Day sports fans and a big shout out to those of you who have proudly worn the uniform of the United States or its allies.

Anyhow, two weeks ago I had my DEXA scan (still waiting for results) and on Monday I had a follow up with the orthopedist. I was worried because I was starting to feel some low level pain in the pubic region again (typically 1 -3 out of 10 on the pain scale, maybe very seldom 4's) nothing sharp or excruciating or debilitating but still... Anyhow, the orthopedist did not seem concerned with pain in the 1 -4 range. He even mentioned that given the drop in temperatures, it was actually normal for me to be feeling that low level type of pain (must by temperature sensitive). He put me through a range of motions test. I was concerned when he told me to wait while he went and got something -- I'm thinking, another prescription for an MRI? He comes back with a two page sheet entitled "Functional Activity Progression." The doctor said I could start on Saturday.

Day 1: Walk 1 mile. Walk 330 yards, jog 110 yards, walk 330 yards, jog 110 yards, walk 330 yards, jog 110 yards, walk 330 yards, jog 110 yards. Total distance -- 2 miles, total distance jogging -- 1/4 mile.

So on Saturday, after two long months, I put on my running shoes and my 2012 XMP shirt, went to the track at Churchill, turned on my Garmin (still anal when it comes to that...), and walked. And jogged. It wasn't fast, and I was a little sore. But I was running (or rather jogging) again. When I was done, I headed off to the pool for my usual mile swim and 15 minutes of pool running.

Day 2: Back at the track. Walk 220 yards, jog 220 yards, walk 220 yards, jog 220 yards, walk 220 yards, jog 220 yards, walk 440 yards. Walk 440 yards, jog 440 yards, walk 440 yards, jog 440 yards, walk 100 yards. Total distance -- 2.05 miles, total distance jogging -- 7/8 mile. Again, it wasn't fast (my jogging pace was around 10:30) and I was still sore, but not as sore as I kept at it.

Day 3:  Swam a mile and did 15 minutes of pool running in the morning.  This afternoon, back at the track for 440 yards walk, 880 yards jog, 440 yards walk.  220 yards walk, 1320 yards jog, 220 yards walk.  Total distance -- 2 miles; total distance jogging -- 1 1/4 miles!  Slowly building that mileage up!!

So here I am, very thankful and hopefully optimistic that I am finally back on the road to recovery.

Stay tuned, sports fans...

Tasty Grapes

As I sit here watching game 4 of the World Series not feeling tired from running a marathon, not feeling aching muscles from having completed 26.2 miles, not feeling exhausted from exercising for roughly 3 or so hours, I could think of all the I'm-glad-I-didn't-run-today excuses. It was forecasted to be pouring wet (I think of Boston 2007) --- but the rain held off. It was forecasted to be gale force winds (again I think of Boston 2007) -- but the major winds will come tomorrow (not that a 10 - 15 mph headwind is fun, especially at the end of a marathon). I could be sitting here (while my wife sleeps the sound sleep of the marathoner) thinking I'm glad I didn't run because those grapes were probably sour anyway.


But I can't. I know those grapes are sour. Those grapes are tasty. I don't care what the conditions are -- I'm really bummed I wasn't out there running today. Or in early September at Parks Half. Or in late September at the Richmond Rox 1/2 Ironman. Or in November at the Potomac River Run Marathon. Or in December at the Seashore 50K. Jordana ran her 8th Marine Corps --- 7th in a row. Two away from getting her 10 timers patch. Me? I squeaked out my 5 timers patch last year -- no streak. I was hoping to run MCM #6 -- maybe start a streak of my own thinking my running injuries (at least serious injuries) were in the past.


Instead, I spent the morning doing laps. As I was going up and back 36 times (plus the 15 minutes of pool running), I was running the course in my mind. Thinking of where my running friends would be at that moment. I got back home and followed the runner tracking -- imagining where everyone was. Imagining how I felt running last year. Thinking of my crappy spring marathon performance and how I was hoping to redeem myself this fall. Definitely a bummer.


Meanwhile, assuming there is power, I have another DEXA scan scheduled for Tuesday. And another visit to the orthopedist next week. Part of my crappy mood is that at the beginning of last week, I was thinking to myself that everything was starting to feel pretty good and had been for a number of days and maybe I should be thinking about when I can start running. (As you may recall, I'm supposed to go 14 days pain free, then I can schedule a follow up orthopedist visit to discuss resuming running). But all week I felt a nagging pain in the groin area. Not as bad as in the summer. But definitely setting the clock back to zero when I should be not feeling this way. I've been good -- no running (I swear), no fast walks at lunch. Hell, I don't even run to catch the metro. Nothing but swimming with the pull buoy and pool running. So why is it hurting again.


Oh well.


To all my friends who ran Marine Corps today, well run. I don't care what the conditions were, I wish I could have joined you. I'm sure those grapes were sweet.

Quiz

Three guesses as to what is in the orange container.  And no, it's not lemonade.

Anyhow, in addition to the above container, went to the lab for a full work up to see what is causing these pesky stress reactions in the femur and pelvis.

Now it's wait and see what the test results say.
Stay tuned sports fans.

(still not) Running my Ashe Off

Quick update. Went to the endocrinologist on Thursday. Mostly a consult. We talked about my running history, in particular my injury history. Gave the doctor copies of my various MRI reports and DEXA scans. Her first reaction was that stress fractures and reactions, even in the femur, are a risk factor of marathon & beyond training. But she did agree that two in two years likely means some secondary cause. So, she ordered the battery of blood tests and my favorite, the 24 hour urine test. That's my favorite, because I get to store my urine in a bright orange jug in the fridge --- that's not lemonade, kids! I take the blood tests on Monday. So it will probably be another week before all the results are in and we can start figuring out if anything is wrong.


Part of me hopes there is some correctable problem. Correct it and get back to running. I don't want to be told that it's just too much running and that I need to cut back. I'm not ready for that yet.


Meanwhile, off to the pool for more laps.

Runner's Hell

It's been a couple of years, but I once again tasted runner's hell last night --- aquajogging!!  Oh brother, I strapped on the big, pale-blue waist belt/float, waded into the "slow" lane of the pool, and started....what? not running, not really swimming either.  Sort of running in place, in the deep end.  Slowly going....nowhere.  Welcome to aquajogging.


Criminy.  At least I waited until 8:30 pm when there were few people in the pool.  I want to wear a sign that says I'm not really this lame!  I can run marathons and ultramarathons and do triatlons, really, I'm just injured.  But all I get is the occasional look from the lifeguard (probably the same look I know I'm guilty of giving), the look that says "is that all you can do?"


Fifteen minutes of runner's hell, I mean aquajogging.  Then I swam a mile (36 fun filled laps), alternating 1/4 mile with the pull buoy, 1/4 mile without.  And the cherry on top of my sundae?  the steam room was closed for repairs.


Later today, I go to the endocrinologist.  What goodies will be in store for me then?


Stay tuned.  Same bat time, same bat channel...