Posts Tagged ‘injuries’

Herniating

At last, the verdict is in.

After eight weeks of sciatic pain, I got to see the spinal specialist. You know you’re getting old when your doctor looks like a sixth-grader. Anyway, he showed me my MRI results. I’ve got a herniated disk. The accompanying photo is not mine, but is very similar to mine.

I’ve never been so happy to have an injury.

The pain has diminished dramatically over the last few weeks, and he told me that “90% of spinal cases are cured by long waiting lists.” Time heals all wounds, including back problems, it seems.

Fortunately, my doctor is also a runner, and he said the herniation was not caused by running and there were no restrictions on resuming running. As with any other condition, I need to be guided by the pain. It’s like the old vaudeville joke: “Doctor, it hurts when I do this.” “Then don’t do that.”

Realistically, I need to overcome my severe hatred of cross-training and core exercises – if for no other reason than to give me something to do when I can’t run. The doctor suggested swimming, and I’ll see if that’s feasible.

It’s good news for the blog, too. Running doesn’t seem very funny if you can’t do it. I’ll be back on the road soon.

Out of the Doghouse

I ran for the first time in a month this morning – 1.76 miles at 9:59 pace. My right leg is still stiff  but I don’t have those horrible shooting pains down my sciatic nerve anymore.

I’m scheduled for an MRI this week and an appointment with the spine center next month. I’m convinced that by the time they see me there will be nothing to see.

It felt good to do any sort of physical activity. The other day I went with the Lovely Mrs. A. to the mall just to get out of the house. I spent most of the time in the car listening to the radio. I noticed that in the car parked next to me there was a guy, also in the passenger seat, reclining with a neck pillow and his eyes closed. It occurred to me that shopping malls are missing out on a huge money-making opportunity.

You’ll notice even inside the mall there are plenty of seats, usually occupied by husbands, and there are often chairs outside of department store dressing rooms. This is a waste. There ought to be a facility in the middle of the mall with a series of cubicles containing a large screen TV and stereo system, a recliner, a pitcher of beer, some buffalo wings and a big soft pretzel. Charge about $20-25 an hour. This way couples can look forward to and enjoy a trip to the mall and back together without one of you having to engage in any activities you don’t like. Wives will get to spend more time shopping – which will be good for them and for the economy. Husbands get to keep their wives happy without having to follow them around the women’s underwear racks. And they’ll also be spending money. It’s a winner for everyone.

Give it a cute name like the Doghouse or the Man Kennel or the Hubby Mill and women won’t mind leaving you there (unlike calling it something like, oh, Hooters).

If you like that one, remind me sometime to tell you about my other huge money-making ideas, like FlapJack-in-the-Box.

Better

No running again this week, and I had to toss out any notion of doing the No Excuses 5k on Memorial Day. Fortunately for once, I hadn’t registered.

My sciatica has improved significantly, though I still need one Vicodin right before bed in order to sleep through the night. I’m off the Flexeril entirely, as the muscle spasms have ceased. Strangely enough, I get quite a bit of relief from a hot water bottle placed on the most troublesome area, which is just outside my right shin.

All right. There’s nothing more boring than other people’s ailments. I feel confident that this episode is nearly over and I’ll soon be back out on the road. I’m not quite ready to give up my BQ quest, but I am considering training at PR marathon pace (8:30/mile) instead of BQ marathon pace (8:12/mile). Staying healthy is more than enough of a challenge for me this year.

Walking Is Not Funny

In the last 39 days, I’ve run a grand total of 20 miles – 13.1 of those during the Sacramento Cowtown Half-Marathon. I’ve done no exercise at all since the race, in an effort to rejuvenate my old right leg tendons. I no longer have any stiffness or discomfort, so I thought it was time to at least try a weight-bearing activity.

For each of the past three days, the Lovely Mrs. A. and I have taken a two-mile stroll, which we completed in just under 32 minutes. It’s a very pleasant way to spend a half-hour, the weather is terrific, and my leg feels pretty good. But it got me to thinking about those mobs of people who walk half-marathons and marathons. If we kept our walking pace for a full marathon, we’d come in just under seven hours.

I don’t want to do things I like for seven hours.

Don’t get me wrong. I mean, if I survived a plane crash in the middle of the Mojave I would summon the strength and desire to walk for seven hours. But voluntarily? Never. I’ve bonked on long training runs, and the best remedy for overcoming it was knowing that walking back to the car would take a couple of hours. I’m convinced the prospect of a very long walk led to the invention of the marathon death shuffle.

I’m not down on race walkers. Whatever technique you use to get across the finish line is fine with me. But if I can’t run, I think I have to move the speedometer in the other direction – maybe a skateboard, a soapbox derby car, or an Acme rocket sled.

Sacramento Cowtown Half-Marathon Race Report

I really had no business running a half-marathon yesterday. I’ve run a total of 7 pain-filled miles over the last two weeks. But I’m a stubborn bastard, and after stupidly registering for a bunch of races in advance, I simply forced myself to run them. I toyed with the idea of running the 5k, but I figured it would hurt just as bad for less payoff. So I went for it.

The Lovely Mrs. A. and I got to William Land Park in plenty of time (she ran the 5k – without a chip, because she just likes running. I should learn from her.) and sat in the car until about 15 minutes before start time. Except as we approached the start, I realized I really, really needed to use the latrine. So I got in the humongous line. People in front of me started to freak and bail out of the line because the race was about to start, and I was fruitlessly trying to explain to them that there was a timing mat at the start, so it didn’t much matter when the race started. There were more than 3,300 half- and full marathoners, so it was going to take awhile anyway.

I finish my business, trot out to the start area, and guess what? I’m by myself! I begin my run, and as I cross the timing mat, my friend, race director Rich Hanna, announces over the loudspeaker, “And there goes Mike Antonucci, giving the rest of the field a head start.” Awesome.

So, here I am, absolutely dead last, running behind 2,863 other half-marathoners. It was a weird and wonderful experience. If you’ve never done it, you should try it, but not in a race in which you hope to PR. It’s a whole different scene back there. For one thing, there’s a LOT of chatter going on. It’s more like a party than a race. People spread out and there isn’t much jockeying for position. I tried not to waste energy dodging people, but when they’re strolling nine abreast, having a great old time, well, you’ve got to work around them.

In the first mile I passed people right and left, and since the race had pace leaders, I soon caught up to the 2:30 leader, then the 2:20 leader. At mile 2 I caught the 2:15 group. It was great fun speeding by everyone but I realized I was eventually going to find my peers and then run an actual race.

Mile 1 – 9:13
Mile 2 – 8:52
Mile 3-5 – 26:34 (8:51 avg.)

I found a pretty steady pace, and things were going much better than I had anticipated.

Mile 6 – 8:44
Mile 7 – 8:50
Mile 8 – 8:52

The best part of the day was hitting the turnaround point and while running the next stretch, seeing a LONG, LONG line of people, all of whom I had passed to get to where I was. It made me feel terrific even though I was running a very sub-par race.

Mile 9 – 8:51
Mile 10 – 9:09

All good things must come to an end, and while my leg held up pretty well throughout, my poor conditioning began to take a toll. I took two three-minute walk breaks on the home stretch.

Mile 11 – 10:45
Mile 12 – 10:32
Mile 13 – 9:23
.1 – 1:03

I thought I had an outside chance at breaking two hours, but I couldn’t move them any faster. I was struggling at the finish, but got a good laugh when the race announcer called my name over the PA system, then added, “That’s the guy who gave everyone the head start. He must have passed a lot of people.”

Finish – 2:00:50
986th out of 2,864
53rd of 111 in 50-54 age group

They loaded us down with food, then gave us the coveted Cowtown cowbell medal (my fourth one). I located the Lovely Mrs. A. and she led me over to the Fleet Feet tent, where I sat and chowed down. After about a half-hour, I had some trouble getting up, then I limped my way back to the car. I iced the leg for a long time, but this morning it hurts to put any weight on it.

So I’ve managed to go more than a month and run four races in three weeks on a bad leg, but the silliness must stop. I’m out of commission until this gets better. It puts my targeted marathon in the extremely unlikely category, but I’m used to that. In the meantime, I can soothe myself with thoughts of those 1,879 people I passed.

The Moment of Truth?

Well, here we are again. My Maui races went pretty well, and my post-race recovery was uneventful. But after the flight back home, I experienced some lower leg pain, and I quit after a mile last Thursday. Last Saturday I ran 2 miles, and on Tuesday I did 4 at an 8:55 pace. I haven’t run since and I don’t plan to. I’m in limbo because although my leg isn’t getting worse, it’s not getting much better, either.

I’m registered for the Sacramento Cowtown Half-Marathon on Sunday, and my choices are to drop it, run it, or switch to the 5k. I don’t think my choice will have any real effect on my marathon plans, which are currently screwed because I can’t do a high mileage week yet.

I know if I could get through just one marathon training cycle without injury, I could make a credible attempt at a BQ, then let it go. In the meantime, it’s one race at a time.

Hiccup

First, the Monday holiday condensed my work week, so the Carnival of Running will appear tomorrow. My apologies.

Next, you may have noticed a dearth of training updates since last Tuesday, and that’s because I developed lower right leg pain soon after my 5k. This time it’s not a shin splint, nor my chronic peroneal tendinitis. It’s difficult to pinpoint, but it seems to originate in my arch, and long distances spread the soreness and stiffness to the top of my foot and up the outer side of my right leg.

I took 4 days off, ran 6 miles on Saturday, then tried a long run on Monday, but I gave it up after about 20 strides. I could have continued, but it was immediately obvious I would have to quit before reaching double-digits, so why aggravate it?

Took Tuesday off, and ran 6 today at an 8:29 average pace. Felt OK, and I’m using a lot of ice. Bottom line: My focus is just getting through the next couple of weeks. I don’t know what will happen to my marathon plans. Common sense would dictate resting until I’m 100%, but there’s no way I could restore that lost training and run a decent race. Anyway, the message I’m getting after six lower leg injuries in three years is that it might be time for me to become 5k-10k Guy and leave the longer distances to the indestructible old dudes and you young pups. If so, it’s moderately disappointing, but jeez, you can’t say I didn’t keep trying.

I get moody when I can’t run, so this morning’s jaunt was soothing. I took my blood pressure afterwards and got a reading of 102/43. I knew that couldn’t be right so I took it again and got a 100/52. Maybe I’m dead.