Run. Dream. Live.

"And the wise have pitied the fool that hath striven to give a life to a dream that was dreamed in the heart, and that only the heart could hold. O wise men, riddle me this: what if the dream come true?" --Padraic Pearse, "The Fool"

[rundreamlive]

Yesterday’s Run and Elbow Decision

I forgot to report on yesterday’s run. I did 2.75 miles in 35:21 (~12:50/mile). It was the first time I ventured off the road onto the dirt (and it was finally dry enough), but it was a little precarious due to the topography being covered by all the leaves (especially as I ran out of daylight). I stepped funny on a couple of big stones on my left foot in the last half mile of running, and they challenged the knee enough that I decided to stop and walk the last half-mile home (not included in the time or distance above). But my knee feels totally fine today, so I think I made the right decision. While I’m forced time off from upper body strength-training and climbing, I’ll focus on my running and leg strength goals.

After reading further, I should be able to try light exercise after the pain is gone (in ~1-2 weeks). I’ll focus on eccentric exercises, not climbing or anything. I might start stretching and trigger point release even earlier than that. I remember that I hit that funny bone falling off a hold a while ago -- I don’t think I hit it hard enough to damage the tendon, though. *shrugs* I’ll be adding in (p)rehab exercises for all the major climbing issues all at the same time, so even if I was misdiagnosed, I should work the correct muscles. (Obviously I’ll make sure none of them are mutually exclusive or overly taxing the triceps tendon, and maybe I’ll add them one muscle group at a time to be extra careful. Slow and steady...)

I’m still unreasonably rankled by the “regular, not muscular” person comment. I’m not trying to become a power lifter; my goal is relative strength. Most women cannot do 10 pull-ups. Heck, most men in America can’t do 10 pull-ups.  I know I’m not ANW-strong yet, but I firmly believe I can get there. And I don’t want to work with a doctor who doubts my goals or belittles my hard work.

[rundreamlive]

Diagnosis: Triceps Tendinitis?

I was not super-impressed with the orthopedist I saw. He did a thorough assessment and diagnosed me with triceps tendinitis. Which is what I thought it might be, based on where the pain is, but I’m still confused how I could have overused my right triceps with the activities I’ve been doing lately. Biceps, sure, I could see that. But triceps? *shrugs* (It can also be caused by an acute injury, in activities such as weight lifting, but I don’t remember any of the routes I was working on having substantial push components, and I’d cut way back on my dips to work on my form... I’m so confused, but that’s what my body says is wrong.)

He recommended I take an NSAID -- but taking it for my knee tore up my stomach, so I had to stop, and that was too recent for me to want to try again. When he suggested a topical medicine, I said that I have a fragrance allergy, and they were like “don’t worry, it won’t be in the medicine.” When I got to the pharmacy, I asked about the ingredients, and sure enough, fragrance was the third thing on the list. (I guess I should call and ask for a different prescription, but meh.)

The doctor then told me the only treatment is complete rest for 6 weeks. I asked about eccentric exercises, citing the recent studies demonstrating their effectiveness for Achilles and patellar tendinitis, and he said that the triceps tendon is different because it’s not weight-bearing and the muscles are smaller. Umm, okaaaay....

I asked what would be different six weeks from now that would keep it from hurting again as soon as I started exercising again (like what just happened), and I asked about physical therapy or any exercises. He said we could think about that in six weeks.

Everything that I’ve read about various types of tendinitis (in peer-reviewed research and clinical articles) suggests that such a long rest is only needed for severe or protracted cases (neither of which mine falls under), and that as soon as symptoms subside, it’s better to start working on strengthening the tendon.

I was also given a tennis elbow brace to wear above my arm. My long-time followers might remember how much the patellar tendon strap (didn’t) help me. But I do need to do some lifting in daily life that bothers it right now, so I’ll wear it for at least a few days when I feel I need to. But I had it on when I started typing this, and it was causing more pain than I had before I started, so I took it off.

Meh. Now that I have a diagnosis, I’m going to see what I can find on the latest treatment for triceps tendinitis. If there’s any evidence at all that eccentric exercises can help, I’ll start them as soon as the pain subsides (hopefully in a few days, up to a week or two). I’ll continue to avoid other upper body activity until... well, I’m not sure. Hopefully the article(s) will have details on that, too. I think I’d better freeze my membership at the climbing gym for now, though (assuming I can) -- I’m thinking for at least one month. And postpone the crossfit groupon start date, if they’ll let me.

Maybe the thing that didn’t impress me about this doctor was that he called me “just a regular person,” “not muscular.” Like people come in flavors, like ice cream. Hmph! Though I’m beginning to think I must have some really crappy collagen in my body. Or maybe I’m just getting old.

[rundreamlive]

Elbows and Sunshine and Introversion

I climbed yesterday. I took it pretty easy, and my elbow twinged a teensy little bit, so I immediately stopped. And now it feels like I’m back to where I was the day after I first injured it. I don’t have time to muck around trying to fix it myself; people go to school for a long time to learn how. So I’ve got an appointment with an orthopedist tomorrow. Their practice is completely non-surgical and they have an attached physical therapist. (There were some issues with my insurance for my PT for my knee, and I didn’t want to change PTs mid-stream, so I covered the rest out of pocket -- which means I still have plenty of PT visits left for the calendar year. Good decision, past me!) They seem to take a whole-body approach, so I’m hopeful I can get back to training soon. This has been so frustrating; I feel like I’m losing all my hard-fought gains for such a niggling little thing.

On the plus side, we finally have some sunshine (starting yesterday) after weeks of nearly non-stop rain. I babysat yesterday afternoon after work, and we just walked (and ran sometimes) around a lake for over an hour (with frequent stops to search for minnows and to pet dogs). The weather has warmed up again (70′s, compared to the 40-degree rainy days we had over the weekend), so I’m about to head out for a run as soon as I post this. (I did run a mile on the treadmill Monday, and I rowed 2km in 11 minutes on an erg today.)

When I got home from work, I finally called my insurance company and Sanofi about the Auvi-Q recall (an epinephrine auto-injector for severe allergic reactions). I was able to message my prescribing doctor through the patient portal (yay for not having to talk to people!), so hopefully I can get a replacement device soon and send the defective ones back. My copay for the new one should only be $5, but I can print a coupon to reduce that to $0... Or I could mail in the receipt and have Sanofi reimburse me for it. I also called a parent of one of our youth group kids to schedule some yardwork (he asked for $5/hour; I upped it to $10). We really need our huge, steep driveway raked, and with all the rain we’ve had, I know the leaves will be too heavy for my elbow. My housemate won’t do it, so she agreed that $5 each is totally worth getting it done. (He should be able to finish it in an hour, since he can just rake them into the woods lining our driveway that are causing all the leaves to fall...)

My introvert battery is on E after those 4 phone calls (and one of them was just leaving a message). Ugh. Is there a way to increase its capacity? Hopefully the run will charge it up.

[rundreamlive]

Biochemistry in Action: Foaming Yogurt

I just added a half-scoop of protein powder to my plain yogurt. I stirred it in, then made my peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Sat down to eat, and when I went to take a bite of the yogurt, there were all these little bubbles in it. I know yogurt has live, active cultures in it, but I didn’t expect it to be quite so visibly active. The protein powder does have 6g of sugar per serving (so I added ~3g to the yogurt), but it’s not like it’s that much extra compared to what the yogurt already had... I’ve actually made my own yogurt before, and I don’t remember it being as bubbly as this is. So weird. Tastes fine.

[rundreamlive]

Climb 2 (post-elbow)

I tried climbing again for the second time with my elbow issues. By yesterday afternoon, the low-level pain with daily activity had receded, but since it was acting up in the morning, I didn’t want to push it.

This morning, I was at the regular gym, but I didn’t want to stress it too much, so I stayed off the pull-up/dip station, opting for 20 minutes on the “Adaptive Motion Trainer.” I really can’t seem to get the hang of that thing; the movement just feels very unnatural. (I actually have issues with ellipticals and ARCs, too -- I always feel like my feet are too far apart, even when I have them on the inside edge of the platform.) I tried to go backwards for the second half, but my movement kept switching back to forwards somehow. It’s a very strange machine. But I’m glad I did it, because I didn’t have time to run after climbing.

When I got to the climbing gym, the 5.5 route was overrun with kids (at one point, there was a 4-person line for the auto-belay). So I warmed up with shoulder dislocations, band pull-aparts, and dynamic movement for a bit, before hitting the first 4x4 (easy jugs on a vertical wall) a few times. Then I moved on to the second 4x4 (slightly more than vertical) and the long-haul, making it to 10-11. I tried the black VE- that I had nailed the first time I tried it, and while it was fine for my elbow, I did something weird and couldn’t make it to the top hold. Then I tried a different VE- that’s very reachy at the top, and I couldn’t make that, either (I’ve also finished that one several times). The line was shorter by this point, so I finished off with a few up-and-downs on the 5.5 before calling it a day. I think I was climbing for ~30-40 minutes, and I never really felt anything much in my elbow (just a little twinge when I skipped too many holds and went for a long reach on the 5.5, but I immediately backed off and chose a lower hold).

I’ll have to see how it does tomorrow, but all in all, I feel pretty positive and hopeful. I’ll probably climb again either Monday or Tuesday.

Tomorrow morning (if it’s not pouring): running.

[rundreamlive]

Elbow Situation

The  elbow felt fine yesterday after my light climbing Tuesday. So I decided to try assisted pull-ups and dips at the gym. For regular (neutral-grip) pull-ups, I used 70 pounds assistance (I had done a few unassisted on the rings and bar at the climbing gym the day before). For the first set of wide-grip pull-ups, I also used 70 pounds assistance, but felt this was bordering on a workout rather than a testing-the-waters. I backed off to 87 pounds assistance for the next set, which was too much, so for the last set(s?) I used 78 pounds. I did 5 of each type of pull-up, with a set of dips in between (5 for the first set, 10 for the rest) with 70 pounds assistance.

I can’t remember if I did 3 or 4 sets, but it felt fairly light. Afterwards, I did 15 minutes on the elliptical, holding on to the handlebars. And then my elbow started to feel a little sore towards the end of the elliptical. It remained slightly sore throughout yesterday, mostly when I was picking up something heavier. So I’m not sure if it was one of the types of pull-ups, the dips, the elliptical (though I’ve done the elliptical a few times while resting from the upper body work, and I don’t remember noticing it -- though it was also earlier in my recovery, when the elbow was still sore...).

We’re only talking a level 1 at rest, spiking to maybe a 2 or 3 with the lifting of something heavier, so maybe that’s fine? I was supposed to try climbing again today, but I think I need to rest it until there’s nothing from daily activities (which will hopefully be tomorrow). It’s tricky because the climbing gym is closer to work than my house, but if I go there after work, I’ll run out of daylight to run, too. I guess I should try to go to work early (sun-up isn’t until 7 here because we’re so far west in the time zone). Running in the dark isn’t really an option here, because to get off my half-mile-long street, I’ve got to run on a shoulderless road or take the trail, which isn’t lighted and is legally closed when it’s dark. I tried running on the trail just at sunrise before, and even with a headlamp, it was hard to see. (And my headlamp broke after that first wearing...) Plus woman running alone in the dark = dangerous. I guess I just really need to tweak my schedule and plan my runs.

[rundreamlive]

Run 2.5 miles

32:06, which is apparently only a 13-minute mile pace. But my knee felt fine (it tweaked a little when I picked up speed a bit on the last downhill, but settled down as soon as I slowed back down). I was losing daylight, so I had to slow down a bit on the way back to the house under the trees on the trail (I reached the halfway in less than 15 minutes.

Next time, I’ll be going for 3.1 miles (hopefully Friday, if the weather cooperates).

[allalongtheroad]

For my procrastinating/unfocused friends out there - How do you get and keep yourself on track with tasks?

[rundreamlive]

I have a few tricks. I make a short list of what really needs to be done. I space out energy-intensive tasks (I’m an introvert, so that’s anything dealing with people) with energy-generating or fun tasks (anything mentally engaging). And I use a timer, especially for tasks where it’s easy to get distracted or overloaded with information. I’ll set the timer for how long I think the task requires, or if it’s a long task, to break it down into manageable chunks where I can really concentrate on just that. I also never have notifications for e-mails, etc. -- I check those things on a schedule.

[rundreamlive]

First Climb Since I Tweaked my Elbow

I kept it pretty easy, doing the 5.5 route a few times, then the easiest two 4x4′s in my gym and the long-haul to hold 9. I did some wrist curls and reverse wrist curls, and some rotational stuff at different angles (all with 5-pound dumbbells. Tried a couple of pull-ups on the bar before realizing the rings were a better bet (they allow your arms to rotate as you pull up, causing less stress on the tendons and ligaments).

Finished it off with 2 more climbs up and down the 5.5 route. Only about 20 minutes of climbing time (plus about 10 minutes of the exercises), but I figured it was better to stop while I was ahead.

So far my elbow feels fine, but the real test will be how it feels tomorrow. If all goes well, I’ll try climbing again Thursday. I might try the third 4x4 (a few smaller holds, but no pinches or slopers) or maybe one of the moustache routes on a steeper wall (but on jugs). If I try either, I’ll be pretty careful.

[rundreamlive]

Physical Therapy Graduation

Today was my last session at PT. It’s been three weeks since my previous one, and I’ve only managed a handful of runs, and I’ve not been doing my PT every day, either. I still managed to make steady progress in my PT, and I could really see significant improvement since my last visit.

On the bicycle warming up, I was at speeds of 14-16 mph (more than double when I first started, and ~2-4 mph faster than last time). On the Cybex machine (a leg extension/curl machine that is adjusted by speed, and the resistance is determined by your effort -- basically, if you try to exceed the speed, it resists to slow you down), I actually felt nearly as much resistance at the 2 higher speeds as I did at the lower 3 speeds, which means I’ve got a lot more power.

The step-up-and-overs on a 6″ platform felt fine, even with 6-pound weights (I’m up to 12 pounds at home). And I could see in the mirror that my mini-lunges were a bit deeper, even though I was doing those with 12 pounds (I had to hold a dumbbell and a medicine ball to get enough weight). My knee felt okay on balance-and-reach (this exercise often aggravates it).

I managed a mile at a 9:35 pace (85% body weight) on the anti-gravity treadmill. And then I tried the lying-on-an-incline-bench jumps that I tried for the first time last time. Last time, I only managed ~10 reps in each direction on my left leg only, but today I managed 2 full sets of 20 on the single leg in each direction. (I also learned that I can do something similar in a plank position, and gradually raise the level of my hands to support more and more of my weight on my leg, until I can do regular jumps).

There’s still a long uphill road for my knee, but I’m on the right track. My pain-free range of motion continues to improve. I can run up to 3 miles on the road. Going forward, I hope to build up to ~10-15 miles per week, doing 1 “speed” day (gradually increasing from 12-minute mile pace to ~8 for longer distances with shorter rests, and then once I can handle a faster pace, turning up the speed even more) and 1 longer run (probably capped around 5-6 miles) per week. I’ll keep working on strength, mobility, speed, and power, but take it slow and steady.

My elbow is also doing better, though it still occasionally twinges in daily activities (lifting while holding things at an awkward angle, or lifting and rotating my hand -- now it only hurts for heavier objects). I’m going to take the rest of this week off as I continue to massage, stretch, and start some basic (p)rehab for arm health. Next week, I’ll try some really gentle climbing (the 5.5 top-rope warm-up route) and assisted pull-ups, dips, etc.

[rundreamlive]

Another setback (not my knee)

Wednesday, when I woke up, my right elbow was bothering me a little bit when I lifted things like my bag (basically, a biceps curl). I had climbed kind of hard Tuesday, working on several VE routes, including 2 brand new ones. (I actually sent one of the new ones on the first try -- turns out it was actually a VE-/V0, but still... it’s rare that I send anything the first try!)

I obviously decided not to do my one-armed pull-up progression. Instead, I did some assisted pull-ups, starting at only ~75 pounds of weight across both arms. The stretch actually felt good, so I did a few sets of ~100 pounds and ~115 pounds, hitting reps between 6 and 10. I alternated with wide-grip pull-ups at ~75 pounds of weight, which didn’t tweak my elbow at all.

After the pull-ups, my elbow stopped bothering me, enough that I totally forgot about it by the time I went to the climbing gym. I started off focusing on endurance (a couple of new top-rope climbs, and the white one I never finished in Sept.), but then I focused on the other brand new VE(-) route that I hadn’t manage to get Tuesday, because I really felt like I should be able to.

My elbow felt fine afterwards. I don’t remember it bothering me at all Thursday, either, though it was an upper body rest day. Friday, I got to the gym, and I tried one of the new 5.7 routes, and it was sore. So I switched to the 5.5 to warm up, but even that was sore. At that point, I knew I had to call it a day.

It’s frustrating because I had just gotten my 1-arm pull-up progression to the same point it was at before my deload and week of being sick. I think I need to lay off the progression for at least a couple of weeks. The elbow is still a bit sore today. I obviously won’t be climbing again until the soreness is gone from daily activities.

I know I haven’t been great about balancing pushing with pulling lately. And I don’t know any phenomenal stretches for my arms the way I do for my legs (the basic ones I know don’t really seem to do much for me...). And I don’t ever foam-roll my upper body, either. So I need to figure out a prehab/mobility routine this weekend. Hopefully by resting, reassessing, and tweaking my routine just a bit, I can nip this in the bud and get back to training on all cylinders quickly. I already have chronic tendinitis in one joint; I don’t want it in another.

If it’s not much better by Tuesday, I’ll mention it to my physical therapist.

[rundreamlive]

Second run on the road

Hit the road/trail for run 2. 25:08 for 2.1 miles (if I remember correctly). The hills felt much better than last time. Next time I’ll try for 3. Woot!

The last mini-hill before home, it felt so good, I got a little teary-eyed. Be grateful for every run you can do.

[rundreamlive]

Running off the track

Today I tried a run on the road for the first time. I wanted to try for 3 miles, but I really only had time for 1. A good thing, too, because the hills were hard. They aren’t even real hills, either, just the gentle rolls of my street. It’s not that my breathing got labored or anything, and I still managed my 11:50 mile pace that I’ve been averaging, but it reminded me of the first time I tried to ride my bike after moving from totally flat Virginia Beach to the DC metro area. I made it down the first hill, coasted a bit up the next hill, and then literally couldn’t move my pedals anymore. I walked that thing back up the hill and retired it. (The next time I tried to ride a bike was for cross-training for cross country in high school, and the strength I’d developed running hills transferred well to the bike -- plus by then, I was big enough for my dad’s 10-speed instead of my childhood fixed-gear.)

After I finished the run, the whole back and outside of my left thigh knotted up again. It’s definitely getting better with all the stretching and foam-rolling I’ve been doing, but it’s annoying.

I’ll try for a slightly longer road run tomorrow. Just need to keep building that strength. It’s humbling to see how weak my legs are on hills, but I just need to remember that it wasn’t that long ago my knee couldn’t even handle walking a mile. And today it handled running up and down hills. Maybe not as far or as fast I’d like, but speed and distance will come with more time and hard work.

[rundreamlive]

Finally feeling better

I’ve been meaning to post for days. My abdomen continued to hurt for several days, peaking about an hour after eating (and accompanied by nausea), but it was gradually improving. I spent the second half of last week mostly in bed, eating small servings of oatmeal, applesauce, soup, and yogurt when I could stomach it.

I did make it to my PT appointment Thursday. They didn’t want to give me any new stuff, even though they’d told me they were going to work me hard (they raised the level of the step for one of my exercises by 1.5″... that’s not working hard). I couldn’t handle the treadmill because of my stomach, but I was pretty insistent that I wanted more, so they let me try this sliding, jumping platform. (You lie on your side on an incline bench, with adjustable angle, and jump front-to-back, side-to-side, and across the diagonals on it, while the bench slides up and down. Because you’re lying on your side, you’re only supporting a fraction of your body weight on your legs, but still getting the benefits of jumping.) It was awkward, but I managed to do 3 sets of 20 jumps in each of the 4 directions (1 set 2 legged, then the rest starting 1-legged and switching to 2 when needed -- which was between 10 and 20 reps in).

I tried to climb a bit on Sunday, but I’d eaten just before, and my abdomen started hurting. I didn’t know if it was my oblique or GI tract, so I stopped.

I felt much better Monday, well enough to work, and even better yesterday, so I climbed. I worked on some of the new challenges, and I didn’t do stellar on any of them, but I was at least able to do them with no pain. I didn’t beat myself up for being less strong than usual; I knew I had probably depleted my glycogen stores by not getting enough calories the past few days. I ate a nearly regular-sized dinner last night, and my abdomen only hurt a little afterwards.

Today, I climbed again, and decided to focus on the long-haul and endurance. I actually made it to 21 on the long-haul! (Twice, actually!) I’ve finally broken through that 17-18 block! Woohoo! I worked on finding an easier way through 19-23 (and did find one), and then I worked on figuring out the sequence through to 39. I finished off with the long-haul in reverse from 17-18 (though I had to hop back up several times... it was a much more difficult challenge than I expected). I kept my rests short and got pumped several times. It felt good to be able to climb without pain.

After both climbing days, I did stretching and mobility work. Then I tried to get my 3-mile run in today, but I had to stop 100m into my second lap because my left quad/IT band (not sure which) was painfully tight, and it just got worse instead of better (it started during my half-mile walking warm-up). It was bad enough I was worried about straining it if I tried to push through. So I’ll be doing lots of foam-rolling and stretching tonight, and will try again tomorrow. Better safe than sorry. I’m hoping I just tired it out too much climbing. It’s weird because you’d think all that stretching would have helped...

My PT cleared me to add bodyweight squats (to the pain, not full ROM), glute bridges, and lightweight deadlifts (for form/stretching, not really for strength), so it’s nice to be incorporating additional leg stuff.

I wish I could have made a nice exercise plan while I was sick, but I couldn’t really focus on anything much. So I still need my Oct. plan, even though it’s halfway through. I’ll be making a 6-week plan, I think.

[rundreamlive]

Blargh

My doctor called me just before they closed. He rushed my lab tests, and they came back normal -- no sign of infection. But he still urged caution. Every time I think my symptoms are getting better, it’s time to eat, and then they get worse again. And all I’ve eaten since my breakfast of oatmeal is two bowls of soup and a bowl of yogurt.

Both the pain and nausea peak about 1-2 hours after eating. Blargh. It’s not getting any worse, but it’s not getting any better. I slept for much of the afternoon, and I feel like I could go to sleep now (but I won’t so I don’t wake up at 3am). Something’s obviously not right, and this is not just a strained muscle.

And (warning, probably TMI) things haven’t been “regular.” At all, since yesterday midday. The doctor wasn’t concerned about that yet, but that’s very highly unusual for me.

I don’t know if I have a fever; I don’t own a thermometer. I guess I should pick one up after my PT appointment tomorrow. Speaking of PT, I should go try to do my exercises, see if my body can handle it.

[rundreamlive]

It’s either a strained oblique muscle or appendicitis... or both

It’s not a hernia, apparently. The pain is concentrated at the insertion point of my oblique, but apparently abdominal pain can show up away from the actual problem, so just because it feels like it’s on the outside, that doesn’t rule out the appendix. So now I have to wait and see if my temperature keeps rising and my nausea keeps worsening. They took blood to test, but by the time they get the results, I’ll either be recovering from an appendectomy or have already figured out I’m fine.

“Eat light today” he said. All I want is soup, but I don’t want to make it from scratch, and I’ll probably have a reaction to canned stuff because of the spices. *sigh* Allergies stink. (And yet I’ll probably go with the canned stuff...)

Whatever is wrong, apparently I shouldn’t climb for a week, nor run for at least a few days. (That seems backwards to me, since I felt 100% fine climbing and it’s been bothering me only on runs...)

Who strains their abs running 12 minutes/mile? *sigh*

Side note: the doctor was really impressed with the strength of my abdominal muscles.

[rundreamlive]

Tender spot on my abdomen

My right oblique (or what seemed like my right oblique) was a little sore while I was running, but I chalked it up to me using proper running form and engaging my abs more. But I realized it’s actually tender to the touch while I was doing my knee exercises. Guess I’ll have to monitor it closely over the next few days -- there are a lot of different conditions that can cause that kind of pain, some of which are serious. Hopefully I was right the first time and it’s just a tweaked muscle.

Other things I noticed today: I can easily hold the ball I use for my VMO squats with one hand, and I can pinch-grip a 12-pack of sparkling water and carry it fairly far without it feeling heavy at all. I always blamed not being able to palm a basketball on small hands, but I guess it was really just weak grip (though I’m not sure I can palm a full-size basketball yet).

Edit: Side pain hadn’t really improved by this morning, so I made a doctor’s appointment for today. One of the conditions my symptoms match is a certain type of hernia that can cause complications quickly (another is appendicitis). Better safe than sorry.