Recovering From Microfracture Surgery

AM - 10.1 miles with Sasha. The New Year came in with a blast of cold this morning as it was a nice and cozy 8'F. I was not very excited about my run as my hip was killing me all day yesterday along with the calf. So I told Sasha I would attempt to run 10 at an easy pace. The hip feels almost like it is dislocated. I discovered that the calf and hip felt better with a shorter stride so I ran with a much shorter stride and things felt a little better. The hip still felt out of whack but bearable at least. Overall we went faster today but it felt slower and easier than yesterday. Average pace was 7:01. Good news is I only felt the knee twice during the run which is much better than last week. So I think I will stick with 10 miles a day for now and try and see if I can set up an appointment to have my hip looked at.

AM - Same old 10 miles with Sasha only slower than normal. Just an easy chat run at about 7:35 average. No real changes with other issues so still just struggling along.

AM - Met with Sasha and when I got to his house Michelle was also there for the run. Sasha had forgottent that she was coming and she woke him up at 6:00am as we were not planning on running until 6:30am. I think she ran 3.5 miles while waiting for me to show up and Sasha to get ready. We then headed out and decieded to do some fartlek work for Michelle ont he parts of the trail that were not snow covered. We did several shorter stints and then at about mile 4 we hit a stretch that was clear for a mile so we picked it up for that two mile out and back section and did 2.1 miles in 13:04 which was at 6:13 pace. Then at the end the trail was fairly clear so we picked it up for the last mile and hit a 5:55 which included icy sections and a bridge tunnel and several 90" turns. Michelle was pretty impressive today and it seems that she will be trouble on the local running scene this next year. She is running Painters in two weeks and I think she is capable of a 1:23 half right now. Overall not a bad day. Things felt a little better today all around so hopefully this trend continues.

AM - Very easy chat run with Sasha as he had a bit of a stomach flu and wanted to take things easy. This is good for me as well. Still making slow progress but hopefully that means things are getting better day by day.

AM - Run with Sasha and Tyler on the normal uneventful 1/2 route. A bit of a heat wave befoe the storm as it was 47'F but fairly windy at times. Overall average was 7:00 with the last two miles in 11:54 with the last mile in 5:44 as Sasha was feeling peppy and started to push the pace. Tyler ran tough and hung in there the whole way as well. Within 45 minutes of the end of our run the weather took a major turn as the temperature dropped from 47'F to 32'F and it has been snowing like crazy. So far two inches and it has been snowing for only about an hour. Forecst is calling for up to two feet by 5:00pm Sunday. If so this will make Monday mornings run very interesting. Oh yeah, it was a fairly eventful run at one point as well because I hit a patch of ice and almost went down. I was sliding, skating for about 10 feet and was very surprised I did not fall.

AM - 10 very easy miles with Sasha and Jeff. The conditions of the trail were pretty bad so 8 minute pace was about the best we could average. In fact our average was about 8:10 pace. The rough conditions made it feel harder than it really was but it was still pretty easy. Still some nagging issues but no need to complain as I am still running, just not as much as I would like.

AM - Easy 10.1 on icy trails but averaged under 7:30 pace today. Not much else to talk about today as it was very uneventful today.

PM - 2 miles with Jared.

AM - Woke up at 4:30am to an eventful morning as there was about 6 inches of snow in my driveway that needed shoveling before I could head down to Sasha's. Made it about 10 minutes late and caught Sasha as he was leaving without me. He turned around and fell as he ran around the corner to meet up with me. So we headed out on the trail and it was covered with a fresh layer of 4-6 inches of snow and it was snowing heavily the whole run. Pretty slow the whole way but we did test how fast we could run for one mile and hit a 6:29 but this was hard as the feet were really slipping on every push-off. We ended up running just under 8 minute pace the whole way. No additional falls but a few close calls as in some spots there is still ice under the snow on the trail. Then both I and Sarah's running partners cars were stuck at Sasha house. We eventually got them going but going back and forth slowly until we got enough momentum to get out of the curb area on the side of the road. It was interesting getting back to my house as I had to find a more round about way since people were stuck on the hill going up the normal route to my house. By the time I left for work I shoveled an additional 6 inches out of the driveway so we have had over a foot of snow and it is still snowing pretty heavy right now.

AM - Very unevetful 13.3 miles with Sasha on the ice again but no ice capades this time at least. Slow running just under 8min pace but survived. We talked about a wide variety of subjects which made the time fly.

AM - Easy run with Sasha on the ice again. Was planning to go more than 10 but the knee was acting a bit funny so 10 was good enough.

PM - Went on a scout camp out that involved doing a two mile hike in snow shoes at about 9,000 feet. It was dark when we started and I was asked to lead and break the trail to the Yurt (small tent like structure in the middle of teh woods). The problem was there was about 10 feet of snow and about 4 feet of fresh powder. I had a very good pair of snow shoes but with the powder I was still sinking in up to my thighs with every step. athose behind had it much easier as I was pushing the snow down for them. It took us about an hour and a half to go 2 miles and I was working my butt off. The hip flexors were getting a killer workout. This was a lot harder than any of the 15 mile runs I have been on lately. In the morning the way back was not as bad as the trail we made the night before was still pretty good with only about 4-6 inches of new snow. Still a workout but much easier. So two miles on snow shoes but as good as a 13-15 mile run leg muscle wise.

AM - 2 more miles in snow shoes. Got home after little sleep and the hip flexors and knee were beat so did not join Sasha and Jeff for a run.

AM - 2 miles on the BYU indoor track with push-ups, sit-ups and strength drills as well and then joined Sasha and Jeff for 10 more miles. Overall averae pace was about 7:15 for the 12 miles. Not bad for the ice and snow on the trail. I have been doing some strength drills and hip streches three days a week to see if it helps my hip and stride issues. Today was the fourth time doing these and I am starting to notice that I feel like I am running taller and have better overall knee lift and push-off. I mentioned this to Sasha and he said it did not look like my right leg was dragging behind as much either so he suggested we do the stride length measurement in the snow again as well. So we measured and the stride was much closer. It went from a almost three inch difference to only a 1/2 to one inch stride length difference. So the extra 15-20 minutes three days a week may be paying off. One can at least hope so but only time will tell. The knee is still nagging a bit so I guess I will stick to 60-70 miles this week as well. Looking forward to getting miles up but I want to make sure the knee is pain free first.

Woke up at 4:30am and went to Sasha's as normal but today was an unusual event as I knocked on Sasha's door and waited for 30 minutes and no Sasha. Sasha is usually very reliable and even if he is behind a little he always answers the door. So I decieded to just head home and go to work early and then run in the afternoon when it is a little warmer anyway. Maybe Sasha will join me later today as well.

PM - Ran at the BYU indoor track with Adam and kids. Did 1 mile in 8:11 with Jared and then 3 more with James at sub 7:00 avg. Then one more mile at 6:25. So hit 5 miles in 35:10 and decieded to pick it up a bit. Did the next 5 miles in 29:47 with all miles right at 6:00 pace except one at 5:47. Then ran another mile with Jared and James in 7:46 which is Jared's best mile time. So 10 miles of 11.5 was at  sub 6:30 average. 

AM - Very early and cold morning at 5:00am and 8'F. It didn't seem to bad as at least the wind was not blowing. Very easy and slippery but still well ahead of the 8 minute guy.

AM - Very cold 3'F run at 6:30am. Nothing exciting just another easy run in the frigid weather.

AM - Easy cold 10.1 miles with Sasha.

AM - 2 mile warm-up and then paced Michelle for the Painters 1/2. The knee hurt during the warm-up but not too bad during the race. The good news is that 6:00-6:15 pace felt very easy and smooth. It was fun to push Michelle and see her accomplish a new PR. The course was short as the GPS after downloading gave me 12.92 miles. At the pace she ran this would convert to it being short 1:03. So her time of 1:21:39 plus 1:03 gives her an equivalent time of 1:22:42. Also along the way she hit multiple road PRs. According to my GPS data the splits are listed below but the fastest 5K section during the race was a 19:16 and the fastest 10K section was a 38:43. We hit 10 miles at 1:02:58. I think the 10K and 10 Mile are both road PRs for Michelle. I was being very vocal the last 4 miles as I could tell she was hurting. She hung on pretty well though running about 20:10 for the last 5K. Overall a good weeekend with a good tempo run and pacing a fellow FRB member to a new PR. The big event of the weekend was I forgot my shoes and ended up running in a pair of Steve's old racing flats which were about a 1/2 size to big but they did the job. Thanks to Steve and his wife for the great hospitality and making the trip so much fun. Oh yeah I still won my age group as well. Garmin data follows:

Mile	Split	Elevation GN	Elevation Loss
1	6:21	84	68
2	6:18	115	69
3	6:08	84	139
4	6:18	122	111
5	6:29	153	95
6	5:59	74	113
7	6:15	72	98
8	6:24	127	80
9	6:27	111	83
10	6:15	141	187
11	6:25	121	151
12	6:25	83	78
12.92	5:51	93	88
Totals (12.92)	1:21:39	1380 feet	1359 feet

 

AM - 10.1 miles in the fresh 3-4 inches of snow on the Provo River. Had about 6-7 inches in my driveway by the time I got home. Shoveled the driveway for 30-40 minutes and I will have to do it again later as it has only been a couple of hours and there is another 3-4 inches already. Showed Sasha the drills that I do 3 days a week that seem to be helping me. He has a hard time doing them especially when I try and get him to do them faster. I think over time these could really help him as well.

AM - An interesting morning on the trail after it snowed about a foot yesterday. The trail was very slick and running in the fresh snow for 13 miles was like running in the sand. Pace wise the run was easy but it felt a lot harder than 7:45 pace normally feels. Sasha stopped for a VPB and it took him just over 4 miles to catch up and he only had to make up 37 seconds. It was hard to run fster than 8 minute pace today.

AM - Super easy but icy 10 miles at about 8:00 average with Jeff and Sasha at 5:00am. Talked about lots of varied topics and just enjoyed the run. Several close calls on the ice.

AM - Mostly easy 10.1 miles with Sasha on the normal Provo River route. On a clear section we did three pick-ups at about 5:00 pace (probably about 400, 400, 300 length on pick-ups). I was going to run 13 today but the knee was bugging me all day yesterday so I figured I better keep it at 10 for now.

AM - A heat wave has hit Provo as it was about 29'F this morning. Ran with Jeff and Sasha on the Provo River routine 10.1 mile route. We averaged about 7:42 pace but it was pretty slick today. All of us had a couple of sliding adventures but no falls. I am really looking forward to winter going away. It will be nice to be able to run on a surface with traction and not being worried about hitting ice and going down. The cold does not bother me nearly as much as the fact that we are running on snow and ice day in and day out. I will see the doctor next week about the knee so we will see what they say. I have been surviving on 60-70 miles a week but really just want to get this thing fixed if possible so I can really start training again. Right now it feels like I am really slacking and not building the base I really wanted to this winter.

AM - Went up with Sasha and Steve to run the SLTC 5K. Ended up 8th overall with a 17:16. I had no goal going into this race except to just run by feel and make sure I did not damage the knee any worse than it is. So after about 4.5 miles of warm-up and doing my drills I headed to the start. The knee pain was there but bearable and not getting worse so no real problems. I drove up with my son James and Sasha and we picked up Steve along the way. Met Adam W. and James at the start and guessed a good start pace would be between 5:20-30 pace and just see how things went after that. Adam took off a little faster than me so I was content just hanging back a little bit. I did not look at me mile splits until after the race as I was just trying to run more by feel. The funny thing is that the pace did not feel fast but I did not feel like I could get moving any faster. It felt more like 10K to 15K pace but that is abouot all that the legs wanted to give. Breathing was fine and I never really felt the true pain of a 5K. After looking at splits I ran fairly even paced. 1st mile was 5:30, 2nd mile was 5:30 and 3rd mile was 5:40 according to GPS which measured the course right at 3.11 miles. I think I slowed during the third mile a little because I caught up to another runner and was sort of stuck behind him for about a half mile or more. The road had some snow and ice on it and you had to run in a single file line unless you wanted to go in the snow and ice. Everyone once in awhile it would open up so you could run two wide and try to pass but when it did there were runners coming in the other direction blocking the way. I finally got around the other runner with just under a half mile to go and I put about 7 seconds or so on him in less than a half mile. I was closing on Albert Wint fairly quickly but ran out of time. I think I could have caught him if I had another mile at most. So I ended up 8th overall and 2nd in my age group. The FRB Team had a decent showing. We had 4 of the top 8 runners with Steve 3rd, Sasha 4th, and Adam W. 6th. The course was very flat but it was snowy and icy and at the 180 turn you had to come to a complete stop or you would have fallen on the ice. In fact some did fall that tried to run through the turn around. Overall a decent race but definetely not where I want to be right now. Off to the doctors next week to try and find out what is going on with the knee and maybe even get on the path to healing. It least it was fun to get out and represent the FRB and socialize.

AM - Overall a bad run day all around. Very easy super icy run today. Normal route and a major heat wave at 40'F so I was expecting good trail conditions. I couldn't have been more wrong. The snow that was on the trail had turned to ice and was covered with a layer of water from the warmer weather which made it about as bad as it could get. On the dry sections we could move but then had to slow to almost a walk on the icy sections. To top things off the knee was terrible today. It was as bad or worse today than it has ever been. I have a regular doctor appointment later today and will probably get an MRI and then tomorrow I have an appointment with a Chiropractor/Sports PT. So between the two I hope to try and figure this knee thing out. I am a bit nervous about the MRI as I am hoping it is not something too serious. So a down day today in many ways.

Went to the doctor today. Had a good talk with him as we discussed running as he is planning on doing his first marathon at Ogden this year. I told him about the FRB as well and he said he would check it out. He also saw Spirit of The Marathon the other day. He was interested in trying to find others that get together and run as it showed on the movie. I told him we had runners of all abilities and I was sure he could find others to run with from the blog in the Provo area. Anyway he thinks it looks like a soft tissue issue which is what I kind of suspected as well. He ordered an MRI and also gve me some prescription strength Naproxin to try instead of my current Ibuprofin treatments. I will hopefully find out tomorrow when my MRI will be. From there depending on what it shows I will either be recommended to a Orhtopedic Surgeon for further consult or if nothing really shows then I will be recommended to a Physical Therapist for further evaluation. Either way I just want to know whats going on so I can try and fix it. Keeping my fingers crossed for a best case scenario. At least my Doc was somewhat into running which made things nicer. 

AM - From bad to worse today. The knee was killing me today the entire run so I turned around after three miles and headed back. The pain was the worst it has ever been. The only way I can describe it is that it felt like someone was poking me in the knee with a knife every stride. The only other time I have been in this much pain while running was when I had a really bad stress fracture in college. So right now things are not looking good running wise. I may be reduced to cross training for awhile.

Looking back at my blogs I initially hurt my knee on November 15th. So it has been almost 11 weeks that I have had this problem. It is time to get it fixed and stop playing around. 

AM - So I did my stretches, and drills along with push-ups & sit-ups etc... Then jogged to see how the knee felt. It still hurts so I jumped on the bike at the gym and rode for 40 minutes hard. I am really not into this cross training thing. I hope I can more motivated to do it as it just is not as fun or fullfilling as running. I tried the elipitical but it hurt the knee as well so I guess I need to stick to the bike for now. The only problem with the bike is my butt bone is sore from the seat.

 On another note I am still waiting for my MRI to be scheduled. However, I went to see Dr. Brady for chiropractic work. I was actually very pleased (thanks Josse). He worked on my hip, back and knee and spent about an hour and a half really working me over. He thinks my knee problem may have been brought on by the hip. He was pretty surprised how tight my hip was. He did some deep tissue ART type work on the hip which was a bit painful and then he also did some acupuncture and electro therapy where he hooks a device up to the acupuncture needles and sends electric pulses deep into the hip area. This was very uncomfortable and I am not a big fan of needles so not much fun. It felt like someone was tapping on the muscles in the hip with a hammer as they twiched. He then did some ultrasound as well. If that wasn't enough he then stuck some more needles in my knee and did some more of the same along with more ultrasound. His approach might have scared some away but I am ready to get healthy so I was willing to give it a shot. He seems pretty sharp and he seems to understand athletes. He has worked on Maggie Chan and some other BYU runners in the past as well. He showed me several stretches to work on the hip as well. He truly seems like he wants to help fix the issues and help me get faster. His prices are very good compared to others I have tried and he does not seem like the type that wants to treat me forever. His approach is to get me healthy as quick as possible and then teach me how to keep things that way on my own. He did a few hip and back adjustments as well that actually made my back feel the best it has in a long time. I also noticed that the rest of the day and today the hip felt a lot looser. It is sore, but he said to expect that, but feels like it already has a bit better range of motion. He said I may not like some of the stuff he was going to do right now but eventually I will be thanking him for it. I hope he is right.

So far now I am in therapy and cross train mode. More to follow once I get the MRI and more treatments from Dr. Brady as well. I am not looking forward to more acupuncture but if it works I can deal with it. Besides Deena Kaster does it a couple times a week.
 

No running just rest the knee.