My review of the Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas race, and everything pertinent leading up to this blog can be found at (or through) this link:
Setbacks happen during recoveries, sometimes. We try
to prevent them but cannot always succeed; it’s part of being human. I’ve
tried to do everything right after the surgery on my left hip as well as during
physical therapy (perhaps I did or maybe I didn’t do enough) but I ended up
injuring myself shortly after my big “debut” at the November 15, 2015 Rock ‘n’
Roll Las Vegas 10k.
The RnR 10k went pretty well despite Sis and I getting up
very early in Anaheim, CA for her Avengers Half Marathon. Immediately after she finished the run and
stretching we then drove back to Vegas for the 10k. We arrived in plenty
of time to get warmed and loosened up before the starting gun sent us up the
Strip. My right hip complained a lot
during the run, especially with the interval change from walking to running (which
has always been a problem for me). It continued
to let me know it was unhappy after crossing the finish line and finding our
way through the finisher’s zone; that was due as much to the nasty turn in the
weather as it was to being tired from the first long run in many months.
I was definitely very tired after the race; almost marathon tired by way of
comparison.
My quads and hamstrings were really sore and stiff
Monday: I didn’t really push myself
beyond hard racing levels but my muscles were telling me plainly that I’d
pushed it a little too hard during the 10k.
I felt very thankful that my right hip felt great though, it didn’t
twinge or give any pulling sensations (neither did the left side for that
matter). I took the off of running, just
walked a little at work to stretch my legs.
Even my session of home physical therapy felt great after work, the
muscles seemed to appreciate the resistance training.
The Tuesday after the
10k my quads and hamstrings were still generally sore but moved easier than the
day before. My hips felt completely
normal; not even a hint of the discomfort I had Sunday night. The weather turned rather wonderful by the
afternoon so I was able to get in a nice 2 mile track run during lunch. I increased my interval time to 4 minutes
running and 1 minute walking, but kept my speed low to avoid straining my legs
further. The run was very relaxing and
with the 4 minute interval I could go almost 2 laps without walking so it felt
more like training last year. I didn’t
have any issues at all this time, with my hip, no complaints during warm up or
during the run itself: That was a big relief.
I stretched, foam rolled, and iced after returning to my office; being
of the mindset that until I’m in true running shape I have to stay aggressive
with my recovery activities to keep complications at bay.
The next day (Wednesday) my legs still felt tight but not
alarmingly so; the hamstrings and quads still needed more recovery time. I started using self-massage device to loosen
my hamstrings while sitting at my desk:
It’s a hard rubber ball approximately the size of a racquetball that you
can put your body weight onto to give a deep point massage to a sore
muscle. Normally it really helps me out
so this seemed the perfect time. My home
physical therapy session that night went well enough too, it was a little tough
starting with the tired and sore muscles but by the time I finished I felt
stronger and relaxed.
Thursday, 4 days
after the RnR 10k, life took a very wrong turn (well, I did anyway); I overslept in the morning, missed my bus to
work, had to rush to out of the house in time to drive myself, and ended up
forgetting half of my lunch on the kitchen counter. I never got out of the “rush” mindset that
day (as I bet everyone can understand); I couldn’t get my head straight regarding
my everyday job, I forgot to eat or drink enough through the morning, I even
felt late and rushed for my training run even though I’m free to do it whenever
I want (within reason). I allowed myself
to feel so rushed that I only performed a cursory warm up before running, the
kind of thing I could get away with before the hip surgery and I think that
caused me to cast the final “straw” onto my left leg. I planned on running only for 20 minutes but
to increase my running interval to 5 minutes with 1 minute of walking. The first interval went well but I started to
feel an irritation in my left shin/knee area near the end of the second
interval. It calmed down during the walk
period but ramped up again as soon as the 3rd run interval started. I tried adjusting my form, especially to
ensure I wasn’t dorsiflexing (pulling my toes up toward my knee), I thought I
moved better but it felt like I really lacked grace. The irritation remained as I transitioned to
the walk period. This time during the
walk period the irritation remained but being so close to my goal time I
allowed myself to start the 4th running interval since it would only
last for a minute. That minute was very
uncomfortable as my irritation progressed to ache and then pain. The quarter mile walk back to my office was
very uncomfortable after that; stretching and icing didn’t even help once I
returned to my office. I figured I’d
pushed too hard and given myself shin splints again, a rooky mistake but one I’ve
dealt with before. By the end of the
work day I couldn’t walk without a limp and the 10 minute walk to the bus stop for
the ride home left me shaking and hurting for the entire 1 hour ride.
I’d hoped that my shin would feel better after a night’s
sleep but it felt about the same; tight and very sore. I could walk, with a limp, but it certainly
wasn’t comfortable. I made sure to tell
my physical therapist when I talked to him and pointed out the singular spot of
pain (while it radiated out from there, the sore point felt like an invisible
bruise) during my normally scheduled Friday appointment. As soon as I showed him where I felt it he
said I have something called Pes Anserine Bursitis: An inflamed bursa sac in
the area of my knee where the hamstring tendons come together into one big band
and then anchor to the inside of the lower part of the knee.
He told me to start icing the entire knee multiple times every day, apply an ice cube to the hurt spot itself and rub it there for 7 minutes (no more than 8 minutes) to give it a deep chill. He said I could continue to do the workouts for my hip, and that I should take some kind of over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medication to decrease the inflammation in the knee.
He told me to start icing the entire knee multiple times every day, apply an ice cube to the hurt spot itself and rub it there for 7 minutes (no more than 8 minutes) to give it a deep chill. He said I could continue to do the workouts for my hip, and that I should take some kind of over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medication to decrease the inflammation in the knee.
The weekend went pretty rough: I spent the majority of it in my living room
icing the left shin, resting, and wishing I could take my leg off and leave it
in a different room. There were a few
bad hours on Friday when the bursitis hurt so bad that I dug out my crutches
and wouldn’t even put my foot on the ground to support the weight of the leg
itself. It actually hurt worse than
anything I’d felt after hip surgery; so bad I even took one of my post-surgery
pain pills (which didn’t help any with the pain but it made me dizzy and stupid
so I cared a little less). Over Saturday
and Sunday things didn’t improve much except that I didn’t have to use the
crutches again. I was thankful that I
didn’t have home physical therapy scheduled over the weekend, I couldn’t have
done it.
My shin pain didn’t improve at all during the first two work
days before Thanksgiving, at times the throbbing was so bad I couldn’t even focus
on my computer screen to get any work done.
It was bad enough that I took the day before Thanksgiving off to see the
physical therapist; I just couldn’t wait another week for my regularly
scheduled appointment, the bursitis pain was too much for yet another week
without help. After the he tested it he had me stop almost all
activities, increase the icing frequency to every 2 hours (10 minutes with
general ice pack, 7 minutes of direct spot icing with an ice cube), and start
taking ibuprofen plus aspirin 3 times a day to fight the inflammation and pain. My physical therapist also restricted all
resistance training for the hip to remove any of the exercises that would stress
the leg. I even chose to shorten the
stationary bike rides because they would hurt after just a few minutes. He did give me a small nugget of hope; once
we got the bursitis inflammation decreased enough the majority of the pain
would vanish and then the lingering aches would fade away fast. I just had to keep on it and be patient.
The bursitis really had me feeling beaten down over the
first two weeks after it struck; I had to give up the Turkey Trot (a favored
race I had run 3 years straight up to that point), I couldn't walk a single
kilometer without sheering pain there was no hope for 5km or even one mile. I couldn’t help but feel like my running
hopes in general were dwindling; it put my recovery on hold; my December runs
were in danger of being cancelled all together; my plans to run the Rock ‘n’
Roll Arizona Half in January could even have to be cancelled depending on how
long the bursitis lasted. I saw a lot of
negative changes happening with this setback and they were just piling on top
of the other negative aspects of the injury and subsequent surgery that had
dominated almost the entirety of 2015. I
won’t go so far as saying I was depressed (I am all too familiar with that
disorder, this wasn’t even close) but the despondency had its effect: I started drinking a lot of soda again, I
increased the amount of sweet fruit I eat a day, I gave up on taking the bus to
work for fear of the pain associated with walking to the bus stop at night, I
dreaded (and considered stopping) icing every two hours because it leaves me
feeling cold all over despite it being a necessity. I even began to feel disconnected with my joy
of running, as if it were a thing of the past that really didn’t have much to
do with the person I have become. The
only things that kept me from giving up the desire to run again were my sister
and knowing that what I was feeling was a natural part of the process and I’ve
actually expected some type of setback; if I’m anything, I’m pragmatic. I just didn’t expect the pain, but who
does?
It took about 2 weeks (and 2 physical therapy sessions) to
be able to walk without a limp and 3 weeks before I could risk trying to run
again. I couldn’t help but feel like this could well be the last time I'd
try to run again, fear of pain and disappointment make powerful deterrents.
I got to the point of feeling so disconnected from running that one evening while
driving home from work I spotted a new section of road near my house, I
immediately imagined someone running on it (like trekking through fresh fallen
snow) but that someone wasn’t me. I felt
a slight twinge of regret but thought to myself in all honesty, "I bet
some runner will enjoy being able to test that road while it's still
closed." Last year that someone
would have been me without a doubt, but looking at it at that moment I had zero
connection to the action. Perhaps it was
a form of runner’s amnesia; the kind that lets us foolishly sign up for
marathon after marathon (my preferred distance) despite how we felt moments
after crossing the finish line barely able to walk to the medical tent. Maybe
my mind and spirit had put up some kind of protective wall between the once
overwhelming desire to run and my damaged body so I would give it all of the
necessary time to heal. Maybe, for a
time, I really was prepared to simply quit running and go back to the sedentary
life of a recluse. What I am positive
about now is that moment of heartbreak allowed me to acknowledge the potential
loss; the need for patience and continued healing; and while I “Want” to run,
simply wanting isn’t enough I have to put in all of the work needed no matter
how long it took. I won’t allow myself
to be ruled by fear, even if it’s fear of pain.
We’re going to hurt a lot throughout our lives, sometimes chronic (my
left arm) sometimes acute (my left shin, my left hip), I’m not going to live in
fear of it.
The A.R.T. (Active Release Techniques) and massages my
physical therapist gave me over the first three weeks of the bursitis plus the
icing, anti-inflammatories, and self-treatments I performed at home and at work
put me back onto the road to full recovery from the original surgery. The bursitis acted a lot like my PT said;
once we calmed the initial bursitis inflammation based pain the rest faded away
after just a few days. It ended up
taking 23 days to get over the bursitis completely and return to running. The PT and I discussed which exercises and
stretches I need to do regularly to prevent another instance of this Pes
Anserine issue, and don’t doubt that I make sure to do plenty of dynamic
stretches and warm up exercises before every run. If I can avoid the kind of mind blanking pain
the first two weeks of that bursitis gave me, I’ll happily spend 20 minutes
warming up for 20 minutes of exercise (hell, for that level of pain I’ll spend
2 hours warming up for 10 minutes of running).
I’ve never actively considered myself indestructible though
I know I’ve been guilty of it as a kid and guilty of pushing my good fortune as
an adult. I’ve had people accuse me of
being a robot and/or “unbreakable” but it’s never been anywhere near true: I’ve suffered many minor injuries up to this
point, they just weren’t bad enough to stop my running and they were
correctable through minor adjustments in my running form or in fixing muscle
conditioning imbalances. The torn labrum,
femur birth defect, and subsequent surgery were beyond my control. The Pes Anserine Bursitis; maybe it was a
complication of the surgery, maybe it’s just one of the other semi-common
injuries runners suffer often, I prefer to believe it was my fault. That may initially sound dumb but think about
it as a point of control: If it was my
fault then it’s mine to control and prevent in the future.
