Oh welcome back Rach! 01 March 2010

Oh ten months! Such a time. But apologise I won't; give you dot points of the runnings and doings of Rach between the end of April 2009 and the beginning of March 2010 I will. 

• I think I stopped running not long after my last post. The pain in my right hip escalated to being a constant 7/10 and it made me limp almost all of the time. I would subconsciously rub my hand over the sorest point, favour that side and feel it lying on my side in bed. My trainer, David, and another highly-trained PT at the gym gave me some stretches but not a cause.
• I stopped running. It hurt. And then as I didn't run, it didn't hurt. 
• In the rest of the life of Rach, I renovated my flat - including having to move back to my folks' house for 6 weeks and doubling the budget, moved Buzz into my place which became ours, and changed jobs. Exercise of any variety was not top of my to do list.
• I ran again in about September/October. I would run for abut 30 minutes., but I can't remember the run:walk ratios. My hip began to hurt - but on the left. Exactly the same pain in exactly the same place, but la sinistra.
• I can't remember what the running was like then. I knew I got a little better, but as I did, the hip pain got worse. I began to suspect it was something to do with my gait.
• Christmas. New Years. I ate, drank, and slobbed. No exercise for some time, lots of beer. Blub blub blubber. 
• A couple of weeks ago I had a little trot. I thought that after my period of sloth that a 20 minute run with a minute of rest after each five minute period of running would be a good place to pick up again. 
• Two minutes running was freakin' tough. Five minutes was embarassingly hard. I was also back to 7km/hr, which was a big bruise on the ego.
• I did a couple of these 5:1 runs. Then I did an 8:1 because I felt lke it. That was exciting. Then I did a 10:1. that was also exciting. I even managed to have a little trot outside one early morning in Perth, and despite my faithfulness to the tready, the bright sunny morning and the wide avenues made me feel strong and joyful. And in a lot of bloody pain. Buzz agreed I should see a physio because he was sick of my piss'n'moaning.
• I did a 20:1, at 7/7.2km/hr. That was little-bit-of-wee exciting. I was so pumped and thrilled.
• I did a 30:1 at 7 to 7/5km/hr, easily. Yesterday: 40:1, at an average of about 7.2.  8km/hr is still a leedle fast for me. It was a bit tough at the end, because I'd increased speed at the end of 30 minutes thinking to end there, but Buzz wanted to have a quick run to round off his gym session, so like the outstanding girlfriend I am, I joined him. 
• And I have seen a physio, who was recommnended to me by a runner mate who is doing horrendously long 17 km runs. 
• James, the physio, lost no time in diagnosing tendinopathy of the gluteus medius. This is essentially teeny tiny tears in the tendon of the glute med. James explained it to me as: the glute med is too weak to carry the load that I've been asking it too (must be pretty damn weak not to handle the meagre amount I stir myself to). The weakness of the muscle places undue pressure on the tendon. The tendon is made up of collagen, which is laid out like a series of logs. Each log is a different kind of collagen. When the body is trying to heal itself too fast because it is under pressure, it just lays out collagen willy nilly, which weakens the tendon further. To heal it, you have to both let the tendon heal in its own sweet time, and strenghten the muscle so it doesn't strain the tendon again. I now have a nifty set of five exercises to do daily, as well as strict instructions not too exercise beyond a point where the pain later that day or the next day is more than a 4/10. 
• But here's the good news. I am increasing my time - by a lot - almost every time I run. From 5 to 8 to 20 to 30 to 40 is giving me an internal big up, even if I am as slow as slow can be. Endurance! 
• I am enjoying it. I crave the feeling of sweat on my back and the nape of my neck. I am reading running blogs and cruising message boards and trying not to buy too much new gear (except for really good bras. I bought two before Xmas and they are just so much friggin' better that the crappo Target ones I wore before which meant I also had to wear a crop top over the top to keep the girls in line. I bought these ones and they are worth every cent. I also got two pairs of the best Adidas leggings ever which I adore and wish I had ten more of. I don't mind running in cotton tops as long as the seams aren't meanies, but I will never go back to cheap bras or cotton leggings).
• So there we go. I quite like jogging around at the moment. My aims are to speed up a little - at least to 8/5.5 km/hr for now, and to be able to trot along for 60 minutes. Eventually I'd like to be able to enjoy running in the wild - or just on the streets - but at the moment I find it difficult and I like to tune out a bit on the tready. I'd like to be fit enough to join a couple of friends who do weekly runs from work to the Tan, do a lap and come back, which is about 7km in 40 minutes or so. That's about 10.5km/hr, which at the moment feels like an all out sprint to me. 

 
So aren't you lucky to get to listen to me ramble on some more?




 PS: here is a diagram of the glute med and its puny cousin the glute min. Fascinating!