Mark's Running Journal

I saw Dr. McIntyre today.  Even before the appointment I knew my injury was not as bad as I initially feared, as the pain had largely dissipated by this morning.  But, I decided to go anyway, largely so I could have him also look at my hip.  The injury last week on the treadmill isn't the soleus, as I thought, but to another muscle next to it, the name of which I can't remember.  It is healing and they gave me some exercises to strengthen it.  As for the hip, I am out of alignment and he gave me several stretches and exercises to fix the problem.  He asked me to not run for 2 weeks while working on the hip realignment, so that will also give my calf time to heal.

Dr. McIntyre told me to rest 2 weeks, so it was time to test the leg today.  A couple of days ago I jogged to the car and the calf hurt afterward, so I wasn't so sure.  But, it turned out OK.  I did 2 slow miles on the treadmill (10:00/mi pace) and both the calf and the hip felt fine.  I'm going to bring it back nice and slow.

2 miles on the treadmill and both the calf and the hip feel fine. 10:00 pace.

2 miles on the treadmill, 10:00 pace.

Ran on the treadmill.  I did a 10:00 pace for the first mile, and then picked it up a bit after that.  When I was running faster I could feel the calf a bit.  8:53 pace overall.

Did 2 miles on the treadmill, 9:09 pace. I'm a little concerned about my hip. 

When I went to see Dr. McIntyre, it was about two problems.  The more recent of the two was the calf, but the longer term concern was my hip pain.  For the hip, Dr. McIntyre prescribed a 4x per day regimen of stretching/strengthening exercises designed to straighten out a pelvic imbalance.  In fact, the two weeks off he suggested was actually for the hip, not the calf.  As far as the calf went, I was free to run once it felt better.

 Well, the hip is already starting to flare up again.  I had stopped the exercises once the two weeks were over, so I guess I'll start them up again and do them as I continue to run.

3 miles on the treadmill, 8:49 pace.  The hip felt fine today.

I took Thatcher and Gamechu to Orem for the Earn Your Turkey 4 mile race.  I did some running after they finished (in 8th and 9th places) their race and while we waited for the awards.  3.2 miles in 8:11 pace.  The leg and hip felt good.

I suffered a setback today!  I can't believe it... I re-aggravated my calf injury.  

A'Lissa and I went out this morning, planning on doing just over 4 miles.  The first 3/4 mile was slow, but then she opened it up a bit.  I thought I was ready, but obviously I was wrong.  We were doing about a 7:30 pace up Millcreek Rd when the calf started hurting.  I took the short cut across the Skyline footbridge and limped home while A'Lissa completed the planned run.  Total of 3.05 miles at an 8:34 pace.

This is really frustrating.  Once it is better, I am going to have to take it really slow, adding mileage and intensity at very measured doses.