Let me back up. June ended on a Sunday, I took Monday off and did nothing more strenuous than yardwork for a couple hours. Tues I ran 10 miles with 2x2, but was feeling pretty flat, so only did 1x2 at 5:51+5:56. No pain after the run, just tired. Wed I awoke to slightly more than normal tightness in my left glute, but a level of tightness that is common, that comes and goes, and that I've experienced many times in the past year (on both sides at various times) during the course of normal training. So I went to meet the guys for the regular AM 18, felt fine through about 7, then started feeling the glute tightness get worse and worse, until at about 9 it began to affect my stride and speed. With my house on the route, I ran slowly to 12.5, hopped on my bike and rode the final 5 miles to retrieve my vehicle. I drove home, ate, showered, iced, rode to work. At work throughout the day walking became harder and harder, this thing was REALLY tight and now affecting my low back. Very similar to the piriformis pain I'd had in Spring 2012, also on the left, so I assumed it was that. I called and made an appt. with my ND/LAc for Friday PM (she fixed this last year), left early, biked home, hobbled around, iced, took some NSAIDS, and went to bed super early.
I awoke Thurs morning to severe pain with any movement - rolling over in bed, moving either leg, swinging them off the edge. You know it's not a good sign when your first words to your wife are: "Do you think you could go out to the shed and get my crutches?" Jesus, just days ago I was running so well, with no worries or problems, now not only could I not run, I had much bigger problems. Namely, that I couldn't even walk. It was the 4th of July, no commitments, a full day to take it easy. But I could tell this was not a 1-dayer, not by a long-shot.
What on Earth had I done? Was Wildwood, where you're running on a hillside and the left foot is lower than the right for the better part of 4 hours, the culprit? But this didn't start until 4 days after. Was 18 the next AM the culprit? Should I have split Sunday into 2 runs? Should I not have skipped Monday, but rather done an easy recovery run? But the 18 was so slow a pace seems it would count as recovery, never felt anything weird during that run. Did my piriformis begin seizing trying to run fast on Tues, considering I hadn't done a real workout in awhile? But I'd run plenty of sub-6 miles last month, like at the end of long runs, without a problem. Was this thing getting tighter and tighter all month without alerting me, despite the regular figure-4 stretches I've done ever since last year's problem to avoid this very thing? Rhyme? Reason? Your guess is as good as mine.
So I double-crutched it Thurs and Fri, stayed home from work and did a whole lotta nothing. The cupping and Acu Friday PM felt great, and having been able to see my doctor of choice accelerated my acceptance of the condition and will to recover vs. denial, initial grieving, and feeling that this "could be it" (Don't we all say that in these circumstances? It's crazy how when I'm healthy and running well I can't imagine ever being injured, yet when I'm injured and running zero I can't imagine ever being healthy and running well again. Even though I know, in either case, it's not true.) I can consider it a break between training cycles. The type some people even plan. Of course, she said, "Most people with just a tight piriformis might be limping pretty bad but aren't on crutches, so chances are you tore something too". Ouch. She suggested perhaps one of the plethora of tendons/ligaments down in the pelvic/sacrum/SI region. Let's hope for my sake she's wrong, and it's all piriformis/sciatic nerve.
Sat I single-crutched it -- Courtney and I joked my nickname would be Tiny Tim, and several times I belted out, "And a Merry Christmas to all!" I felt mobile enough to cook for myself, go up and downstairs more than once a day, and managed to walk from the parking lot to dinner and a movie at Kennedy School. Sunday I combined single-crutching with normal walking, albeit with a huge limp.
Today is Monday, day 6 since the sudden and unexpected (but it is ever, really? considering my age and injury history) onset of this, and I'm walking crutch-free with a heavy limp and lots of effort, but couldn't imagine running. Some things you just can't run through. And you shouldn't even try. Doctor's orders are to be as immobile as possible, no active therapy during the acute phase of this. And take NSAIDS, Arnica, and some other stuff. And ice/heat. She really knows her stuff, too (former 3-hr marathoner herself). I found it hard to believe last year that she could just "solve" piriformis tightness after a couple treatments, after some of the horror stories I'd read on the internet, yet about 10 days after her first treatment, it was 75% better, and about a week later after treatment #2 it was 90% better. And did not return. Until now. This is usually classified as an overuse injury, but I really do wonder about the slant of Wildwood vs. just my high mileage. Maybe some combination. But when I had it last year I hadn't done any extreme single runs (max was 21 on the roads), and weekly mileage was only 50-60 during the several months preceding. I chalked it up then to milking a couple pairs of old shoes too long before replacing. After that injury, I began tediously tracking mileage per pair of shoes for the first time in my life. So I'm not blaming my shoes at all for this, with all recent runs having been done in fairly new ones.
As runners, we can take nothing for granted. Remember how I said I wanted to enter L.A. because "you never know"? That I could be "sidelined or worse" by Berlin? Well, I certainly didn't intend some sort of self-fulfilling prophecy, my sole goal in building up was the hope to build endurance at race pace, ironically somewhat because of what happened at L.A. I certainly would have backed off that volume had any real pain started coming on. It just never did. I felt way better than I'd expected, physically and mentally, during June. Of course, I broke the 10% rule, but I often do that without problems. So who knows. For lack of a better target, I'll blame Wildwood (apologies to you, awesomely wonderful and innocent single-track trail - I know you don't deserve it).
In 6 days I've recovered maybe 20% with a long way to go. This is currently about as bad as it was at its worst last year (the crutches stayed in the shed throughout 2012). So it could be 2 wks from now that I go out for 3-4 miles. My second treatment is on 7/17 (doc is on vacation this week), so maybe the weekend of 7/20-7/21 I'm jogging again. I doubt it will be much sooner.
So there is light at the end of the tunnel. Of course, a week ago, I didn't even know there'd be a tunnel. And when I cut the Wed run short, I expected a tunnel but nothing near this long. But I'll say again what I've said before. I'm not ready to give up yet. I've come a long way the past few years, and my years are numbered for trying to hit time goals, so if and when I can keep pushing, I plan to do so. It may be at Berlin, or it may not. It may be at Boston, or it may not. Anything can happen. Distance running can be a very rewarding, yet very painful, "sport" (it's really more of a hobby, or activity, for most of us). Unfortunately most people have to experience both sides of that equation.
Thanks for reading. I'll keep you posted. And I'll be back. Guaranteed.
