Cautiously Optimistic

The leg felt better when I woke up yesterday morning, still stiff, but less pain.

I went to get a massage with the new therapist and when I told her my problems she said a massage would do me no good, so instead she tortured me for a bit over an hour. The work seemed pretty similar to ART. So now I am not sure if I should cancel my appointment with him next week or keep it. I set up an appointment to see this therapist again on the 25th, 1st, and 15th to hopefully be 100% for Boston. She was obviously committed to getting my body to 100% as she went over the time with me that I paid for. She went to town on my shins and calf and my tight hips, diaphragm and lower back. She said it felt like whatever was going on in my hamstrings had subsided. She didn't feel anything torn, just a lot of tightness everywhere. My calfs feel like jello now so obviously there was a lot of tightness in there that may have been the start of my hamstring problems etc.

The doc looked me over. Couldn't say for sure what caused the pain, but that he didn't believe it was anything serious and he thinks I can train through it, but should avoid hills, and be sure to make sure my muscles are really warmed up and loose before speed work. He said if the pain gets worse or swelling occurs I should go in for an MRI. If it doesn't get better he said I could try a knee strap to alleviate the pressure on the muscles. Obviously if Boston wasn't just over 4 weeks away he probably would have told me to avoid speed work and hard running and just run easy until it works itself out, but he is also a runner and knows that isn't really my desired option right now.

I swam again yesterday for 1800 meters. Not quite the same as a run, but it did engage my hips and at least was aerobic.

I am going to try running with Daisy at lunch today. I can walk normally pain free now whereas Tuesday and Wednesday I was limping severely. There is still some pain if I bend my knee really deep and it seems to be linked to when I lift my leg from the ground, so we will see how I handle the run. It may be that I have to live with some inflammation and won't be able to do any doubles for awhile. Since Tuesday it didn't hurt that badly during the lunch jog, but was searing pain that evening, it may be that each run I am going to irritate it, and I will just have to be vigilant with icing after so that I can run the next day.

I am planning to still go to Maumee this Sunday for the half I signed up for since I already paid for it, but probably will just be a training run unless my legs feel spectacular. We'll see how I feel today.

Debating if I should stick with an easy 6 miles tomorrow or just join my training partner for her planned 12 miler to make sure I don't overdo it Sunday.

I decided this was a wake up call that I shouldn't ignore. I am going to start swimming easy 3 days a week to supplement the running and get back to yoga once or twice a week. My body is obviously out of whack and running alone isn't going to fix it. Sitting at a desk 40+ hours a week and the drives to and from aren't helping things either. I can already feel the hips tightening up from being seated after they felt so loose after yesterdays therapy.