3M Half Prep

06 Sunday Jan 2013

Tags

3M, 3M Half Marathon, arthritis, BCRT, symphysis

Ran 56 miles so far this week, some on Town Lake but mostly on the Brushy Creek Regional Trail. Much of it in the Texas rain. That’s a really good week of mileage for me considering this is winter. Haven’t been doing weights or situps; I did try one day but they hurt. First trick is to establish my routine, then I can enhance it with calisthenics. One more week of prep before running the Austin 3M Half Marathon on Sunday the 13th.

Not sure how well I’ll do but would like to push myself a bit. I’ll have been in Texas for 3 weeks at that point so my blood will have lost most of its high altitude benefits. At least I’ve always been told it takes about 3 weeks for the cardiopulmonary system to acclimate to altitude changes. That’s to start to adapt, maybe 6 weeks to fully acclimate. But all I ever really read on the topic is to adjust to higher altitude. I know it’s critical to hydrate and vitamins are smart. I’m just assuming it takes a similar amount of time to lose the conditioning.

It’s a funny thing anyway. At sea level, you can run harder and faster. Very curious to understand training techniques for adapting to lower altitude. I suspect speed workouts, fartleks, repetitions on the track are all advisable. I’m even thinking of running an asynchronous pace in the 3M Half – fartlek style. There’s really not that much time to train so why not do it in the run itself? I’ll start out controlled (slow) and rather than smoothly unwinding I might over pace myself, then recover with a slower pace, and repeat. That will likely annoy other runners pacing with me. They can suck it, I’m in an experimental mood. And it won’t be easy to pull off. I’m gambling that my conditioning is good enough to be able to recover from oxygen debt after each fast pace run.

I am somewhat concerned on how much situps hurt when I tried some the other day. My core is feeling like it did when I had arthritis. I’ll be bummed if it returned. If I have to get another steroid shot, despite what I might have said in previous blog posts on the topic, I think I’ll opt for the anesthesia next time. Taking a shot from a needle bigger than Dallas in a hip joint isn’t something I care to ever experience again.

A little word on the pic above. It’s from the 2010 Austin Marathon – which I ran in 2011. This pic still works for me as it symbolizes running in Austin and it’s free. I don’t see any good graphics from the 3M Half Marathon which I’ll be running next weekend. Sort of disappointing considering their outrageous registration fee. The Boulder Marathon prints up cool posters too. Cool enough like this one to frame and hang on the wall. 3M better at least have some good swag.

I am Healed

19 Saturday Nov 2011

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Medical Files, Running

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

arthritis, Moab, pain, recovery, symphysis

Pounded out my first run since getting the cortisone treatment Wednesday, and I am healed. Absolutely no more pain. I felt fat and still ran slow, but my abdomen was strong. I am so happy. I can’t believe I’ve lived with this for a full year when I didn’t need to. I still remember wondering why I hurt so much after the 2010 Denver Marathon. I should have followed up with my doctor much sooner. Lesson learned.

This has me pretty excited. The arthritis in my symphysis pubis had been seriously slowing me down. It was never the kind of pain to keep me from running. But it took a half mile to recede and would return if I ran too fast. This was most annoying in the 2011 Bolder Boulder when I felt great at 5 miles and tried to pick up my pace but the pain in my abdomen acted like a governor.

I’m psyched up now to train again for the 2012 trail running season. I don’t care how ridiculous it might sound for a 49 year old to want to race, but I do. I want to be competitive in my age division. I like running fast but was beginning to think I couldn’t anymore. My new training regimen begins this Thanksgiving break. I’m climbing back in the saddle. I’m going to sign up right now for the Moab Half Marathon in March.

The Call Back

08 Tuesday Nov 2011

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Medical Files, Running

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

arthritis, MRI, orthopedic, sports hernia, symphysis

After the trailer MRI by a Radiologist likely located half way around the world, I wasn’t expecting much in terms of a call back. A voice message from the Orthopedic’s nurse perhaps. Shoot, assuming there was no big news to relate, I’d be good with a text. I personally could not read into the picture I took of the MRI scan, but I did have my own guess. I side with my primary care physician. She thinks I have a tear in the tendons connecting the abdomen to the symphysis pubis. It feels that way to me and I could see that taking a long time to heal without proper rehab. I don’t know enough about sports hernias to say anything intelligent, but a hernia does not sound like the sort of thing I would be running marathons with or hauling up 14,000 foot peaks on the Colorado Trail. My optimism might be biased by wanting to avoid the potential surgery required for a sports hernia. So that was my frame of mind as I waited for the call back.

Dr. William Williams called me on my mobile tonight at 7:19 MST. He used a lot of big words and never definitively committed to anything. It might as well had been Alan Greenspan who called me. I’ll be much more direct in my translation. My symphysis pubis is arthritic. This is apparently rare in this type of joint. Dr WW then lectured for several minutes tangentially on the different types of joints and how the symphysis isn’t really a joint anymore than spinal vertebrae. But it sort of is a joint. He’d either made his point or realized I was no longer responding and returned to topic. He exhorted that a hernia is still possible but less likely now given my symptoms. The advised treatment for the arthritis is a steroid shot and he thinks he might know someone who could administer such a thing if I were interested. I am. He’ll talk to Heather. I envisioned my eye doctor’s clinic where the eye glass and frame shop seem to exist as separate entities yet within the same building. This guy distances himself from the dealers. The upside is that a positive response to the steroids would further suggest I don’t have a hernia. Or perhaps the upside is that I’ll now have a fairly valid subterfuge for a medicinal marijuana card.