Thursday, March 26, 2009

Butt Update

Nice title eh?

So - I couldn't run on Tuesday as planned. I went out and gave it a try but quit after 1 km because it tightened up right away. I did some upper body work and took it easy the rest of the day - Ibuprofen, hot epsom salts bath, light stretching.

Wednesday was a planned rest day so I did more of the some. I was quite tired and had two naps. Amazing how low I feel when not on an endorphin high.

Today (Thursday) - I went for my first swim in over a month. I was supposed to do 1000m but felt good and did 1500 in 45 min. 100m on 3:00 - slow and easy. I also tried the elliptical and it felt ok - only did 15 minutes tho.

I managed to find a massage therapist who could fit me in today and she was great! She gave me a thorough check over and figures some of my shin problems could be related to the problem in my hips -weak hip stabilizers - which are also what is causing my sore butt muscle.

She gave me two exercises to do which should strengthen the area and with any luck, get rid of the problems for good. One is using my theraband and walking sideways, much like this. This is an exercise I have done before but not properly and/or regularly. She thinks if I do it 3 times a week, I should see some improvement in a month. 5 left, 5 right, 4 left, 4 right, 3L, 3R and so on down to 1. If at any point the expected "burn" turns to pain, then stop for the day.

After 2 weeks of that, she suggested adding hip hikes. Stand on a stool or a stair, with left leg on the step and right leg hanging in the air, next to the step. Keep hips level. Lower right leg below the stool level, bending the knee of the left leg. Repeat several times. Switch and try other side.

Afterwards she did a good massage. It hurt a lot at first but then loosened up until I felt no pain at all. In fact, I'm farily certain I could run without pain right now, but of course, I won't. She figured if I was feeling ok, I could probably run on Monday or Tuesday, starting with a good warm up and a walk/run and judge how I feel. We'll see how things go this weekend.

I made another appt with her for next Wednesday to make sure all is well.

So I'll continue with the training plan for the next 3 days but I'll skip the planned run on Sunday.


Fri
- 1:30 XT

Sat

- 0:45 swim 1000m
- 2:00 bike zone 2

Sun

- 0:45 swim 1200m

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hey Kelownagurl!

I feel your (butt) pain. I'm an ultrarunner and last fall I had to stop running for nearly 3 months due to a piriformis problem... it was of the sciatic flavor. I was completely clueless and thought I had pulled a hamstring! Since then I have done extensive research and have gained a little bit of knowledge on the buttock area :)

Fortunately, yoga, the tennis ball, and patience have allowed me to return to running (yay!) :)

By the way, check out YogAmazing - Yoga for Sciatica (free videocast download on iTunes). I love it.

On my comeback to running I did lots of elliptical "miles"... sometimes over 3 hours.. A good movie helps :)

Good luck and I'll be cheering for you!

-Abi

(ayarella.blogspot.com)