Jumping my way to recovery

This pain in my right hip is becoming a pain in the you-know-where. It’s not going away fast enough, but then again I think I should be able to ice it and have it healed overnight.  Well, I am icing it, but I am also trying to correct any muscle weaknesses that caused this mess in the first place—and that’s why I’m trying to jump my way to recovery with some HiiT workouts because, you know, you use your glutes and hips and stuff during those workouts.

One workout that I rediscovered in my Cathe library is CrossFire. 

This workout has a couple of sections to it and has been reviewed as nauseum since it’s release, so I’ll spare you the details. What I won’t spare you from are the reasons I forgot how much I liked this workout:

• You don’t need a ton of equipment. Some 3, 5, 10, and 15 pound weights, a fire walker band (theraband), and some sliding discs are all you need. I like not having to get in another workout cleaning up after a workout. 
• So much getting that heart rate up goodness. While I can definitely tell I have much better aerobic fitness than I did when I first did this workout a few years ago, all the high impact exercises in the first two sections of the workout still give your heart rate a run for its money. Why is that? Well, it because of all the...
• JUMPING JUMPING EVERYWHERE. Jumping is fun, kids!

• You get to test your jumping and not falling skills by jumping and trying not to fall with that band looped around your ankles. Good times. 

Let’s hope all this jumping pays off, especially since I have a 14 mile run on deck for tomorrow. Even workout supervisor is hoping I get better soon so I can do my runs outside without pain. 

But that’s only because then she has a couple of hours when I’m out of the house and not bugging her. 

Tomorrow’s workout: Like I said, there’s a 14 miler on the plan for tomorrow. Hopefully the hip will keep quiet. 

Strength training makes it all better. Not really.

So my sore hip flared up yesterday and today it really hurt to sit. So of course I did some strength training this morning and it’s all better now. Kind of. 

You know you love that crazy turquoise wall. 

Anyway, here are some reasons why I think my hip liked the strength training (Cathe’s PHA 1 workout) so much:

It wasn’t running.

My legs were moving in directions other than forward. 

There was no running involved.

Sometimes I didn’t use my legs during the workout. 

Running was not something I did during the workout.

I guess what I’m trying to say here is that I *may* have to actually stop running for a week just to let it heal.I’m going to see how the next two runs this week go; if it keeps getting worse then I’m going to have to take some time off. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go quietly sob in a corner for the next hour.

Tomorrow’s workout: Easy run. WITH NO HIP SORENESS *wishfulthinkingactivated*

Day 3, Week 3: A quick injury and workout update.

And now for a quick injury update:  Still injured.  Yep.  Most certainly.

Left butt is not cooperating when running outside.  It was so sore after the run I blogged about on my last post that I couldn't even bike ride on Saturday and had to....*gasp*....TAKE THE DAY OFF FROM WORKING OUT.

Told you I was injured.  Plus I have one heckuva itchy eczema outbreak from all the muddy water I encountered from the mud run last Saturday, so I pretty much want to scratch all the skin off my legs and arms.  Good times, kids (not really).  I want to show you pictures of the big angry red patch of itchy goodness on the back of my left leg but the hubbs said I couldn't buy any more running shoes if I posted those here.  He's such a funkiller.

Anyway, when I have been working out, what have I been doing?  Well...

Because I'm injured and it was pretty much flooding from the heavens on Sunday, I ran 13 miles on the treadmill in the hopes that my left butt wouldn't scream too loudly (it didn't):

Always have your cat check your treadmill for safety before
running 13 miles on it.

And I ran all 13 with uneven shorts because huge nasty eczema lesion
on the back of my leg.

The next day I did a little indoor cycling because Mother Nature is just so rainy these days:

And then after that same cycling I did some lifting of heavy things and then putting them back down over and over again:

Again...uneven shorts.  Damn you, eczema.

And, of course, I did more running this morning on the 'mill in the form of a 4 mile tempo run.  Because masochism.

My internal attitude about this run oozing out.

Left butt whined a little bit more this morning, and my legs were feeling pretty heavy, which is odd for a  mile tempo at 9:18 pace.  My brain keeps whispering the word "overtraining" in the back of my mind...but I'm ignoring it for now because I have training to do, dammit.  Can't be listening to those voices in my head all day, now can I?

Tomorrow's workout: Indoor cycling...but only because my real bike is getting a tune-up.

Day 3, Week 8: Seriously reconsidering my race priorities.

This morning was some speed work.

The My Run Plan app made me do some 200s really fast, then run 3 miles, and then do more 200s really fast.

Why are some not green?  Who knows.  Only the app knows.

I have to say this about recording my workouts in the app - it is nice to be told when to run and when to walk.  Probably because it's nice for once not to be the one doing the telling-what-to-doing, and probably because that means I'm not obsessively looking at the distance on my watch and frantically doing yucky math in my head.

Anyway, the morning was foggy, which translates to humid, which then translates to one sweaty runner.

But while the run was nice, that injury I mentioned in a previous post (how my left butt and back are kind of sore all the time) was really rearing its ugly head--and not only this morning, but also whilst I was on the treadmill Sunday evening.  The pain kept twanging away at odd intervals during the run this morning so much so that I ran the middle three miles way slower than the app wanted me to and I cut the cool down short by a mile.  The only thing that gave me any relief was blasting the aforementioned left butt and back with ice-cold water for a full 5 minutes at the end of my shower.

Yeah.  I don't know what's going on, but I'm thinking about rearranging my race priorities.  How much rearranging I'm going to do depends on how the rest of the week goes.  Here are some options for rearrangement:

1) Stop running for one week, but still lift weights and cycle like crazy.  This whole butt and back thing just bothers me when I'm running-not walking or cycling, so I'm thinking this is a good first option.

2) Still train for my marathon and duathlon, but prioritize the duathlon and give up any time goal for the marathon.  So, in other words, just run really slowly and distances to survive a marathon but really train for the shorter running distances in my duathlon.

3) Give up training for the marathon and just focus on the duathlon.

4) Just stop blogging right now and start sobbing at the thought of giving up training for either of these races.

5) Make up new swear words to direct at my nagging, painful left butt and back while I sit on the couch every day not working out.

Again, I'm going to see how this week goes, and if my left butt and back can't behave, option #1 is going to be seriously considered.  Along with a lot more showers that end with a whole lot of cold water blasted on body parts.

Tomorrow's workout: Cycling.  In the dark.  Fun.