Happy Holidays!!!

And may Santa bring you all a healthy Psoas Muscle! Goodness knows that's the only thing on my wish list...

The hiatus continues until I am back running. Have an MRI set for end of January. Probably won't have anything to type here until those results are in.

In any case, wishing everyone a terrific and safe Holidays and a most Happy New Year with much running success and PRs galore!

Heading Nowhere Fast

It's been another frustrating month since I've posted an update so I thought it was time to do it again. I am nowhere closer to running and cannot even imagine a timetable for my return. As you can imagine this situation is getting more and more infuriating and my search for a solution continues.

In the last four weeks I've aggressively tried to address the supposed problem with massage therapy. My bank account is paying a hefty price while my body continues to stubbornly refuse to heal. Here's a short summary of what we've been working on...

One of the massage therapists who I've been seeing, a very progressive professional who definitely thinks outside the box, is convinced that my problem has to do with a serious case of congestion in the front of the hip as a result of too much sitting, exacerbated by running. In his opinion all of the tissue in that part of the body has become "stuck" and the end result has been "congestion" of two of the largest nerves in the body that control the muscles of the legs: the femoral nerve and the femoral cutaneous nerve. With that, my circulation has been severely restricted, which makes is doubly difficult for my body to heal. The upshot is that whenever I move everything tugs on everything else and it hurts. Also, and this really sucks, because the nerve is not able to control my leg muscles properly I end up using only a small fraction of said muscles to do work. If this theory holds true it would provide an explanation for why I have seen big gains in strength in my upper body while my lower body languishes behind, "stuck" if you will on a plateau of pansy weakness.

While he has not started to work on the psoas muscle and others in that area (Iliacus et. al.), he is firmly of the opinion that once my inguinal ligament is manipulated and allowed to work freely the hips will "open up" and allow my body to regain full range of motion in that region. With that achieved the other problems, which manifest themselves in tremendous pain in the lower abdomen and groin anytime I do anything that requires movement, will finally have a chance to get better.

Although I haven't been getting better I have at least noticed changes. After the treatments the pain moves around a bit so I know his concentration on a two square inch area over the upper hip is doing something. It remains to be seen if this will solve the problem completely.

While all of this has been going on I've been moonlighting with another massage therapist and have her working on my upper back and shoulders. I have had pain there since last May and, given how everything is connected to the spine, including the psoas, I figured it was smart to loosen up those structures to hopefully relieve some pressure on those connecting lower down. I can't believe how many knots I have up around my scapulas and in the traps! I knew I was sore, but this is ridiculous. I guess eventually we all just become numb to the pain and assume that our normal state of being includes these types of discomforts. I've been convinced that this is not supposed to be this way.

In short, I am not running, I am constantly getting worked on, and am continuing to maintain the little bit of sanity I have left with weight training. I don't feel out of shape, but am afraid to step on the scale to find out just how much weight I have gained since the Summer.

Here's to posting something positive next time! (Or drafting something about how I've fallen off of the online running community map since I haven't been able to run myself. I don't know why, but I find it depressing to read about other people's exploits and have avoided scanning the blogosphere as a result. It's not even a conscious thing. It just sort of happens...)

Frustrations Abound

So, in the near month since I've posted here things have not improved while the marathon that I was supposed to have run passed me by. That was October 16th. I can't with any real objectivity tell you if I feel better now than I did when I last wrote, but I can tell you that I am far, far, far from getting back to running.

I stopped taking anti-inflammatory meds a couple of weeks ago and the pain in my abdomen and groin returned with perhaps more vengeance than expected. I think I was actually worse off after the month on meds than before! Not good.

I started physio and stumped the hell out of him. I am not starting massage therapy (this afternoon) to see if something can be done. The best guess at this point is that I have multiple issues stemming from a tight/strained/torn/fucked up psoas muscle. Who knows what other things are also hurt as a result given how connected everything is down there.

In any case, I'm in pain...

At least Game 6 of the World Series was so interesting that I (almost) forgot about my ailments for a short while! Here's looking forward to another great game tonight when the World Series champion will be crowned.

Making Due

My "recovery" is going better than what happened to the Red Sox and, to a lesser extent, the Braves last night. Which is to say it's shitty, just not as shitty as what happened to those teams. The other similarity that I'm forced to admit that we brought our malaise onto ourselves. I didn't pay attention to the signals that trouble was a-brewin'. The Red Sox didn't pay attention to that humbling force called hubris. And the Braves didn't pay attention to their young pitchers' innings pitched. In sum, we are all in our respective predicaments for a reason.

Anyway, the other problem in my neck of the woods is that I injured my wrist on Monday in the weight room. This has forced me to miss one day of weight training this week (Wednesday), but also had the added effect of forcing me to get back on the weight training of the legs kick. I'm throwing caution to the wind and will find out what this will do to my groin/lower ab ailment. I'm secretly hoping that this helps.

I am starting very (VERY!!!!) conservatively, mind you. And even so, my legs are sore after two workouts (Tuesday, Thursday). Tomorrow might be another off day, which I despise, but I need to rest this wrist as I am still holding out hope that I will be able to play golf on Saturday.

Reports on my exploits at the tournament might find their way onto this here blog if I self-destruct spectacularly, or figure out a way to play this silly game and actually do well.

Option 1 seems more likely to happen. I'm planning on being 9 shots up with 3 holes to play and still lose in honour of the Red Sox.

Prognosis Negative

I can't think of the title of this post without the Seinfeld episode from which it is taken, but that's neither here nor there. What is here is continued pain the groin/lower ab region of yours truly. What is there is three seemingly negative test results.

From the doctor's point of view the fact that my x-ray and two ultrasound images came back with, and I quote, "nothing out of the ordinary" is a good thing.

From my point of view, and I quote, "WTF?!"

Do I take this to mean that "ordinary" for me is a state of constant pain and discomfort with no end in sight and definitely no running? If that's "ordiary" I'll take anything but at this point. I cannot F'n believe that nothing shows up!!!

Aarrrgggggghhhhhhhh......

And lastly, just to add to the misery, I hurt my wrist at the gym today. Hope it's not serious as I am to play my annual one and only round of golf this coming Saturday.

Better Write SOMETHING, I Guess

Man, I've neglected this blog so much since my injury has resigned me to the sidelines (and upper body weight training) that I almost forgot both my user name AND password for Blogger. WTF?! It's my groin/lower abs that are injured, not my brain. Perhaps I had them x-ray and ultrasound the wrong part of my anatomy after all...

So, that last sentence is called "foreshadowing". In case you don't know what that means, you should now be thinking to yourself, "I think there was some imaging taking place in Wonky Ankle land." Indeed, you'd be right. After much trouble with my GP (who has out of nowhere grown a huge ego and caused him to deny any and all of my requests to figure out exactly what the Hell is wrong), I succeeded in seeing a sympathetic Physio, who sent me to a sympathetic Doctor, who actually checked me out rather than just prescribe me drugs based on my words alone, and gave me a requisition for x-rays and ultrasound imaging. I don't have the results yet, and to be honest I am not expecting them to reveal much, but at least that's the step that my jerk GP wouldn't take to find the source of what ails me.

The general area of the pain made the ultrasound sessions (there were two thanks to the flunky receptionist who didn't read the requisition form correctly and booked me for just one the first time) rather embarrassing. Let's just say that cold goop in the nether regions is not my idea of fun.

Anyway, there it is. And now not only have I updated my blog, but I've also reacquainted myself with my Blogger credentials.

Happy Day!

Twiddling My Thumbs

Holy crap! It's been over a month and I haven't posted a single thing. Well, as you can well imagine, the reason is simple: no running, nothing to post. My groin injury seems to be worse than even I'd anticipated and I am still very much suffering the effects. I've been diligently working out in the weight room (sans legs) and sprinkling in rowing machine and indoor cycling workouts as much as possible. The most frustrating part, since I've long ago gotten over the disappointment of not being able to run, is the fact that I can't work on my leg strength at all. My biggest weakness is just getting worse as I wait for this stupid injury to go away.

But waiting is simply not working. So, tomorrow afternoon I am seeing my physio for the first time in over two years to get to the root of the problem. I'm also seeing my GP to rule out any other issues that may be hindering my body's ability to repair itself.

Other than that, it's all upper body all the time, and at least I'm getting stronger. The whole body fat percentage thing I let slip over my holidays in August, but I'm getting back on that wagon and am still well under 10% for what it's worth.

Here's hoping my next post is not sometime in October...

Spin Cycle

As I wallow in the self-pity that invariably accompanies the enforced absence of running due to injury I have decided to diversify. If it "works" in the world of investing (and I certainly hope YOUR portfolio is diversified because the markets are going down the crapper faster than Tiger Wood's sponsorship contracts) I figure it should also work in the world of recreational exercise keeping fit staying healthy land.

So, Sunday morning I drove (shudder!) to the gym for my first Spinning class. I did not know what to expect and I was a bit nervous about how my groin injury would react. However, given that I bike to and from work every day I was fairly certain that the actual motion of pedalling would be OK.

The room was dark, the stationary bicycles looked expensive, and I was a bit out of my league with running shoes on unlike some others who had come prepared with cleats. Nevertheless, I identified myself as a newbie when the instructor asked, nodded politely when she said, "if you find this tough just back off and spin easy through the difficult sections. This is going to be a very challenging session."

She didn't exactly know who she was talking to as I take that kind of trash talk as a personal affront. Back off?! I don't know the meaning of the term.

We started off into a nice warm up with some crappy music and I was into the beat right away spinning quickly. Good times.

Then we went into a series of five different sets that included fast "racing", hill "climbing", virtual competitor "catching", and general sweating to some more crappy music.

Did I have fun? YES! Was it a tough workout? Well, I made sure that it was since I think in these types of sessions you make it as tough as you want it to be. In any case, whenever I did a quick check of my heart rate in the recovery periods it was around 150bpm so I think I got more than just a good aerobic workout. Next time I will endeavor to bring my heart rate monitor to see what actually happens throughout the entire session.

But no matter what I will definitely do this again. It was, at the very least, a nice alternative to indoor rowing...

Up Yours, Groin Region

Yes, that's how I'm feeling right about now. Up Yours, You Stupid Groin! The capitalization is very necessary, thank you very little...

Also, I feel like renaming this blog "Waiting, Wonky Ankle and All". Or, "Sucking, Wonky Groin, Ankle, and All". Better yet, "CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP!!!"

You get what I mean I suspect.

But for the sake of writing SOMETHING on here let me expand a bit. Last Friday I went out for my first run in a few weeks. It was hot out, I was creaky, and I wore my heart rate monitor to keep me honest. Although the heat meant that I went up over the intended 140bpm I did manage to keep things very slow and easy. It's not even worth noting just how slow, but if I'd been in a race with erosion I'd have lost.

Anyway, the run was pretty shitty. My Achilles on the right and heel on the left were OK, but just OK. My groin was nowhere near OK. As I ran the pathetic 5km it slowly began to dawn on me that this is a bigger problem than I'd previously allowed myself to admit.

Now I'm facing the worst case scenario given my goals for running: taking an extended break. This also means that more than likely I will not be able to run a Fall marathon. It also means that I should probably go see some professional about this. I'm scared to find out what the actual problem is and the words "stress fracture" keep rolling around in my head. The possibility is remote, but it's there nonetheless. More than likely I just pulled a muscle, wrenched a tendon, tore some tissue.

Whatever the case may be the result is the same. No running for the indefinite future.

And on top of all that I missed posting on what was my three year anniversary of this blog (July 28)!

Ah, yeah. Who cares...

A Bit Off Topic

In light of my recent goal, and my general belief that people should treat each other with respect, I was rather embarrassed if not terribly surprised in the alleged actions of our recently elected Mayor, Rob Ford. For those not in the know he's the guy who seems to despise anything that actually helps people, believes our City is a business to be run for profit and for the benefit of the already affluent few, and couldn't really care less about what anyone else thinks.

I like living in Toronto. I think it's a terrific City, one of the best in the World. But if this guy has his way it's bound to fall down the list. I know this is a running blog, so to tie things together I hope Rob Ford does not RUN for re-election. Its' still more than three years down the road so at least, should he choose to do so, he has a lot of time to implement a good TRAINING PLAN. Goodness knows, to this observer it would seem that he could use one. Especially in the manners department.

(Photo: TANNIS TOOHEY/TORONTO STAR)

I don't think I'd be too pleased if I saw this guy flipping me off after I called him out for talking on his cell while driving, which is illegal in Ontario.

Well done, Mr. Ford. Well done.

(A quote from Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack popped into my head when I first saw the above photo: "Whoa, look at that one. Last time I saw a mouth like that it had a hook in it.")

I'm Surprised

As I started out on my self-imposed plan of dietary restrictions (ie. no crap) I didn't know what to expect as fat as my body fat percentage was concerned. On top of that I haven't been able to run and, therefore, have likely been burning a lot less calories than I would had my injuries not happened. Although my workouts at the gym have been good and my indoor rowing has been aerobic for sure they only amount to about 3.5hrs of training per week. Pathetic, I know.

However, that being said I've been rather pleasantly surprised by the results after just one week of avoiding white bread, pasta, white rice, and crap in all of its processed forms. I didn't even have that treat on Sunday that I worked so hard to "earn" because I really didn't want it. I did have a whiskey sour while barbecuing on the back deck, so maybe that counts.

Anyway, last Sunday I started off weighing 191.7lbs, of which 19.5lbs were made of fat, accounting for 10.2% of my total weight.

This Sunday I weighed 188.8lbs, of which 17.6lbs were fat, accounting for 9.4%.

That's a huge difference in just seven days! I'm a bit concerned about losing nearly 3lbs overall, but almost 2lbs of that was fat so that's not too bad. I'd like to stay close to this body weight and the challenge will be adding muscle to replace the fat that I'm seemingly losing.

And in more updated news, when I stepped on the scale this morning the results were even better: 188.5lbs, 17.4lbs of which were fat, which makes my body fat percentage 9.3%. I've also started to track my hydration level since this will make the results from my voodoo scale more precise. I don't know if my body fat percentage readings are accurate, but I figure all things being equal the scale will at least be relative to itself.

The other thing I should mention is that I feel good too. I'm lifting well at the gym and I think if I was losing weight too rapidly I would notice it when trying to lift the same weight in my exercises. Instead, I'm actually getting stronger.

So, in summary, eating crap keeps fat on your body. Avoiding crap forces your body to burn said fat.

Oh yeah, the running is still on hiatus. I had thoughts of going out for a jog this past weekend, but I am not completely pain free. I'm not even close actually, so it may be a while yet...

Heart Rates and Body Fats

As per my last post, I have started keeping a keener eye on my diet in an effort to see what will happen to my body fat percentage and general exerciseiness. We have one of those fancy scales that, upon entering some information as to your level of activity, height, and the like, the machine sends electrical signals up into your body through the feet and in some magical ceremony spits out your stats, including things like how much of your weight is in fat form, you body fat percentage, and your BMI.

I take all of this with a grain of salt (you know, so that I can be more conductive and such), but at least if the scale stays relatively consistent I'll be able to tell if my body fat percentage is moving up, down, or not at all. When I first stood upon the glass and metal contraption the reading said 10.2% body fat. In the past couple of days I have checked back in with my electronic fitness conscience and now stand at 9.8% body fat. I think this might be good?

The other thing I've been really gearing up for is training according to heart rate. In reading about the Lydiard method of training I realize that what I did throughout 2010, when my injury incidents were almost non-existent, was exactly what Lydiard preached. I ran according to my fitness level and abilities. I was successful in the "train don't strain" mantra that Lydiard espouses.

This year things went off the rails and the results speak for themselves. I did a lot more straining than training and now am paying the price with time off due to bad behaviour. My injuries are not yet fixed so I must placate myself with other activities.

To that end, I've upped the anty in my weight training sessions. No, I didn't suddenly increase the weight on all of my exercises, but I have been spending what would normally be rest time doing crunches. In this way I have been able to keep my heart rate up in the aerobic zone. My workouts have been great.

Also, I have been wearing my Garmin to keep an eye on my heart rate while on the rowing machine and have been successful in maintaining a good aerobic level (almost always between 140bpm and 145bpm) during my 45 minute Tuesday and Thursday sessions.

Lastly, I've started checking my resting heart rate in the mornings. I've been surprised to learn that my results are a bit higher than they used to be. I am now registering 46bpm instead of the 42bpm that I seem to remember. Perhaps the heat of the Summer, and it's been very hot here with today carrying with it the possibility of being the hottest day on record for Toronto. The one positive since I've been forced to stop running is that I've been sleeping through the night on a consistent basis. I guess that was yet another one of those signals that I conveniently chose to ignore back when I was straining and not training.

It's time to break out of the typical No Pain No Gain mentality.