More surprises

2019 has been a down and up and down year - it began with a "series of unfortunate events", with viruses, with a kidney stone, and with a XC skiing accident that pulled a bone fragment off my knee and took me out of action for a while. Late Spring, summer, and early Fall were all good, with the highlight being a successful completion of a long-time goal - the GraniteMan Challenge - in the Eastern Sierra in September. I had a long series of trail runs and beach runs and short pavement runs that gave me no pain in my psoas - was this long nagging problem finally whipped? Then I came down with a virus and joint pain that had me suspicious of Lyme Disease after cutting trees for days at Cabrillo Observatory, and my doc was also quite worried, so I got the full 3 week nuclear option of antibiotics (Lyme test was negative, though). Regardless, I must have had some sort of bacterial infection because within 2 days, my lethargy disappeared and I was eager to get out and run again, although my thumbs and ankle were still hurting. Not problem enough for running (yet). I was feeling quite optimistic for a good run at the Santa Cruz Turkey Trot 10K on Nov 23 a month ago. Alas, not to be. At mile 1 my psoas began hurting and quickly got worse. I stuck it out, out of pride more than anything else, and finished with a 1hr 13min time - not what I'd hoped, not what I'm aerobically capable of, surely. I hurt bad enough that it kept me from any running for 10 days, and even walking was very painful for the next week. But since then, I've been fine, and back to decent distances w/o hip pain. Doing adductor work, is all that I can attribute this to. I'm still trying to figure it all out. Last weekend I got in 15 miles of trail hiking and beach running at Pt Reyes, with Steve K, Mark and Leanne S from UCLA Sierra Club days long ago. Love running on Abbott's Lagoon beach! It got my run total close enough to my goal that I decided I should go for it after all (after giving up on it after the Turkey Trot debacle). I just need to average a 5K per day through 12/31. Then I'll have beaten last year's mileage. I've already, as of now, set a new PR for annual swim yardage. 206,800 yds, almost 120 miles in the water! 

Great Progress tilll.... back to square 1

I did the Turkey Trot 10K this past weekend. It did not go well. Now, I've had no hip psoas pain for many months now. I attributed it to doing renewed abductor work, running form change dating back to Jeff M's advice, and having gotten Vibram 5-fingers running "shoes" and done several 10 mile runs through the trails here over the past couple of months. After the last trail run with the vibrams, about 3 days later I felt some soreness in my ankles and decided to stay off them for a while, which I've done. I did a 12 mile easy trail run through Big Basin a week ago. But my psoas issue returned with a vengeance last Thursday, and worse when I tried running the 10K race. Of couse, I tried to run hard, at 10K race pace, not my usual easy trail runs. No doubt that has something to do with it. but I've not been able to do a psoas-pain free pavement race for several years now, even though my psoas has not bothered me for short pavement runs to the beach, and on trail runs either, even runs lasting 4 hours. So... I'm back to trying to figure out what's going on.

Anyway, I did get a 3rd place medal, and enjoyed the company of many friends

Ab/Ad work - and psoas irritation

I'm back to thinking that the adductor work in the gym may indeed be at least one key to avoiding psoas irritation. When I have gone too long w/o those workouts, I can feel it right away in the a strong twinge in my psoas. If I go easy on the first few reps, it seems to re-position my psoas (is that my imagination??) and then further reps are no problem. And, when I run the next day, there's no irritation. Abductor work helps the medial glutes which are the power in running, though, so it seems to be a fine balance needed, between these. I've had this experience before, years ago, that associated to me the adductors work in the gym with "repositioning" my psoas for the good. And then later, being back to the same troubles. For now, I'm going to assume that I need to keep doing such work regularly but not go extreme. I've been having some good long runs now w/o psoas irritation, on the trail and to/from the beach.One being the Bike Swap 10 mile run on West Ridge on June 30, picture below.

2019 Slow Start

So far this year, I've gotten a cold, then the flu, a bacterial lung infection, a kidney stone, and pulled a bone fragment off my knee in a cross country ski fall in Yosemite. It's really gotten me off to a slow start. I'm only a little behind last year on running miles and slightly behind on swim yards, but I'm WAY behind on biking. Part of that is a very wet winter that hurt commuting miles. Anyway, I have had some good moments. After being off of running for most of a month, and doing some careful rollering and psoas stretches and wake-up exercises for my glutes, I had a remarkable stretch of 76 straight miles of running w/o my psoas irritation. The last of those 76 miles was a 16 mile run up nearly to Summit Road in Fall Creek. That did seem to put me back into the usual zone of getting some irritation after 3-5 miles or so, but I got in a 10 mile run/hike in Fall Creek this past Sunday without much trouble. A good diagnostic of whether I'll have trouble, is a tightness betrayed by the snapping hip syndrome. Anyway, I'm back to health now, encouraged, and eager to test myself with the SCTC gang at the Double DipSea Race this coming Saturday.

Don't forget the Psoas Stretch

I've had a nice string of weeks without ~any hip psoas pain! Very gratifying. I think the problem with earlier this Fall was this - while I've been practicing the altered running form recommended by my PT Jeff Moreno, and strengthening my glutes, his recommendation was that I had plenty of flexibility in my psoas and it wasn't going to help with my problem.... and so I just stopped doing those one-legged psoas standing stretches, at the beach or anywhere. Big mistake! It's the total package that seems to minimize my pains. I resumed those stretches, while keeping the rest of the good advice, and have now done 4 weeks straight of long weekend hilly runs and NO hip psoas issues! Ferrell and I are now signed up for the Walnut Creek Half Marathon this coming Saturday, and the goal is to qualify for the Pikes Peak Half Marathon for 2020 (I have all of '19 to get in a qualifying half marathon, as well). So, we'll see how this Saturday goes... I did the waterfalls loop in Big Basin this past Sunday, and that went well; my longest run since the Double Dipsea this past June.

Update on post PT progress

Had a couple of visits with respected running expert physical therapist Jeff Moreno, and gave me a good exercise for strengthening my left side glutes, and also he corrected my distance/trail running form. This was back in late Spring. Since then my ability to run has improved. I still get sore psoas but not as much. Some highlights since then - the Double Dipsea 14 mile, 4,000 ft of climbing. June Lake Tri, Donner Lake Tri, White Mtn (to my right, in picture above) from the locked gate, and able to do Mt Barcroft the next day. A couple of Fall Creek Loop runs, both with minimal psoas pain. I'm not feeling FAST, energy level not great, but that may be chronic sleeplessness. Anyway, I'm hopeful given my hip pain has not gotten worse from early this year but instead gotten a bit better.

Back to Square One

Well, I'm back to frustrated soreness. I haven't run for 2 weeks. Psoas inflamed, and won't go away. Stretching, ice, ibuprofen... Talked with Dr. Gross, he thinks it's probably psoas tendon rubbing on the edge of the metal acetabular cup, from listening to my symptoms. Looked at my records and says my cup angle is 56 degrees, although I recall him saying it was 54 degrees a few years ago when I sent him that last standing AP X-ray. I may get another. Says only 50% odds that the tendon release will help. The tendon release still leaves strength for raising the leg using the muscles which are part of the illiopsoas mass. It's not all connected to that tendon. I'm less kean on that surgery after that conversation. I don't have a good strategy at the moment, but i have an appt to see PT Jeff Moreno on May 3 and hopefully will know more by then. Very tough.... I am not a happy man when I can't run or even hike.