Sunday, February 08, 2009

The Groundhog was Wrong

Wednesday's mid-day doctor appointment gave me the opportunity to take the day off. I headed over to Bonelli, of course, got some vitamin D exposure. I walked my usual 5 mile loop and then I ran 4.5 miles on the trail that heads north on the opposite side of the park. It is 2.25 miles of mostly down followed by 2.25 miles of mostly up. I was pleased that I did both directions within a minute of each other. The temperatures were in the low 80's and the sun was shining wonderfully bright. I got a little head start on my summer beach tan. I love that.

The next day, a cold winter storm rolled in from Alaska. It rained pretty steadily until Friday and has rained off and on through this afternoon. The weather heads say we'll get more tomorrow. On Tuesday I was pretty happy that the groundhog predicted 6 more weeks of winter. Our winter so far has been exactly like the day I described above. Who wouldn't want more of that. But winter decided to come a couple of days late. So much for the the groundhog.

There was a wonderful break in the rain during the Cruisers planned run on the 2 Parks-2 Loops course in Brea. I upped the ante to 4:1, nothing too drastic. After about the third cycle I fell in step with John, a 73 year old member of our group. He'd just had double hernia surgery 4 weeks ago and was back running. We ended up running the remaining 8 miles together. He walked when I walked. The pace pushed him a little but he was happy to have the company. He's got some great stories from a long life lived well, that's for sure. I ended my run after the second loop while he continued on for a couple more miles.

Today I headed out after one of our scattered showers and was able to get 3 miles of running followed by 3 miles of walking on the Picnic Loop at Bonelli. My legs were feeling a little tired so I decided to give the muddy wet trails a chance to dry out before I wandered them again.

I ended up with 17.5 miles for the week. A nice gradual increase from the 1 mile I got 6 weeks ago in Peters Canyon. The weekly progression has been 1 - 5 - 8 - 12.7 - 14.6 - 17.5. My legs were kind of tired and the ITB was singing pretty good on the 3 miler so I think I may scale things back a tad next week before heading on up towards 20. Right now I'm only running three days a week. Once I can run 20 for a couple of weeks comfortably I will try to add back in the fourth day. Ultimately I'd like to get back to being a 5 day, 40-50 mile a week runner like I was back in 2007. That may take until 2010 for all I know.

That doctors appointment I mentioned earlier went well. My wife has been seeing the same guy for her knee and we both had appointments within an hour of each other. In addition one of my wife's coworker's wife had a knee replacement done by this doc. According to the girls he is "easy on the eyes." Apparently he is one doctor's appointment they don't mind keeping. Anyway, my hip problem is just really bad IT Band Syndrome and bursitis. The doc is a runner so he understands that not running is not a good prescription for someone like me. He prescribed a regimen of Aleve and is sending me to a physical therapist for a couple of appointments. This guy is a runner as well so I am optimistic that I will be getting good care and advice and should come out the other end OK.

10 comments:

Billy said...

Running docs rule.

Continued speedy healing my friend.

Unknown said...

So funny -Patrick Dempsey picture.

Jokingly, I told my wife the other day that when I have my head surgery that I wanted him to do it because he was really good on TV.
She looked at me and said go right ahead and I bet your head will never be the same.

Hey, Can you please send some of that "California Winter" my way?

Wes said...

Running docs are the best for this kind of stuff!! You are steady eddy on the increase!! I like that you are listening to your body and doing all the right things!

Unknown said...

If it's IT band friction syndrome, I'd check out http://www.bulletproofknee.com

Pat said...

I'm with you. Winter can stay for as long as it wants.

Good luck with the knee.

Bob - BlogMYruns.com said...

doc is a runner so he understands that not running is not a good prescription for someone like me
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Good Doc :-) Best wishes on your recovery!!!

Anonymous said...

mmmmm.........glad I read your blog today! McSteamy...ahhhhh......
lol. there are worse things than a good looking doctor... :)

Backofpack said...

Darrell, it sounds like things are moving in the right directiion. Hope the PT helps!

Joe said...

That ITB is one long sucker...so you get yours in the hip, I get mine in the knee...if we could combine, we'd have one good leg.

A hunk of a doc, eh?? I wonder if he was the quarterback on the football team too....

Glad you are healing. Alleve wouldn't be so bad to deal with for a while...

Anne said...

When I first saw the photo, I thought you'd run into the actor who plays this doctor. My friend fixes his car, so I know he gets around.

Glad to hear it's just bad ITB and bursitus. And especially glad some OTC and PT should clear it up!