Stumbling back

There is no plan.

Or maybe, there might have been a plan had I made that appointment before going to Wyoming for vacation. So I have no specific guidance on how or when to ramp back up to running. Or for what specific exercises to do.

No problem though, I’ve got this dialed.

The first thing I tried when we got to Jackson was 30 mins on the eliptical. My groin was still hurting every day with every adduction I performed with the right leg. Sometimes it hurt also when I did really basic things like flex at the hip – presumably that muscle gets recruited with lots of movements. But there should be little pounding on the eliptical. That was August 4th; 7 weeks after my last run.

Within a few mintutes, the adductor on the right was hurting again. And I was out of breath. And I was sweating. With no guage of how hard I was working other than my heartrate, I assumed I hadn’t lost much fitness and despite the pain, it felt glorious.

I did another 30 mins the next day on the eliptical with much the result: pain, sweating, joy.

The following day, Jenn and I ran around the geyser basin by Old Faithful on the deserted boardwalk. My legs were generally unhappy and my heartrate was extra high despite slow running and my adductor hurt but at least I felt like I was back to running. Running 10 min miles.

Jenn wasn’t as excited the next morning so I ran alone along Yellowstone Lake. This time I couldn’t blame Jenn for the slow pace – I just couldn’t go any faster. Fitness fades quickly it would seem. This time there was a bit less general pain but it wasn’t exactly totally joyful. It felt like getting back to something where you actually have to do some work.

Then I took a few days off. It was easy as we were having fun in the Tetons on kayaks. Nothing hurt more or less than before – it just felt ordinary.

My final run out west was in Idaho Falls on the way back. This was a little faster and a littler further at 5.8 miles. Again, it was sore and not perfect but clearly working towards something.

Back in Boston for a week, I had a 42.5 mile week of slow runs to work. Then it was off to Ocracoke for a week. I took a day off on Saturday for the 16 hour drive but then put in a 64.3 mile week with another day off the next Saturday for the drive back.

Now with 125 miles back under me, I can feel the stirring of fitness coming back. It’s not really there yet by any means but I’m not a total disaster during each run. The groin is no better or worse during this ramp up. Maybe it’s better than before Big Horn but not much. There is no pain in the pubic symphysis at the site of the fracture.

I also decided to return to the Myrtl for some glut strength and “Mountain Legs” for quad strengthening. It feels good to be getting back to this a bit.

I’m doing this based just on my intution and with careful attention to how I’m feeling. So far, so good.

And perhaps no plan is the plan for now.