Cut Me Mick

     

      For those of you that don't remember those words, they were spoken by Rocky to his trainer, when his eye was so swollen shut he couldn't see and the only way for him to continue in the fight was to have the trainer cut him to release the pressure and allow him to see.  Well it may not be my eye and this may not be a boxing match, but it is what I have to do if I want to continue running.

     For those of you that have been following along, today was my follow up doctor visit to review my MRI results along with my x-rays, and what I hoped would not be the case, was the case.  The MRI shows a possible labral tear of the cartilage that separates the ball from the socket of my hip joint.  I say possible because no doctor is every going to deal in absolutes until he actually is cutting me open and seeing it for himself, but the evidence seemed pretty convincing.  

     Well, how to we fix it you ask?  We cut me open of course!  Ok, I will stop being overly dramatic, since it is only a one day out patient, arthroscopic procedure where he will cut three small incisions in my hip and thigh to fix the issue.  What I will not exaggerate about is the recovery time, holy shit!  I will have to be off of work for a week to ten days, followed by trying to maneuver around on crutches for three to four weeks.  After those initial ten days I have roughly three months of physical therapy and an estimated time of six months before I can return to running regularly pain free.  Chances are it will be at least year or so before I can attempt another marathon, if ever.  

     Those that I have talked to about this have said I seem rather positive about the whole thing, well what can I say, this has really fucked up a lot of plans and goals I have set for myself, but it is what it is, right?  I mean I would be lying if I said I wasn't completely devastated, but feeling that way and throwing a tantrum like a four year old won't do me a bit of good, so moving on.  Now I have to figure out when is the earliest I can get in to have the surgery done, and based on work related commitments, that looks more like late August or early September at best.

     The other issue I have due to today's news, is what to do with my Detroit Marathon registration.  I cannot get a refund and other than just losing $75 and not showing up for the race, I could do a transfer to someone else.  I am going to do a little research on transfers and maybe just donate my registration fee to someone else who could use it.  So stay tuned for that!  

My MRI Pulp Fiction Experience

     I have to say that yesterday was a bit of an experience for me.  I haven't ever had any major medical issues that required anything of this magnitude when it comes to testing.  I had my first ever MRI yesterday, and not knowing what to expect I went in filled with more anxiety than I usually do.  My appointment was at 3:00 so I headed over to that area of town to grab a bite to eat and walk around the mall to kill some time before all the festivities began.  

     I arrived thirty minutes early to get checked in and only had to wait about fifteen minutes before they called me back.  The order of the day was going to be started with getting injected with a numbing agent, MRI contrast dye and a steroid that was ordered by my doctor, followed by a forty five minute MRI session as the nurse explained to me.  She first took me back to get changed for the procedure, which I had brought a pair of shorts to wear, but my anxiety quickly skyrocketed when she told me to strip down to just my socks and put on a medical gown.  Despite feeling truly uncomfortable in the situation, there was something very freeing about hanging in the breeze.  

     After I changed I was introduced to the MRI tech who went over my two page questioner, which I stated I was claustrophobic and had tattoos.  The tattoos could have been an issue because some inks contain metal which can feel a burning sensation and can irritate a patient during the MRI, I however had no issues with this during mine.  She showed me the "open" MRI machine she would be using and actually loaded me into the machine for a trial run to make sure I would be ok.  I was fine and didn't feel boxed in, but my face was about two inches from the machine, so it was a little unnerving. 

     Once she let me out, I was headed to another room to get the injections done.  I climbed aboard the x-ray table where the nurse positioned my leg and pull my gown up to the point I was very uncomfortable.  Now the whole time I was there the nurse and the MRI tech was so nice and accommodating, but at this point the nurse was explaining the injection procedure and by the time I was done I felt like the doctor was going to come in and go all John Travolta in Pulp Fiction on me.  As the doctor began to inject the needle I was prepping myself for a painful stabbing by clenching my hands and squinting my eyes as tight as I could.  Wouldn't you know, it wasn't shit to deal with.  I have had more pain getting my blood drawn than what I went through here.  Now for the cool part, I mentioned I was on an x-ray table, well he had a live x-ray shot of my hip on the screen so he could see where he was guiding the needle.  Once I realized the pain wasn't anything to deal with I looked at the screen to see this long needle injected into my hip joint.  He explained that I would feel pressure in the joint once he pumped all the drugs and the dye in, and sure as shit, it felt like someone was putting slight pressure on me.

     Now, for the MRI portion things didn't go quite as smooth as the injections did.  The tech got me all loaded into the machine, cranked up some '90s rock on the headphones for me and we began the scans.  After the first two scans, lasting in total of about fifteen minutes, she came in to make changes to the machine because she said, and I quote "you are to skinny and I have to change the machine to get a better picture."  It still is funny to hear someone utter those words to a person who use to be 317 pounds, but digress.  The change to the machine took about five minutes or so before I had to climb back onto the table and start the entire procedure over again.  From this point on things were going smoothly and I thought I was done when the tech said she was coming in, but I was wrong.  She told me that the last two scans she was unable to get good images and asked me if I would try the other machine, you know the tube that feels like your in a fucking coffin.  She said it would be ten minutes at the most, I said what the hell I can handle it, I think.  Thankfully she put me in feet first so my head was still sticking out a little, but man it felt tight in there.  We got started, and after the first scan I was doing pretty good, so she quickly moved on to the last scan.  I don't know what happened, but as soon as she said we were done and she was coming in to get me, my anxiety level shot through the roof and I felt trapped.  If she would have taken five seconds longer I think I would have had a full fledged freak out.

     I should have the results in a few days and I meet with my doctor for a follow up on the results next week.  I was given a copy of the images to look at, but I don't know what the hell I am suppose to be looking for, but here are some examples of the scans.  If I am correct the really white areas are the cartilage lining the hip joint.  I'll will have to wait till next week to be enlightened on what I am seeing here. 

GCM Owens Corning Half Marathon Training Week 7 & 8

     Jedi and I wanted to start by saying Happy Easter Everyone!  I hope everyone got some time to enjoy the day with family and friends. 

     As you can see from the title, I missed my post last Sunday about how my training was going.  It is funny that these two weeks would be combined together because they couldn't be more opposite of each other. 

     Week 7 training couldn't have gone any better for me.  I got all my miles in, and only missed one cross training and one yoga session.  The only thing that could have made the week go better would have been if the weather would have been better.  I was dodging rain, fog and cold temperatures all week, but despite that I was feeling great.  Normally I like to get up and get my run out of the way otherwise it becomes easier for me to skip it, but for my long run on Thursday, I had to wait till almost 2:00 before I headed out.  I was really hoping it would warm up more that it did, but I dealt with it.  

     Sunday is where things all fell apart for me.  As you might have read in my post on Thursday I had a long three days on my feet at work, along with strength training and intervals to do on Sunday.

     Like I said I have hardly run any miles since Sunday, and I owe it all to my interval training.  I did my strength training before work and headed out to get my intervals done after work.  My hamstrings paid the ultimate price, and by the time I was done, I could hardly walk, let alone run.  I woke up Monday with my legs feeling really really sore and I just knew I wasn't going to be doing any running anytime soon.  

     I skipped all running and all workouts Monday and Tuesday, but Wednesday I decided to give a short 3 mile run a try, at a super slow pace.  I got to the halfway turnaround and realized I was probably not going to be able to finish.  I pushed on, but told myself if the pain and aching got to a 4 out of 10 then I would stop.  I quit at mile 2.5 and walked the last half mile home.  Even though I had to quite early, when I woke up on Thursday my legs were still a little sore, but were feeling better.  It was raining almost all day so I decided to just relax until the it cleared up.  I ended up getting out around 6:30pm and limited myself to 2 miles, which turned out to feel really good, even at the faster pace.

     I decided to give myself Friday and Saturday off and hit it again on Sunday.  It was freaking windy as hell, but it felt so good to not have to bundle up like an Eskimo just to go for a run.  I still had a little light pain in my left hamstring that hung around for the entire run, but was very manageable to deal with. 

     After I got back, Mandy and the boys were ready to go for a walk and I thought it would be a good way to stretch out the post run legs.  Mandy is registered for the 5K that is going on at the Glass City Marathon to give her something to do while I am running the Owens Corning Half Marathon so she needs to get a little training in as well.  We headed out on the bike path at a brisk walking pace with a few spurts of light jogging.  Jedi is starting to get better at walking on the leash and is loving to pick up the pace and get a full run on.  

When we were all done I ate some lunch and enjoyed my Easter splurge on a few Peeps!

 

WARNING!!!! IMAGE MAY BE DISTURBING TO SOME VIEWERS!   
 

Thursday Weigh In / Boy Are My Legs Sore

     Hey everyone, I am pretty damn happy only to have gained a half pound considering a couple of issues I have had this week.  I have been a little susceptible to binge eating, but haven't let it control my life.  I guess I can be happy that my binges haven't been on junk food, I just have been eating a little more than I should have.  The other reason is due to my own stupidity and not listening to my body; because of that I have only been able to run 2.5 miles since Sunday, which I'll explain later.

4/2/15 official weigh in

174 lbs

Total loss from heaviest:  143 lbs

Current BMI:  27.2 (overweight)

     Like I said I have hardly run any miles since Sunday, and I owe it all to my interval training.  Sunday I had strength training and intervals on the agenda, so I did my strength training early before I went to work.  Now keep in mind we had a major three day weekend event at work so I have been on my feet 9-10 hours for a solid two days up to this point.  After work I got home and headed out to get my intervals done.  This was a step up day, meaning that my plan stepped up the intensity, so my workout looked like this:

          2 minute warmup at 10min pace

          6:30min pace for 1 minute x8 reps

          9:00min pace for 2 minute x8 reps

          2 minute cool down at 10min pace

     I was doing just fine till I finished number six.  At that point I started to feel my hamstrings getting sore.  I kind of thought they were just getting a little tired, but didn't think it was a big deal.  My mind kept saying quit, you have done enough, but being a stubborn runner, I pushed through it and finished.  I could barely walk after I was done and knew immediately I had over done it.  Monday was a schedule rest day and thank God, because my hamstrings were super tight and hurt so bad when I would try and stretch them out.  Tuesday I think was the worst day of it.  I had Mandy try and roll them out and man did it hurt.  She couldn't get over how I was reacting with how little pressure she was placing on them.

     Wednesday I decided to give a short 3 mile run a try, at a super slow pace for me.  I got to the halfway turnaround and realized I was probably not going to be able to finish.  I pushed on, but told myself if the pain and aching got to a 4 out of 10 then I would stop.  I quit at mile 2.5 and walked the last half mile home.

     As I sit here and type this, I have yet to try another run today, and am definitely skipping my 11 mile long run I had on tap.  It has been raining all day and is looking like it may clear out around 7ish so I might give it another go with a 3 mile easy run, but I might just wait and do it in the morning.      

Jedi just wanted to say "Hi Everyone"

Wednesday Weigh In

      Sorry for the lack of posts the last week or so.  My intentions with this blog was to talk about my ups and downs with my running and weight loss, but both of those have seemed to have stalled for now, which has left me with little to say. 

     Today marks ten straight days without a run and it has been awfully hard to wake up every day and not go for a run.  Especially when that's all you have been doing for the past two years.  The hard part with this injury is that it only really hurts when I am running or just finished running.  Right now my knee feels great, but unless I run I won't know for sure and I can't heal the injury without restraining from running.  Its a frustrating challenge to say the least. 
     
     I have to say though, I have been quite impressed with myself sticking to my homemade workout routine.  Every time I say to myself I think I'll just skip it tonight I remind myself this is all I got and I need to continue till I can get back to running full time.  Also, it is the only stress reliever I have and right now boy do I need it.  Work has been super crazy.  For reasons I am not going to go into we had to let one of our employees go and I am the only other person on staff that has the skills and abilities to do the job he was performing, so not only am I doing all my duties I have a whole second job to accomplish as well.  My boss has been great, understanding and thankful for my willingness to step in and do what is needed for the company, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little stressed out.  

     Sunday will be the 14th day of my non running recovery and I think I am going to lace up the shoes and head out for a short two mile run.  Nothing fast, just let my body tell me how fast to go.  Then I'll take another week or so off and continue the leg strengthening exercises.  I am scheduled to get tattooed next Wednesday and running with a fresh tat on your leg doesn't go very well together.  I'll let the tat heal up and then try another two mile run and see how things progress from there.

     Now for the weigh in.  I was able to have a nice little victory this morning with the scale.  I managed to squeeze out another half pound, which I was quite happy with.  With today's number that puts me only two freaking pounds away from goal!  It seems like such a long journey to get to this point, but am I glad I started it.   

12/10/14 official weigh in

175 lbs

Change: -.5 lbs

Total loss from heaviest: 142 lbs

Current BMI: 27.4 (overweight)

Change: -.1

Wednesday Weigh In

     Not running for a week has really had me worried about my weigh in this week.  I did really well on what I was eating this and I kept my calorie intake in check as well.  Even when we would have had to go somewhere to watch the Browns on Thursday night football, Mandy and I decided to spend the night at home instead of heading to the bar.  I really thought a pound or two increase would have shown up, but to my surprise I stayed right where I was.  In fact, if you want to get technical I lost .2 of a pound from last week so little by little I am gonna get to my goal.

11/12/14 official weigh in

177 lbs

Change: 0 lbs

Total loss from heaviest: 140 lbs

Current BMI: 27.7 (overweight)

Change: 0

     After my weigh in I got ready and headed out the door to visit my friend Katie from my Ragnar SoCal team.  With not running for a week to rest my I.T. band I have been jonesing to go for a run and I haven't hung out with Katie or her husband in while so I thought I would kill two birds with one stone.  Katie and I met at a local state park that had a nice five and a half mile lollypop route through the state park nature preserve.  With my knee and Katie just running a half marathon on Sunday we kept the pace nice and easy.  The temperature, which was a nice 60 degrees yesterday, was a breezy 34 degrees today.  Once we got going I warmed up enough to make it tolerable and the trees provided enough protection from the breeze for most of the run.  Once we finished, we headed back to her house to meet up with her husband and hang out for a while before I drove back to town to meet my sister for a late lunch.  While we were talking, one of their cats sure did take a liking to me.  Estelle buried her head in my lap and  didn't want to let me up when I had to leave.

     While I was there we had talked about our goals for next year, which I have been thinking a lot about lately and I think I have them figured out, so I will be posting those pretty soon.  Also Katie had shown me a picture that she also posted on her blog of a comparison photo of her brother.  She had made the suggestion I should put one together of my first race and my marathon, which I thought was a great idea.  I look at them and the guy on the left, running the 5K, never ever thought he would be doing what the guy on the right was doing.  

 

     It just so happened that I saw this quote today and I thought it fit quite well with how I feel when looking at these two photos, so I thought I would share.
 

          

I'M BACK!!............Almost

     So much for daylight savings time and getting an extra hour of sleep when you have a puppy.  Yesterday I had a really long day working a little over 12 hours and I was hoping to be able to sleep well into the morning, but Jedi had other plans.  We played with him for awhile till we could get him all tuckered out, but by that time I was wide awake, so no more sleep for me.  I took this picture of him just after he woke from his nap and it was so cute I had to share it.

     What a great run I had today and I owe it all to the clock that I forgot to turn back for daylight savings time.  I recently renewed my track membership at the YMCA and I had planned on going in at noon for an easy run and to calibrate my foot pod.  I got all geared up and ready to go when I saw the time on my phone and realized I still had an hour and a half till they opened.  I didn't really want to wait and it didn't feel as cold outside as it said on my phone, so I said screw it, outside run it is.

     For a cold day the weather was absolutely gorgeous.  The sun was shinning with not a cloud in the sky and barely a breeze to even mention it.  I was feeling pretty good, but I really didn't have an idea on how this run was going to go.  I planned on doing four miles and stretch it to six if things were going well and as far as my pace goes I though I would let how I felt dictate it.

     Within seconds of starting this run I felt like my old self again.  My pace immediately was hovering around the 8:50s without feeling like I was putting in much effort.  Once I hit the first quarter mile I told myself that if I still felt this good by the first mile mark I was going to go for the full six miles.  Surprise, surprise, I was still feeling good by mile one and so my run went from four to six.  As the run went on I picked up the pace taking the next two miles into the mid 8:30s.  When I hit mile four I was starting to get a little light pain on the front of my leg just above my ankle.  I slowed the pace into the 8:40s and then into the 8:50s.  The pain started to subside and I got a little over zealous and pushed it back up to an 8:30 pace for the last mile.  I got through it just fine, but sitting here typing this the pain is back and hurts when I point my toes and then bring my foot back toward the front of my leg.  I am gonna give it some ice therapy, rest and the next couple of runs I won't push the pace either.  After the run I stretched out and did my push ups, first set 40 reps, second set 20 reps and the third set 10 reps.  I think I am gonna try and hit 100 reps by the end of the year. 

Wednesday Weigh In

     10/29/14 official weigh in

179 lbs

Change: -1.5 lbs

Total loss from heaviest: 138 lbs

Current BMI: 28.0 (overweight)

Change: -.2

     Well its been a little over a week and a half since Columbus and I am finally starting to get back into a bit of a routine with my life.  The one thing that I thought would be the biggest challenge for me, really wasn't to bad to be honest.   All this week I have been slowly decreasing my daily calorie limit back to where I should be now that I am not running the volume of miles I was pre marathon.  I had a couple of days were my stomach grumbled a little trying to tell me it wanted something when I knew it didn't really need anything.  I try to put that fire out with a large glass of water which seems to help it subside.

     To get the time I needed off for the race I had to switch around my days off which meant when I got back to work Tuesday of last week I had eight straight days before I would get another day off.  I know that doesn't sound that horribly bad except I had just run a freaking marathon and all I wanted to do was rest!  Today was finally the day I could truly just sit down, relax and not have to worry about anything.  Now don't think I was a complete lazy bum, I did get out of the house for a run and I headed into town to take care of a couple of things. 

     After Mandy headed off to work this morning, the pups and I decided to sleep in till almost nine before I got up and headed out for my run.  The temp was hovering in the mid 40s with the sun shining and a decent breeze to contend with.  My idea for this run was to just get 4 easy miles under my belt.  As I walked out the door I told myself not even to look at my watch, which is impossible for me, but it was a nice thought though.  During the two miles out I had that cool wind coming right at my face making it feel a little cooler than the temperature was saying it was.  When I would glance at my watch, it was mostly just to check my mileage, which is basically a lie because I know exactly where the 2 mile turn around spot is, so really I was checking my pace.

     For most of the run my knee was a non issue, but somewhere around the 2.5 mile mark a little light pain crept up on me, but quickly subsided.  The one thing I am still having issues with, is my calves.  I made it further today than on Sunday before they started to ache, but the fact is they still did.  The aching pain never really got to horribly bad, but I did add some walking at the start of miles 3 and 4 for maybe a tenth of a mile each.  I thought it would be a good idea to break it up a little and give my calves a little break.   When I got back to the house the aching diminished a lot quicker than it did on Sunday.  This tells me I am healing and if I continue to take it easy for the rest of this week I should be back to my old self really soon.  My plan is to rest Thursday and Friday; I was planning on running Saturday, but with our event that evening at work I'll be putting in at least 12 hours on my feet.  I thought it best to skip it and do my next easy run on Sunday.

     I might as well say it now, I am skipping the Monroe Half Marathon that's coming up on the 9th.  This decision was made for me by fate when I was trying to register for the race.  I spent an hour and a half trying to register, but every time I submitted my info to get to the payment screen it would kick me out.  I eventually took that as a sign that maybe I shouldn't be running it.  The more I thought about it, I felt like if it is taking this long to get my legs back from the marathon I don't know if I'll be ready to race by then.

     Anyway I have been thinking long and hard (#) about where to go from here with my running and my goals.  I have started to formulate a couple ideas that I will run by you all soon.  I think next year is shaping up to be fun and quite challenging.