I originally posted this on the Runner’s World Blog site – the Loop. But since I seem to be ignored on the Loop, I decided to share it with people who’ll actually read it. That’s right. You win!

This morning (while watching it snow outside, hard – yes, snow), I did my first hill workout since January. I did it on the treadmill so that if it went really badly I could just switch over to a speed workout. That, and it’s snowing and I didn’t really want to do hills in the snow on April 29.

I’m starting to gear up for the Ragnar Wasatch Back relay, which is hill intensive, so I need to tell my team how much they can expect from me. Piriformis syndrome is really irritated by hills, and I had no idea where I was.

After a 10 minute warm-up, I did two minute intervals of 1%, back to .5%, 2%, back to .5%, 3%, etc. up to 5%, where I decided that was enough for my hill test. This is the same workout that actually set the piriformis off in January, except at that point I went up to 7% and was running about 45 seconds / mile faster. And since my butt didn’t feel 100%, I did switch over to do just a little bit of speedwork while finishing my 40 minute run.

And I admit, my hip/butt felt pretty tight toward the end of my run, so I stretched extra-long today. I’ll probably stretch a couple more times throughout the day just to make sure my butt loosens up properly. I’m pretty sad that the hills didn’t feel great, but at least I could do them, right? I think I have to tell my team that I can probably do one moderate hill run, but can’t do any of the really big or steep hills. I’ll have to do a downhill test in the next week or two.

Hopefully it just stops snowing by June 18th

Except for a small ‘is this okay’ run about three weeks ago, I haven’t run for a month.

I cannot wait. I’m feeling pretty good, so I think I’m going to try a easy, slow, 10 minute run this weekend. I’m going to do my physical therapy stretches before and after, as a college buddy says that kept her okay when she was recovering from her foray into piriformis syndrome.

Among any given group of runners, it’s more likely than not that most of them despise the treadmill. A number of them will view it as something ‘real’ runners don’t do. Very few will say they like the treadmill. I don’t know if there are more than one in any group of 1000 that would say they love the treadmill. That one is me. I love the treadmill. I love the way I can force myself to run at a steady pace, I know how far I’m going, I know how fast. I love the way it keeps me running at a pace that I can’t back away from without making a conscious effort at changing it.  Don’t get me wrong – I find looking at the same place for my entire run completely boring. I still love the treadmill.

But it’s not the treadmill I’m looking forward to in this first 10 minute run in a month. It’s being outside. It’s looking forward and feeling the cold air and the hard ground beneath my yet-to-be-run-in new, free shoes. And it’s hoping that after my 10 minute run, I’ll feel okay, and be able to do 15 early next week, and maybe 20 by the end of the week. I’d like to feel like myself again, and I know Chris would like me to stop being, well, mad at the world.

I, of course, fought injury while I was in high school. After graduation and the Europe trip, I had what’s called a bi-lateral release done on both of my knees. I recovered, but barely ran in college. Maybe 3 or 4 times during college at all? I had been schedule to run cross-country my freshman year but surgery obviously put a hold on that. I doubt I would have done it anyway – I was not a ‘runner’ at that point. My mentality was all gone.

But this is all beside the point. Since I started running again 5 or 6 years ago, I’ve had aches and pains. I’ve known when a new shoe is doing more harm than help (and hurt!). I’ve suffered through post-half-marathon and post-marathon soreness. But I haven’t been injured.

That changed January 10. Yes, I know the date. Because I did a great hill workout the day before, then I was just sitting there watching football and my hip hurt – very deep in the muscle. I took it easy for the next two weeks – 30 minute runs 3 times a week with cross-training on the other days. I took ibuprofen, I iced it. But it still hurt. It hurt all day long while I was sitting at my desk. Hurt is the wrong word for it – there was this pressure on my hip and butt that wasn’t comfortable. It only hurt occasionally. It just feels wrong.

So I stopped running. I didn’t run or workout at all for a week. And then I tried to run again. It was okay. I took a day off and then did another easy 30 minutes. During that run my leg tightened up all the way down my leg. The next day I went to the doctor who of course ordered me to physical therapy. I haven’t run since.

Before I made my first physical therapy appointment, I had to make about six calls to the pt office and my ‘insurance’ to see what would be covered and how much I was looking at if it wasn’t. That’s pretty scary, but I’m happy to say that if my ‘insurance’ decides not to cover it, it’s much less expensive than I was preparing myself for.

I had my appointment yesterday, which confirmed both what I had expected and what my doctor hinted at: piriformis syndrome. Basically the piriformis muscle and tendon, which are deep in your butt, put pressure on your sciatic nerve. To heal this, you do a lot of stretching, some strengthening exercises, deep tissue work, and other fancy pt things. I’ve only got one strengthening exercise at this point, but I’ve taken to calling it torture. The stretching is already doing great things. I felt much more comfortable sitting at my desk this morning.

My next pt appointment is Thursday morning. I’m quite looking forward to the deep tissue work, even though it’s likely going to cause some bruising. I told my therapist that I don’t expect my insurance to cover very many appointments, so I think she’s going to try and get me to doing the recovery on my own as fast as possible.

But my point in this? This sucks! I know a lot of runners, and I always feel bad for them when they’re sidelined with injuries. But now that I’m there again, with a new mature view of running (meaning, not my high school view of running and injuries), I really feel like I have a deeper appreciation for people who are continually plagued by injuries and keep coming back to running. I’m so disappointed every morning I wake up and think ‘I can’t go for a run’.

“In this great auditorium under the sky, all of us are free.”
- Harold Ickes, Secretary of the Interior under FDR

I’m tired today. Just tired. I even took a nap before I was intending to do my long run this afternoon.

I really started getting ready with the intention of 13 miles. I filled up two water bottles with electrolyte drink, grabbed some gels… But it didn’t feel right. In fact, it just felt wrong. After a ‘will I or won’t I’ discussion with myself, I decided to go out for a six mile run. This would allow me to stop upon returning home or keep going.

It was a battle…the first four miles. I had to keep telling myself ‘if you ever want to be good, you do it no matter what’. I felt sluggish, torn, and jumped at every little unexpected noise…but only emotionally. My body felt pretty good, considering my mental battle.

All in all, I felt really good having pushed through 6.2 miles. And I held a pretty decent pace – just under 10:30 minutes per mile. It really was a beautiful afternoon. I just hope next week I feel like doing more mileage.