Run (3km in 23 mins)

A bit of an unusual week this week. I decided to see how I'd cope with a run/walk yesterday, having had 4 full days to recover from the swim last Wednesday.

I started off with 5 mins on the exercise bike to warm up. Then did the usual hips and lower back stretches. Did 10 glute bridges, with 5kg weight across my pelvis, to fire up my glutes and loosen my hip flexors, and then stretched out my adductors, quads, calves and hamstrings.

On the treadmill, I started off walking @ 6km/hr. Did that for about 1mins30secs then upped the pace to run, 10.3km/hr. I think I ran then until 5mins before dropping the pace to walking again (6.5km/hr). Walked for approx 1.5 mins before running again until 10mins. At that point (having completed about 1km 300m), I paused and stretched various muscles. I then repeated the same pattern for the next 10 mins but found that my right butt/hip muscles/tendons/whatever was beginning to really hurt so I ended up walking at a fast pace (7.2km/hr) for the last 600metres. In the end, I completed 3km in 23 mins.

I got off the treadmill and stretched the right butt muscles as much as possible, which seemed to help. At that point, nothing hurt when I walked, which was lovely. I felt good too.

1.5 hrs later the pain through the right hip and pelvic muscles kicked in. I took ibuprofen with lunch, iced my butt a couple of times through the afternoon and then took paracetamol before bed. I was tired out through the afternoon but rallied after tea and felt ok through the evening.

I feel quite tired today. My calves are stiff and the right hip/butt pain is still present but, I guess, I'm quite pleased. The LHS lower back pain improved after the run too but isn't completely gone.

LHS lower back pain & Swim (22 lengths)

A pretty Lesser Redpoll. A little finch which winters in the UK.

Ok, so, the Left butt/LHS lower back tightness/pain has lingered since doing the rowing. It's constant, ranging from a 3 to a 7 (out of 10) in terms of pain levels. Very, very disappointing as I thought this had gone. I've gone from little to no pain in that area for months to 10 days of a constant gnawing ache. I went for a swim on Wednesday as I thought it might help. It did but only in that it enabled me to relax and deal with the pain. I only did 22 lengths (in about 25 mins) as I didn't want to completely wear myself out. It felt good and I only had cramp in my right foot on the last 2-3 lengths.

I was extremely tired/sleepy through the afternoon. Struggled to stay upright or awake! Slept like the dead (after taking painkillers for the right hip structures - yup, that's still a problem!). I was still pretty tired on Thursday but recovering well. I'd say I was mostly recovered by Saturday.

I am at a loss as to what to do re: the hip structures pain. Obviously various tendons/muscles get irritated and inflamed by specific pressures but they never seem to improve. I don't know what to do to eradicate the problems?!?!

Checking In

Missed the gym the last 2 Fridays as I had various weekend social commitments that I needed to be fresh for. However, I've kept pretty active with birding and a bit of rowing on the rowing machine. Unfortunately, as much as I really enjoy the rowing, it aggravates the left glute/butt pain and LHS lower back soreness/ache/tightness. It's been extremely annoying and disappointing to discover that issue isn't resolved and can be as bad as it ever was! Obviously some tendon/nerve gets really irritated and causes the pain. I took painkillers last night to be able to sleep and will do so again tonight.

Energy levels have been typically up and down. Most of January seems to have been spent feeling tired, washed out and pale. I'm hoping this week might see an improvement....

May hit the gym/pool on Wednesday rather than Friday this week (potential weekend commitments again).

Running (Wk4) & The New Year

A female Bullfinch. Pretty scarce in the area so nice to get a shot.

I'm not really in the right frame of mind to post an entry but I'm not sure when I'll really feel like it, so here we are. Generally feeling pretty tired of the hard work and slow progress and the years of managing pain and injuries. I know there has been progress. I am fitter and stronger but the returns seem so small compared the amount of effort I put in. Today, I just feel drained.

I did some good walks over Christmas. 3 miles Christmas eve, 4 miles Christmas Day and then another 4 miles the day after Boxing Day. I was good for nothing on Boxing Day - utterly drained - just wanted to sleep. The usual problems with the hip connections surfaced esp right hand side. But, overall, I did well.

I got back to the gym on Friday. Managed to run/walk 2km in 14:25 mins and it felt good. The right hip/glute pain kicked in the afternoon and I've been managing it since. Ibuprofen + paracetamol + icing my butt! My calves were stiff the day after which I think is a good sign. The rest of the gym routine was as usual (leaving out the leg press/extensions; hip ad/ab/ext; & step ups).

I guess I've been feeling kinda rubbish due to problems with my gut. I sometimes get gut spasms/pain on the left hand side which seem to irritate the vagus nerve and make me feel very faint/unwell. There's nothing I can do to get rid of it. I just have to wait for my gut to settle down. In the meantime, I look deathly pale and feel almost as bad!

Maybe the dark days aren't helping.

I guess the aim for this year is to sort out or get rid of the right hip problems. That is top priority. Ultimately, I would really like to be able to enter a 5km run but that's not going to be possible until the hip issue is resolved. So, it's going to be another year of gym work with the occasional swim thrown in, I think. Dear God, please let my health (both physical and mental) really stabilise and resolve this year...