Isabella

It was too soon. And I knew it.  

But it was never not going to be too soon, so I went with my gut.

***

When I visited my family for Christmas 2014, my sister couldn't stop talking about the hilarious young cat that had been surrendered to the clinic where she worked.  The cat was incredibly personable and friendly but had severe atopic dermatitis.  The owners first brought the cat in for euthanasia (denied) and then returned the cat to the shelter.  The shelter then brought her in for a second try at euthanasia - with missing patches of fur and scabs, she was unadoptable and miserable in the shelter. This attempt was also denied, and so Diana was surrendered to Healing Hands Animal Hospital.

Healing Hands invested a huge amount of time, love, and veterinary knowledge into Diana, eventually growing her fur back though she still had to wear a cone most of the time to protect her coat.  And she settled into her role as clinic cat - greeting newcomers, stealing barcoded catnip bananas from the reception area, and even reportedly climbing the clinic Christmas tree.

***

I lost Aramina in early January 2015, leaving a hole that still aches.  Her final years had required regular pilling and sub-Q injections plus dietary management, and I considered myself decently skilled (for an amateur) in each.  And Mina had herself been a hard to place cat.   

Combine those points with the fact that I had a decent paying work-from-home job, and....I decided that my next cat would be an unadoptable.  They all needed homes, so why not focus on the ones that were hardest to place, since I thought I was up to it.

And that led me back to Diana, who was a significant expense for the clinic.  I asked my sister if the clinic was interested in adopting her out, and the answer was yes.  I then asked Brian his thoughts (we were about to move in together), and the answer was not yes.  He didn't say no, but instead raised some reasonable objections - could a cat with her health conditions actually live a happy life?  Especially if she had to wear a cone most of the time?  

Instead of arguing, I just arranged for my sister to be hosting Diana the next time we visited (the clinic cats went home with employees each weekend). And it worked out better than I could have ever hoped.  We entered and a cone-encumbered Diana bounded past me and up into Brian's arms.  He still wasn't convinced, but he couldn't say no.  Not to her.

So we packed Diana into a carrier and onto the back seat of Brian's GTI.  I had been careful to repeatedly stipulate that this was a trial period not an adoption.  She had many allergies, and if she couldn't handle something blooming in the DC area or the carpet in my apartment, I wanted to be able to return her without feeling totally awful about it.

[Some of the clinic employees asked my sister if Diana would be returning.  The answer was a resounding NOPE.  As always, my sister was pretty savvy.]

***

The first days with the newly named Isabella were unexpectedly traumatic. I wasn't yet ready to move on from Mina.  And where Mina had been black and dainty Izzie was a gleeful golden feline force. Her exploratory high speed laps around my apartment included a shelf with several framed photos, including one of Mina.  With every lap Izzie knocked that frame, and just that frame, off the shelf.  I winced each time.

In an attempt to distract her, I proffered Mina's beloved catnip candy cane, still in new condition (Mina was very protective of her toys).  And was horrified as Izzie enthusiastically tore at it.  I almost took it back, and then remembered that this was what cat toys were for and restrained myself. 

It was too soon, but there was a new cat in town.

***

I decided within a day that this was going to work out despite the chaos, but Brian was more cautious.  I told him that her name was now Isabella/Izzie, but he refused to call her by name, lest he become attached.  And thus for many months to him she was "Test Cat."

His caution had a basis - she was a lot of work.  Her maintenance at the time of adoption included daily prescription food/supplements, oral medication twice a week, an allergy shot every two weeks, little rubber covers for her claws, and a monthly bath.  Plus the cone when needed.  But I thought I was up to it. 

***

The rough edges smoothed out fairly quickly.  Test Cat became Isabella, and with the help of Nova Cat Clinic her maintenance plan  slimmed down to a daily prednisone pill and a prescription diet, plus air filters. And I made my peace with shredded catnip toys.  

When our house renovation was done, Izzie and I moved in with Brian and we became a family. I grinned every time I came home and saw her in the window, waiting for me.

***

For two years or so, it was just the three of us.  And I felt like it was not enough for Isabella.  She wanted all of the interaction all of the time, and clearly seemed upset every time she was left in the house alone.

  

At some point, she learned that no matter the hour turning on the Roomba always got our attention.  (The Roomba was subsequently removed from the charging stand and never used again.)

My sister once again came to the rescue - she had a blind kitten that desperately needed a home.  Were we interested?  

I was. Brian was reluctant, but I convinced him. And so we agreed to adopt the kitten, only to lose her during the pre-adoption spay.  A few days later, while grieving the kitten I never met, I noted that Nova Cat Clinic was hosting two blind kittens up for adoption.  And so Topaz and Quartz joined us, making a quintet.

I thought Isabella would be happy to have two sisters.  But she wasn't.  Quite the opposite, and it took several careful months to blend everyone together.  Eventually she did make peace with each.

***

Our happy family thrived.  Isabella cuddled with us
and learned that she could wake me by walking on my bladder.  

She broke into cabinets and blocked heating vents and attacked the bed when I made it. 

She snuck into the basement because she knew I'd pick her up and carry her back upstairs. She draped herself in awkward places.

At one point she jumped into an old laundry hamper.  For the heck of it, Brian picked it up and walked around and she thought that was great fun.  It became our tradition - the "Gondola ride". At any point I could pull the hamper out and toss it on the floor and she would jump into it and demand a ride.  And we could never say no.

***

We had a scare in 2017 when she was hospitalized with a gall stone.  After a few stressful days, I was faced with a choice between euthanasia and a risky surgery.  I discussed with others and looked at Isabella.  She was up for the fight, and I was too.  And somehow, it all worked out. And our happy life of lounging in ridiculous places or being carried like a tray or battling catnip bananas carried on.

***

Over the past few months, she had been eating less and less, and her weight started to dwindle.  I was concerned, then worried.  The lower it got, the less she ate. Clinic vet visits evolved to urgent care visits for hydration.  We played with different foods, prescription appetite stimulants, antinausea drugs. 

Monday a week ago I came home from work and she did not look good to me.  I took her to urgent care and they ran some bloodwork, noted very high kidney values, and referred us to SouthPaws Criticare.

SouthPaws tried so hard for us, for her.  But by Sunday, I started to process that I was likely going to have to let her go.

***

It was too soon.  But it would never not be too soon.  And it was also becoming too late.  

It took me 48 hours to decide.  And then another 2.5 hours to actually commit at SouthPaws, including multiple conversations with vets, vet techs, a social worker, my sister, and Brian.  And with Izzie. 

I had made the decision before, only to visit Izzie and see that she was still perky and responsive and change my mind.  If she wanted to fight, I was up for it.  We had done this once before.  And she was still so young and what she was fighting was treatable.

And so we fought, with corticosteroids and antibiotics and blood transfusions and hyperbaric oxygen chambers and red blood cell boosting drugs that I had to self-disclose to USADA (I wasn't taking them, but I was in possession). And I delayed the decision.  

But this final visit, she perked up to see us and then slowed back down.  As the visit went on and I discussed and sobbed and discussed and sobbed, it became more obvious that she was tired of fighting.  As Brian noted, she had expended her last bit of energy to greet us.  I committed, signed the forms, and we both stroked her for nearly an hour, whispering to her just how wonderful she was. 

I brought her the hamper and placed her in it, and she lounged contently for a bit of time.

And then she walked over to the wall and lay against it, and I knew she had said good-bye.  And the vet injected her as I scratched her nose and felt her purr.

I had promised to care for her, and I had done so, all the way to the end.

And though it hurts like hell, I don't regret a moment of the last 9.5 years, and I would gladly do it all over again.

Training log - week ending 10/6/2024

This week was 52 miles of running, 3 "miles" of pool-running, and 1000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.

Things were a bit jumbled this week, but I got everything done.   The jumbling started on Tuesday morning - it was a foggy morning before the sun came up, so I basically couldn't see anything.  Which meant that my balance was really tenuous.  Combine that with a right adductor/hamstring that felt a bit tight when I did my strides, and....I decided to push this workout back a day rather than risk another injury. 

[Sadly, I think the pool-running on Monday, though short and with a belt, was what triggered the adductor issue.  I'm going to have to skip pool-running for a few more weeks.]

Of course, I'm also in the midst of another round of PT sessions - once or twice a year I do several weeks in a row of intense PT focused on addressing some of my Parkinsons issues.  I actually really enjoy the PT because it's challenging, it works, and I feel like I've accomplished something after.  However, it is also tiring, both mentally and physically.  This time, I scheduled all my sessions for Tuesday afternoon, which meant that my legs were a bit tired on Wednesday morning.  I had planned on doing 3x1200, 3x400, but I ended stopping after the first 400 when it felt like I might be pushing things a bit far.

The good news about cutting Wednesday short was that I was rested for Friday.  My right leg was a bit "nervy" when I warmed up (meaning I could feel a tight string running down the back of my right leg from hamstring to calf, with some buzzing).  However, I've learned that if I gently work through "nerviness" it goes away, while resting it makes it worse.  So I warmed up carefully and then ran a 4 mile tempo and sure enough the nerviness was gone by the end, and gone on Saturday.

I planned to do a progressive long run on Sunday, but I screwed up my meds.  To explain - I take a med called Rytary several times a day to keep my muscles working decently. Each dose lasts about 4.5 hours (more if I'm not working out) and if I don't take it, my legs (especially quads and ankles) are very stiff and I have no power in my legs. 

Rytary (and all similar meds) have a quirk in that they can't be taken with protein. Basically, one's intestines use the same "gateways" (my own made up term) to absorb protein and the medication, with a preference for protein.  If you eat protein too close to a dose of Rytary, then it's the protein that gets processed while the Rytary passes through.

And of course, clever me overslept slightly this morning, so I ate my morning oatmeal, waited 30 minutes, and took my Rytary.  Forgetting that this brand of oatmeal had a fair amount of protein from chia seed and quinoa.

So...I started my long run and quickly confirmed that legs were not working well today.  I couldn't take a second Rytary because I would have risked too much in my system.  Too little just means I'm very stiff and slow; too much means that muscles are randomly contracting - which is a big injury risk when running.   So I switched my focus to getting the miles in while trying to keep my running form as good as possible.  Since I'm still building my mileage back up, it was still a productive morning.

As for Isabella, who was sick last week?  She's doing better, though not 100%.  Thankfully an ultrasound and an x-ray on Monday did not note any tumors or similar, so it seems that this is some combination of a UTI, pancreatitis, and kidney disease.  None of which are great, but each of which is more manageable than cancer.

Monday: 30 minutes pool-running and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 7.5 miles with a fartlek (warmed up for track workout, and then decided to push it back a day).  Followed with upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening.

Wednesday: 9 miles on the track with a workout of 3x1200, 400 in 5:45, 5:38, 5:33 and then 1:52, with recoveries of 2:4x-3:0x after each 1200.  Followed with leg strengthwork. PT in the afternoon.  Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 5 miles very easy on trails (12:07) and 1000 yards swimming in the morning.  Foam rolling in the evening.

`

Friday: 9 miles on the track including a 6400m tempo in 30:20 (7:43/7:36/7:33/7:28).  Followed with leg strengthwork. Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 9 miles very easy (9:57) and pilates. Foam rolling in evening.

Sunday: 14.5 miles easy to moderate (9:25) followed by injury prevention work.  Foam rolling in evening.

Training log - Week of 9/29/2024

This week was 52 miles of running, 40 minutes of hiking, and 1000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.

This is a very late update to my weekly training log because my cat Isabella spent part of the weekend in urgent care.  She seems to be doing better now, but taking care of her took precedence over several other things, including blogging.  Hopefully she will continue to do well and I'll have more content next week.

Monday: 7 miles (9:35) and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 10 miles on the track with a workout of 6x800 in 3:55, 3:50, 3:45, 3:39, 3:36, 3:34, with recoveries of 2:3x-3:0x after the 800s, and then a relaxed 2x200 in 54 seconds each.  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling in evening.

Wednesday: 8 miles running very easy (10:05) and upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 40 minutes of hiking and 1000 yards swimming in the morning.  Pilates and foam rolling in the evening.

`

Friday: 9 miles on the track including a tempo workout of 3200, 1600 in 15:27 (7:50/7:37) and 7:35 with 6 minutes jog between.  Followed with 4 relaxed 200s in 58, 57, 56, 57.  Followed with leg strengthwork. Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 4 miles very easy (9:35) and upperbody weights/core. Foam rolling in evening.

Sunday: 14 miles slightly progressive (starting at 10:45 and ending at 8:45), followed with injury prevention work.  Foam rolling in evening.

Training log - Week ending 9/22/2024

This week was 46 miles of running, an hour of hiking, and 2000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.

I had twin goals this week (well...every week) of improving my fitness while also working on my weaknesses. One of those weaknesses is downhill running, and I haven't done much of that at all the last few months.  So, I did my Wednesday easy run in an area with some very steep hills (8-12% grade) on the theory that it would make less steep downhills easier.  I'm not sure how valid that theory is, but it seemed worth a try.  The downsides of doing this were a) it was impossible to hold a steady low heartrate, since I was either carefully shuffling my way down or working fairly hard to run up; and b) it was a lot more stress on my body than a normal easy run.  So I may table this plan or limit it to a mile or two in the middle of an easy run.

For fitness, I had planned on Tuesday and Friday workouts, and then a Sunday long run.  However, it's now late enough in the year that the sun doesn't rise until about 10 minutes after the workout has started.  On Tuesday, it's apparent from my splits when the sun rose....

On Friday, I made the mistake of trying to run in super shoes for the first time since May at the same time I was trying to warm up in the dark.  Basically, super shoes reduce one's ability to feel the ground and the resulting proprioception.  And my proprioception is lousy to begin with, meaning that I'm very dependent on my eyesight to know where the ground is.  And of course, I couldn't see well in the dark.  Even after switching back to normal shoes my balance was just completely off, so I pushed the tempo back to Saturday.  

On Saturday I did the tempo in super shoes and also in daylight, and it was hard but doable.  The tempo even was a bit faster than last week's workouts would predict (Saturday's split for a continuous 4800m was faster than the sum of last week's 3200+1600).   One could say that it was because I was wearing super shoes, but right now I honestly think the super shoes slow me down.  (They'll help me more once I get used to running in them again).

Since I planned to take Sunday as my easy non-running day, I did a long cool down on Saturday to get to 12 miles.  12 miles used to be my normal mileage for a workout day, so it was odd to have it feel like a long run on Saturday.  But hopefully I'll get back to that level of fitness.

Next week I'll try for an interval workout, a tempo, and a long run.  I'll do the interval workout with the team in normal shoes (since it starts in the dark) and the tempo by myself in super shoes after the sun rises.

Monday: 6 miles (9:47) and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 9 miles on track with a workout of 2x800, 1600, 2x800 in 3:55, 3:47, 7:27, 3:36, 3:36 recoveries of 5:44 after the 1600 and 2:5x-3:0x after each 800.  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling in evening.

Wednesday: 6 miles running very easy (10:54) on steep hills plus 1000 yards swimming.  Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 6 miles very easy (11:16) on trails in the morning.  Pilates and foam rolling in the evening.

`

Friday: 7 on the track with a warm-up fartlek and the first half-mile of a tempo.  Followed with upper body strengthwork and core. Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 12 miles, including a 5K tempo on the track in 23:38 (7:45/7:33/7:24/0:55) followed by leg strenghtwork. Foam rolling in evening.

Sunday: 1 hour hiking and 1000 yards swimming. Foam rolling in evening.

Training log - Week ending 9/15/2024

This week was 44 miles of running, 4.5 miles of walking, and 1500 yards of swimming -- training log is here.

Almost a full week's worth of training.  Two track workouts (the second better than the first) but no real long run for a combination of reasons including scheduling.  Switching my recovery day from pool-running to walking/hiking/swimming has made it tough to schedule my recovery day on Monday (when I also have to go into the office).  However, if I'm going to do long runs, I'm either going to have to figure out a non-pool-running recovery plan for Monday, carefully reintroduce pool-running, or move the track workouts around so that I can do my long run on Saturday.

I had another PT evaluation this week, with the revelation that my glutes and hamstrings are notably weaker than my quads.  So much for my theory that I needed to get my quads stronger. I do think that some of this is because I really backed off of the squats and barbell lunges while my hip was healing.  So I've added those back in, plus some regular deadlifts and prone hamstring curls for the hamstrings, and banded glute pull-backs for the glutes.

On the track, I'm focusing on running with my glutes only, while keeping the rest of my body as relaxed as possible.  It seems to be working so far - I just need to regain fitness.

Monday: 7 miles (10:00) and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 8.5 miles on track with a workout of 1600, 4x800 in 7:47, 3:52, 3:51, 3:46, 3:44; recoveries of 5:14 after the 1600 and 2:36 after each 800.  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Sports massage in evening.

Wednesday: 1 mile walking on trails and 4.5 miles running very easy (11:13) on trails plus 500 yards swimming.  Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 7 miles very easy (9:43) in the morning.  Pilates and foam rolling in the evening.

`

Friday: 7 on the track (9:38) including a workout of 3200, 1600 in 15:26 (7:49/7:37) and 7:27 with 5:27 recovery between.  Followed with leg strengthwork. Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 10 miles very easy on the towpath (10:00) and upperbody weights/core. Covid and flu vaccinations in the afternoon; foam rolling in evening.

Sunday: Walking and cheering at the DC Half-Marathon (3.5 miles), followed by 1000 yards swimming. Foam rolling in evening.

Training log - Week ending 9/8/2024

This week was 31 miles of running, 3:50 hours hiking on trails, 30 minutes on the arc-trainer and 2500 yards of swimming -- training log is here.

More cross-training this week to make up for missing miles.  Since pool-running is currently not an option for easy-day cross training (too much stress on a healing pelvic floor) and the arc-trainer is also out (too hard for an easy day) I went with a mix of hiking and swimming.  The hiking gets me moving at a relatively low intensity while also working on my dynamic balance and the swimming is good for my lungs and can also sub in for upper-body lifting.  I also tried a few careful miles of trail running, which demonstrated that I need to relearn that skill.

[I should also note that I use hiking and trail walking interchangeably because I'm honestly not sure what the distinction is.  Except that hiking sounds more impressive.  I guess it's like running versus jogging.]

I took my first stab at a track workout on Saturday.  I had planned to do this on Friday, and then I screwed up and took my meds at the wrong time and my gait was a mess on Friday morning, so I pushed stuff back to Saturday.  

The workout itself went better than I had expected.  Given how I've felt when doing strides, I sincerely doubted my ability to run much faster than 8:00 pace to start.  But my splits ended up significantly faster than that.  The secret to satisfaction is, as always, low expectations.

Since it was my first workout back, I limited myself to four 800s, which felt like plenty.  Then I swapped to the arc-trainer for 10 reps of 1 minute hard/ 1 minute easy (1/2 of a normal arc-trainer workout).  My hip felt fine the next morning, which was a good sign.  For the next workout, I'll try for a solid 3 miles of work.  I'm keeping stuff on the track for the next week or two, and then will start adding some hills back in.

Monday: 80 minutes of hiking and 500 yards swimming.  Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 7 miles on track (9:29) - mostly easy but with a warm-up fartlek (3:00, 4x0:30, 4x0:10) and four hill strides.  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Streaming yoga and foam rolling in evening.

Wednesday: 5 miles very easy (9:51) plus 4 hill sprints and 1000 yards swimming.  Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 1 hour walking on trails and 3 miles very easy on trails (11:29).  Pilates and foam rolling in the evening.

`

Friday: 5.5 miles very easy on the track (9:38) plus upper-body weights/core.  Later did another 2.5 miles very easy (9:40) plus 4 hill strides.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 8 miles including a track workout of 4x800 in 3:44, 3:42, 3:40, 3:38, with 2:4x recovery between each, followed by 30 minutes on the arc-trainer with a workout of 10x1:00 hard/1:00 easy, and then leg strengthwork. Foam rolling in evening.

Sunday: 90 minutes hiking and 1000 yards swimming. Foam rolling in evening.

Training log - Week ending 9/1/2024

This week was 33 miles of running, 2:30 on the arc-trainer and 9 "miles" of pool-running  plus some walking on trails-- training log is here.

This week was less pool-running and more arc-trainer-ing.  I also really pulled my mileage back at first to let the muscle get a bit less angry before rebuilding.

The good news is that my hip felt good by the weekend (I guess it really was the pool-running that was aggravating it).  The only discomfort I had was some annoying buzzing down my right leg, which I know is just the sciatic nerve taking its time to calm down.  The bad news was that I had very little power in my legs when I tried to run a bit faster on Sunday.  I've got work to do there.

I also realized by the end of the week that, for me at least, the arc-trainer is not a good substitute for an easy run.  This is because I have to work somewhat hard to keep the pedals moving, meaning that any arc-trainer run is always at least a moderate effort (I can reduce the resistance more, but at some point the pedals are just floating around and it becomes difficult to use the machine). Doing a portion of every run on the arc-trainer means that I never get a truly easy day - not good.  So, I'm going to limit my arc-trainer use to the 2-3 days of each week that are dedicated to hard workouts.

Monday: 7 "miles" pool-running and upperbody weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 2 miles very easy on track (9:57) and 60 minutes on the arc-trainer, including a workout of 8x3:00 with 2:15 recovery.  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Sports massage in evening.

Wednesday: 4 miles very easy on track (9:31) and 40 minutes on the arc-trainer.  Yoga and foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 40 minutes walking on trails and 40 minutes on the arc-trainer in the morning.  Pilates and foam rolling in the evening.

`

Friday: 6 miles very easy on the track (9:55) and 45 minutes on the arc-trainer with a workout of 20x1:00 very hard/1:00 easy.  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 4 miles very easy (9:25) on track, an hour of walking on trails, and upper body weights/core. Foam rolling in evening.

Sunday: 6 miles on the track, mostly very easy but with a very casual fartlek to see if I could get my legs moving faster (9:39) and then 45 minutes on the arc-trainer with a workout of 20x1:00 very hard/1:00 easy.  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling in evening.

Training log - Week ending 8/25/2024

This week was 33 miles of running, 2:30 on the arc-trainer and 9 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

And of course, just when I thought I'd "turned the corner" my obturator flared up again.  In this case I think the cause was a) being a bit more aggressive with the hill repeats on Friday combined with b) doing a move in Pilates on Saturday that eccentrically stresses the internal rotators.  In any event, my hip was crampy on Sunday morning, and so a planned 10-12 miles became 7 tentative miles plus a shift to the arc-trainer.  So that was annoying.  Two steps forward, one step back...

Regarding the arc-trainer: I used to be a fan of them a decade ago, but had moved away from them - mostly because I didn't have any injuries that required me to use one.  But now that I'm stuck in rehab land (and have been for several weeks) I think I'm going to use it more and limit my pool-running to once a week.  

I've got a few reasons for shifting from pool-running to arc-trainer right now:

1) I'm worried about losing my lower legs' strength and ability to handle impact - while the arc-trainer isn't high impact, it is at least weight-bearing, so it's a bit closer to the impact of land running.

2) One of the causes of my obturator issue seems to be a hypertonic (i.e., always contracted) pelvic floor, and I'm working to break that habit.  I've noticed that I have to contract my pelvic floor and keep it contracted to pool-run, so essentially pool-running forces me to do something I'm trying to practice doing less.

3) Another possible side benefit of the arc-trainer is that it may improve my stride.  One issue I have to manage when I run is that my quads always want to contract and straighten my knee.  This makes it pretty hard to not overstride - I have to focus to bring my foot under me, and as soon as I lose focus, I'm overstriding again.  

Using the arc-trainer at most inclines forces my knee to bend and my foot to land under me.  It feels very awkward, but then again, not overstriding when running feels very awkward also.  I've also noticed that my quads get very fatigued quickly when I'm on the arc-trainer because I'm using them in a different way when I bend my knee more.

My hunch is that because my tendency now is to run with little knee flexion, my quads have become stronger in that position and weaker when I bend my knees.  Which just reinforces my tendency to run with nearly straight legs and overstride.  So...if I can get the legs stronger and more comfortable in moving with a bent knee (and strengthen the quads in that position), perhaps that will improve my running stride.

Monday: 9 "miles" pool-running and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 7 miles very easy (10:02) and upper body weights/core. Foam rolling in evening.

Wednesday: 3 miles very easy (9:53) and 40 minutes on the arc-trainer, with a workout of 7x4:00 on, 1:12 off.  Followed with leg strengthwork. Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 6 miles very easy (9:51).  Pilates and foam rolling in the evening.

`

Friday: 8 miles with 7 careful Iwo Jima hills (2:30 at a moderate effort up a 2% slope with about 3 minutes jogging recovery.  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 2 miles very easy (10:02) on track, 40 minutes on arc-trainer and streaming pilates. Foam rolling in evening.

Sunday: 7 miles very easy (10:02), 70 minutes on arc-trainer, and injury prevention work.  Foam rolling in evening.

Training log - Week ending 8/18/2024

This week was 37 miles of running, 30 minutes on the arc-trainer/stairclimber, and 9 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

My overall mileage (land+pool) was a lot lower than I would have liked - in large part because I'm running more and it's very hard to fit in both pool-running and running if I'm not running right by the pool.  This was balanced out by a careful return to faster running and increasing the mileage of my runs, so I was generally happy with the week.

I started testing things on Monday by trying my standard warm-up fartlek (3:00, 4x0:30, and 4x0:10).  Normally I target half-marathon effort, 5k effort, and mile effort for those segments, but this time I settled for "anything faster than easy pace" - I just wanted to test stuff out.  That felt clumsy but safe, so I did a careful hill workout on Friday.  

One frustrating thing about Parkinsons is that I forget physical skills very easily, and running fast is a different skill from running slow.  Because I've continued to run easy over the past few weeks, I remember how to run easy.  But I can tell that I've forgotten how to run fast.  Hills force one to run with good form, and so I'm doing hills for my intervals to relearn fast running mechanics.

I finished off the week with my longest run in a while - 10 miles.  My hip held up very well, so I think I've turned a corner on this.  Now it's a matter of carefully increasing the load each week.

As for the hip injury - I think it might be helpful to outline exactly what it was (and what it wasn't), in case it's ever helpful to someone else.

Essentially, I had an irritated/spasming obturator muscle.  Most people have never heard of this muscle, but you do use it in running.  It's two of the "deep 6" rotator muscles - the most famous of those muscles is the piriformis.  (I say two because there's an obturator internus and an obturator externus - they get treated as one muscle for my purposes).

The obturator is lower on the hip than the piriformis - it wraps around your sit bone (ischial tuberosity) and attaches to the femur.  It stabilizes the femur in the hip socket.  It is also one of the pelvic floor muscles, which is why I was referred to a pelvic floor specialist to get it calmed down.

Obturator issues can be really confusing and hard to diagnose.  For one thing, both the obturator nerve and the sciatic nerve are adjacent to this muscle, so when it spasms it can irritate those nerves and refer pain all over the hip.  

And...because the obturator wraps around the sit bone (where the hamstring attaches) a sore obturator is very easy to confuse with high hamstring tendonitis.  Both cause pain when you flex your hip and stretch your hamstring.  There are two ways to tell the two apart.  

The first way is that the pain of a sore obturator feels horizontal and is most painful on each side of the sit bone. In contrast, high hamstring pain feels more vertical and is centered on and just below the sit bone.  

The second way is pretty easy: do a weighted hamstring curl or reverse plank or something else that contracts the hamstring without flexing at the hip.  If you are completely pain-free while contracting your hamstring against heavy resistance, then your problem is very likely not your hamstring, but another muscle in that sit bone area.  And the obturator is a solid candidate in that case.

At this point, my obturator muscle isn't damaged.  It was just spasming for a while and had several trigger points as a result.  Now that those trigger points have been addressed and it's no longer spasming, there's no real problem with the muscle.  However, my body is still sensitized to that area and hyper-reactive.  The best solution to that is exactly what I am doing - carefully re-introducing stress to the area so that it resets.

Monday: 5 miles mostly very easy (9:20) on the track with a short and careful fartlek and 30 minutes on the arc-trainer with a workout of 5x4 minutes hard with 75 seconds recovery.  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 8 "miles" pool-running and streaming yoga. Foam rolling in evening.

Wednesday: 7 miles very easy (9:50) and upper body weights/core. Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 4 miles very easy (9:55) and 20 minutes of hiking, followed by upperbody weights/core. Foam rolling in the evening.

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Friday: 7 miles with 6 careful Iwo Jima hills (2:30 at a moderate effort up a 2% slope with about 3 minutes jogging recovery.  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 4 miles very easy (9:50) on track and streaming pilates. (also got my first shingles vaccination). Foam rolling in evening.

Sunday: 10 miles very easy (10:02), 1 "mile" pool-running, and injury prevention work.  Foam rolling in evening.

Training log - Week ending 8/11/2024

This week was 22 miles of running, 15 minutes of rowing, 1:20 of on eliptical/arc-trainer/stairclimber, and 26 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

Another week of mixing running and cross-training.   My hip felt better but still needed work, so I had a second visit with the pelvic floor specialist.  In the meantime, I kept mixing easy running with cross-training volume and some cross-training workouts - shorter intervals on Tuesday and longer intervals on Saturday.

The hip felt better after the second session - since I thought I might have been too aggressive after last Friday's appointment, this time I cross-trained on Saturday before a few cautious miles on Sunday.  My hip was sore for the first mile, and then better.

At this point, I think that the remaining pain is mostly nerve pain that needs to be worked through (several nerves, including the sciatic and obturator nerves, touch on the obturator. I tend to protect that hip, which makes it stiff, which irritates the nerve.  So I need to unwind that. 

Monday: 9 "miles" pool-running and upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 6 miles very easy on gentle hills (9:41) and 5 "miles" of pool-running, including a workout of 8x3:00hard with 60 seconds of recovery, followed with leg strengthwork. Massage in evening.

Wednesday: 4 miles very easy on track (9:28) and 6 "miles" of pool-running. Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 8 miles very easy on the track (9:35), followed by upperbody weights/core. Foam rolling in the evening.

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Friday: 15 minutes of rowing intervals.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 1 hour on the arc-trainer, including a workout of 4x7:00 hard with 3:00 recovery.  Followed with 20 minutes easy on elliptical and 10 minutes easy on stair-climber (to mix up the stresses on the legs).   Later, did upper body weights/core and foam rolling.

Sunday: 4 miles very easy (9:51) and 6 "miles" pool-running.  Foam rolling in evening.