Tuesday, January 25, 2011

The State of the Red Fox

To coincide with tonight's State of the Union address, and with GRC's own State of the GRC, it's about time to update everyone on how I've been feeling and what my game plan is here on out.

I haven't run for two weeks and during that time I've been to the chiropractor 5 times. I have been doing prescribed core stretches 1-2x per day...but what's next?

UPDATE: the chiro found my blog, so now I need to be sure not to say anything that might upset him. Most of the talk on here is said in jest and once people know me, they understand that's the case.

GOOD NEWS: after a 16-day hiatus, I've been instructed to run on Saturday before my next chiro appointment. So, I will run 20-25 minutes and then step into the office to see whether the various core stretches and sessions have been having the desired affect and see just how banged up, or not, I am.

I've been feeling pretty good and have experienced ZERO pain in my area of injury. Outside from the chiro sessions, I've had very little pain in my right upper quad as well. If I don't feel any pain during my Saturday run that's naturally a good sign, but I often don't have pain on many of my runs anyway. I think of myself like a train rolling down the tracks. When you're on the tracks the train runs smooth. If you're off the track, the train might still be able to move forward especially if you're going at a great speed (ie - mileage/work), but it certainly isn't easy going. What I'm looking forward to hearing (knowing) is more about how my biomechanics worked during the run and whether I'm staying "on track". This analogy isn't perfect, but it works to a degree.

My boss pulled me into his office last week and asked whether I still had any travel restrictions due to heaving training and weekend racing, a la last spring. Sadly, I did not and I told him so. I've since been renewed at work and soon it appears as if I'll be dispatched to the West for a couple of weeks of filming. Details are still sketchy, but naturally there won't be any chiro sessions so I'll need try and do the appropriate core/strengthening work there. This is sort of okay as whatever running I'll be doing will be light.

From here I look forward. Past the last throes of winter, past the cherry blossoms and into the warm months of early summer. Despite my quipping and my questioning, I'm still confident in a full comeback. There are definitely days when I shake my head in frustration (mainly when finishing up a bad run), but I'm enlightened and elated when those who know more than me tell me that everything will be okay and that I will come back. Even if they said I was doomed, I'd still press forward and hope for a miracle, but given that they're confident, that makes me all the more so.

Once I get back into running pain-free, the next big hurdle will be the frustrating battle of getting back into shape. After I "retired" from running in 2002/2003, it took me 4 years to crawl back into the shape I was once in and then another year to take down all the PRs from my college days. However, that's a battle I'm looking forward to fighting...but first, I have another battle to wage...

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