Getting Back into the Swing of Training. . . for Now

One month ago I had a steroid shot in my right hip prior to an MRI, which diagnosed me with a labral tear and cam impingement. The following three or so days my right hip was sore, but since then it has been as good as new!

I have actually gotten back into the swing of training–for the time being. Unfortunately the effects from the steroid shot won’t last forever. From what I’ve been told, the diminished pain could last 1-2 months but at most 3 months. So for the time being, I’m running as much as I can (within reason) and enjoying every pain-free run and the chance to run faster! Although nowhere near as fast as I was last spring. I made the mistake of trying to run my old tempo pace (6:20 minutes/mile) on the treadmill earlier this week. Yeah, that didn’t go so well; I was dying after a quarter mile. (In comparison, I used to run that tempo pace for up to 20 minutes at a time.) However, I am incredibly thankful I am able to run pain-free right now. I will happily put in the work to get back to where I was if I can continue to run pain-free.

Friday afternoon I went for a 4 mile easy run with Cullen in the stroller. He was excited to go, which made me happy that he still enjoys riding in the stroller. It was pretty cold out with temps right at 20*F. He did okay until the last half mile when his hands and feet started to get cold.

When we got back home, we warmed up on the couch by watching some of the movie Elf and having popcorn–two of his favorite things right now.

As we were running, the sun was starting to set at 4:00 p.m. It was pretty but far too early.

Earlier in the day I had an appointment with Alec Kay at United Physical Therapy. I wanted to get some good exercises for my hip whether I opt for surgery or not. He works with a lot of runners, so I knew I could trust him to give me some good exercises to strengthen my hip in the meantime. He gave me a lot of glute strengthening exercises, which should help strengthen the stabilizer muscles in my hip.

During “naptime,” I worked on the rest of our Christmas cards and got them all sent out. Cullen is very sporadic with his naps these days. I’m lucky if he naps 2 or 3 times each week. This week he took one nap. He pretty much only naps if he gets less than 10 hours of sleep at night. On the days he doesn’t nap, he’s ready for bed by 7:00/7:30 p.m., and he will sleep 12 hours straight, so it evens out in the end, but I do miss my break in the afternoon. I will have him do quiet time in his crib if he doesn’t nap, but it is not the same as when he does actually sleep.

I had to share a meal that I have been loving lately. After keeping track of my food intake last spring as I worked down to get to race-weight for Grandma’s Marathon, I quickly learned I have a hard time getting enough protein. I am working on it again and focusing on lean proteins at every meal. I had this dish for breakfast or lunch nearly every day this week. It includes: onions, potatoes (from our garden), peppers, caribou (that Craig got this fall), egg, and quinoa. It tastes so good and really fills me up.

If you missed it, you can watch Cullen and I make our Christmas Tree Veggie Appetizer on KTVA’s Daybreak as part of their Recipe Box series.