Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Bummed out

About two months back I proclaimed that by the time October rolled around, "I'll either be in 2:24 shape or very very injured." Well, call me Moses because as of October 1 both of those prophecies came true, apparently at the same time.

As I was finishing a workout with my 'mates around the BC Res last Tuesday night I felt two things: elation at the ease with which I was able to execute the intervals, along with a sharp pain in my lower back - just above my left butt cheek - toward the end of the workout. The former feeling was quickly overtaken by the latter as I was forced to cut my cooldown short because of the sharp, stabbing sensation surfacing with every stride.

Bottom line is I haven't run in over a week, minus 2 measly miles on the grass at Balboa Park in San Diego this past Saturday. In the meantime I've been mixing water workouts with 60-minute sessions on the spin bike in an effort to maintain some semblance of the hard-earned fitness I've busted my butt for over the past 12 weeks. And yes, the pun there was indeed intended.

I'd best describe my mindset right now as optimistically pessimistic - optimistic because if we can get this thing figured out sooner than later I'm confident I can still run in the 2:24-range 10 days from now at Bay State; pessimistic because my current symptoms eerily resemble those of the stress fracture of two years ago and aren't improving efficiently enough to leave me feeling even the least bit encouraged.

At this point I'm just doing what I can do, controlling the things I can control and que sera sera.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've been checking your log daily since last week, hoping for some good news at some point. Man, I am so disappointed for you if you can't get to the starting line. Hope you find out your status soon. Keep me informed, and good luck.
Greg

Anonymous said...

Hey Mario,

Jeff Hayes here, from Stonehill. I'm in the exact same position as you are right now. I was in great shape and I was ready as of two weeks ago to run the Hartford Marathon this Saturday. Then on an easy 6-mile run 2 weeks ago, I felt a pain in my lower back/hip area. I got a bone scan done yesterday, and it looks like a stress fracture. The past two weeks have seen me hobbling around, without being able to run at all. So I'm starting the pool workouts and as much as I can to get back out there running as soon as I can.

Anyway, I know how you're feeling and hope you can push through this and run well at Bay State.

Good luck!

Jeff

DoubleJ said...

Happened to Dunham in late August...fractured sacrum (in 2 places)...same symptoms... He's still aqua jogging and will be for another few weeks... hopefully for you it isn't the same though... Hope to see you on the line at Baystate and then watch the back of your uniform for a few miles (if I'm lucky) before you're out of my sights ;)...

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear about your troubles. Good luck with the cross training and drink a lot of milk.

Kevin

Anonymous said...

bummer...find a pool near you with a diving well that you can use for aquajogging to tide you over man, and good luck

JARRIN said...

What's the word coach? Hope it's not that which will not be named. Call me...

- JARRIN

rubensanca said...

Hey man,

I've been a reader of your blog for a long time. I was looking forward to seeing you run at our local bay state marathon. I hope you can recover soon and be ready for the race.
-Ruben Sanca

Anonymous said...

left sacral fracture as well as L3-5 left transverse fractures, from a fall on black ice in early March. Seeing a PT, who says I have SI joint dysfunction. From what I see in the diagrams, SI joint pain is in the upper midline portion of the butt cheek> My pain is squarely in the the middle of my left butt cheek, radiating down my left leg. Help> Running even a few steps is excruciating in my butt and left leg.