Happy National Dog Week!

National Dog week started on September 25th.

My dog, Emmy is a small Yorkshire Terrier.  She's too small to run with me, but she love to cuddle during my stretches after a long run.   Emmy is also good at providing motivation during planks, pushups and squats by lying under me.  If I fall, I'll fall on her.  Maybe she's a little too trusting...

Coach Emmy keeping me up during my squats

Do you run with your dog?  How far?

The Prognosis

"You're weak."  Not exactly what I thought I'd hear from the doctor when I went to have my hips checked.   But after a physical exam, the doc's conclusion is that my hip pain is caused by a minor strain.  The strain is caused by having weak abs, gluts and abductors (the muscles in the hip responsible for moving your leg to the side).  He suggested physical therapy, which I start today.  He also recommended that I use KT tape on the hip so that I can continue running without pain.

This is mostly good news.  It sucks to have pain.  The doctor said I can keep running as long as there isn't too much pain.  I went out for 3 mile yesterday in my Brooks Pureflows and pain was minimal.  It looks like I'll be able to keep training as normal, I'll just have to include more strength work.  I'll describe the physical therapy exercises after my session.

When I can't run, I get irritable.  After a weekend of rest, I found myself feeling stressed out and cranky by Sunday night.  Everyone around me should be relieved that a long rest is not a part of the doctor's orders!

Ouch! My hip!

I've been having pain on and off on the outside of my right hip for the past month.  I've tried the following at home remedies which have helped to relieve the pain to some extent:

• Sports massage: I've had two 30 minute massages which have focused on that hip.  After each one, the pain subsides until I try to run fast again.
• Foam rolling: I've rolled my glutes and quads to loosen up the IT band and the piriformis.  At the suggestion of my massage therapist I've also picked up some lacrosse balls to massage the bonier areas of my hip that I can't get with the foam roller.
• Strengthening: Squats, lunges, monster walk, and frequent planks to try to strengthen the hips and abs.

Last week I had a sport massage on Wednesday.  I then ran 5 miles on Thursday morning and felt fine. Friday night I went out for an easy three mile run.  About halfway through, my hip was killing me.  

My hip continued to hurt Saturday morning.  Although I was looking forward to running the Fifth Avenue Mile on Saturday, my long term goal is to complete the Goofy Challenge.  I didn't want to risk running through the pain and making it worse so I skipped the race.

I've only felt pain from runs after wearing my Vibram SeeYas.  Note, not all runs with them cause hip pain.  I haven't felt the hip pain after wearing my Brooks Pureflows though.  

I'm planning to experiment with shoes a bit.  I'll wear only the Pureflows for two weeks to see if I feel less pain.

Also, I'm going to a sports medicine doctor tonight just to make sure nothing is terribly wrong.  Update to come!

Playlist: NYRR 5th Avenue Mile

NYRR's 5th Avenue Mile is a twenty block run down 5th avenue.  As an endurance runner, I never run just one mile.  This race is particularly fun because I can go all out to see just how fast I can complete the mile.  Last year my time was 7:52.  I've sped up a lot since then so I'm excited to see just how I'll do!

The playlist (at nine minutes):

Dog Days Are Over  Florence + The Machine
Bionic  Placebo

Audiobook Review: Hyperion

Dan Simmons' Hyperion is about a group of seven pilgrims on a journey to the world Hyperion.  Along the way they share stories with one another about why each of them is going to Hyperion.  The novel therefore is a collection of short stories within a larger story.  The short stories are somewhat interrelated, and you learn quite a bit about the world and the mysteries of Hyperion while listening to them.

The book was ok as a background to runs.  The back and forth between character stories and events that occur during their journey make this not well suited to the audiobook format as its difficult to go back and reference earlier portions of the book.  Most of the characters weren't very likable, and there was little suspense leaving me eager to listen for more.  The book is twenty hours long which took me about a month to get through.   I've decided not to continue with the series right now as I'm just not interested in the story.

Recap: Fitness Mind, Body, Spirit Games

Saturday's Fitness Mind, Body, Spirit Games 4 mile race was comprised of two races, one for men and one for women.  Because of this, I got to be a spectator during the men's race.  The course was horseshoe shaped, starting on the east side of Central Park and finishing on the west side.  A festival area setup in the middle of the park had handouts (Fitness Magazine and raisins) and an area for yoga.

The fastest men getting ready to go.

Alek off to a strong start!

After I saw Alek pass me at the start, I walked over to the finish line.  The winner finished in just under 20 minutes.  It was fun to watch all of the runners approach the finish.  Alek set a PR for his race at 34:53 with an 8:44 pace.

Looking strong approaching the finish

Now it was time for me to head back to the east side for my start.  The pressure was on to keep a faster pace than Alek.  After all, I've been running for 21 months, he can't catch me after less than a year!  My goal was to finish in 32 minutes, Alek pointed out that it wouldn't be easy for me to do.  I accepted the challenge and completed in 32:11!  I was eleven seconds off my goal, but thrilled with a new PR nonetheless!  

Finishing strong!

This was a fun race with gorgeous fall weather.  Full race results for the men's and women's races are available on NYRR's site.

Playlist: Fitness Mind, Body, Spirit Games

Tomorrow NYRR will hold the Men's and Women's (separate races) Fitness Mind, Body, Spirit Games in Central Park.  For this 4 mile race I went with a playlist theme of strong and sexy.  The list is 40 minutes long.  On a cool September morning, I expect to be quite a bit faster than that though.

Here it is:


Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt We Are Scientists
What Makes You Beautiful One Direction
I'm Too Sexy Right Said Fred
SexyBack  Justin Timberlake
Titanium (feat. Sia) David Guetta & Sia
Stronger Kanye West
Sexy And I Know It LMFAO
Sexy Bitch (feat. Akon) David Guetta
S&M Rihanna
Hips Don't Lie (featuring Wyclef Jean)  Shakira
Baby Got Back   Sir Mix-a-lot