December 2nd through December 8th

Sunday, December 2nd
4 easy miles on lightly snow covered trail in Belchertown, MA with Kelsey, Dave, Vicki, and Rocco the bulldog.  I immediately had some serious soreness in my legs. I had new pain today in my left leg below the knee.  I'm hopeful that this is just a weird post long run pain.

While nothing good physical happened in today's run, I was pretty impressed to see this English Bulldog bang out 4 miles..impressive!

Monday, December 3rd
am 15 minute stretching sequence
pm 5 miles...started off running comfortably and soreness/pain progressively appeared.  I had to stop and walk a few times.  Areas of pain included the right hip and that below knee leg pain.  My assumption is that all of this is due to weakness in the Iliopsoas.  Needless to say, taking some time off.

Tuesday, December 4th
0 miles

am  15 minute stretching sequence
pm 45 minute core routine...pushups, medicine ball twists, controlled body weight squats, etc.

Even without running, I could feel soreness as I moved around throughout the day.  I will rest up, stretch, and strengthen.  Hoping I don't have to completely shutdown, but I need to address whatever is going on before it gets worse.

Wednesday, December 5th
am-30 minute ride on a stationary bike.  Starting off feeling soreness in hip and leg, but felt better after warming up.
pm-stretch, core work, bench press, bent over rows, etc.

Thursday, December 6th
60 minute stretch

Friday, December 7th
0..

Saturday, December 8th
Big Core Day..
Started off with some plyometric drills for my hip at a walking pace on my treadmill.  I followed that up with a blazing 8 minute mile..the mile was to warmup but also to help me determine more about my injury. After getting off the machine, I decided to work the core by doing all kinds of planks for 20 minutes.  I then decided it was time to try to be a muscle man.  I alternated sets of body weight squats with a bench press/push-up combination..ended up doing 4 sets of this sequence.  I got up with 5X185lbs on the bench without too much struggle and was pleasantly surprised.  Immediately after finishing a set on the bench, I'd bang out 15 push-ups for cardio purposes.

All in all, this was a fun workout but it is NOT running.

Weekly Synposis
Miles: 10
Core/Stretch: lots

So from a running standpoint, this week was really bad.   The pain I had Sunday and Monday gave me a clear sign that it was time to shut it down and work to heal up for 2013.  I'm hopeful that the stretching and core work will help heal me up and ultimately make me a better runner.  At this point, I'm not getting check by a medical professional because they generally advise me to stop running and inform me about all of the "ills" of my sport.  If the pain continues, that's another story.