Another shot to the hip

In a few days, it will mark one year since I had my left hip operated on and although I think the operation was very successful, it has taken a lot longer than I expected to get back to full running health again.

This weeks mileage:
Monday: 3 miles Mine Falls Trail 5k race.
While it was a very hot evening and I did run fasert than my two previous times on the course this year, I felt like I was fighting my body and hip the whole way. I have so much respect for out of shape or recovering runners these days. I was completed knocked out after finishing the race and it was not even at a pace I am used to doing marathon races in. I have felt better finishing marathons than I felt after this effort.
Tuesday: 0 miles running/ 8 miles biking
Wednesday: 5 miles running-3 miles walking home.
 I should know that when I am moving like a 100 year old man on the first mile of a run that I should just stop and go home. I tried to loosen up, but it didn't happen and my body just stopped at 5 miles. Even walking wasn't comfortable.
Thursday: 12 miles biking
I got so fed up with the tightness around my hip that I called my surgeons's office. When I got to his assistant she wanted to know what was wrong. She asked what the doctor had said about my hip post surgery. I told her that he said there was minimal arthritis for someone my age. Then she said, "Well this might be as good as it is going to get!" WHAT? Then she pulled up my records and pictures and said that, "No, my hip looked pretty good." She signed me up for a cortisone shot in the hip for the next day. She said that they would work from the inside out, first check out the hip, then the ligaments around it, and then most likely my psoas. I feel like it is the ligaments and psoas that keep tightening up on me so that is a good start. I also set up an early September appointment with the surgeon.
Friday: 8 miles biking
I went for the shot down at Newton-Wellesley Hospital. It was an injection of Marcaine (numbing agent) and Celestone (cortisone). I was told that the cortisone may not work for a week or two in bringing down the inflammation but that the shot may dry out or take moisture out of the joint. This is curious, because when I had a cortisone injection 1 1/2 years ago to check if I had a labral tear, I felt great for about 5 days and ran two fast 8 milers, unfortunately the next day the medicine wore off and I had to walk home in the middle of an 8 miler. That is what confirmed the labral tear, so I thought the cortisone worked quickly. Anyhow, unlike the first injection, I got a reaction from this one. That evening I had a big headache and my face was all hot. All my joints on the left side that often go out of whack, lit up and I did not sleep at all that night.

Saturday 8 mile bike then 8 mile run (fastest 8 miles since surgery a year earlier-by almost 3 minutes and I was holding back-and even faster than those two 8 miles from the last injection).
I got up after no sleep in the morning and worked on the computer. After awhile I had this incredible urge to stretch my hip. It was almost jumping at me. I got up and did half of the stretch I felt like doing and "POP" went my hip. From then on, my hip felt loose and juicy. It did not feel stuck at all. I was tired in the afternoon and went for a bike first to see if the hip was really loose and to get it working. Then I went for an 8 mile run. I felt fantastic. Everything was in balance. Did all the joints aching the previous night mean they were letting go of tension and then the hip let go with the pop? I had a real loose stride and had to slow down the run so as not to overdue things, but it felt great. I just rolled down the road and felt like a real runner again. I could have kept running when I was done and I had no limping or soreness upon finishing. I don't know what happened, but certainly there is less pressure and confinement in my hip so it can move better. I have also been taking Aleve at the doctor's suggestion. If I could run like that for the rest of my life, I would be a very happy person.

Sunday: 8 mile bike- 4 mile run
The run was rougher today. I made a good effort yesterday and so I  and the muscles around my hip were tired. I think the hip joint was good, but some of my muscle imbalances were back. I look forward to see how this will play out in the next week or two.

Total miles: 20 miles running / 44 miles biking

One of the readers of this blog, Mike down in Texas, told me about this quirky book he had been reading on Vitamin D called  THE MIRACULOUS RESULTS OF EXTREMELY HIGH DOSES OF THE SUNSHINE HORMONE VITAMIN D3 MY EXPERIMENT WITH HUGE DOSES OF D3 FROM 25,000 to 50,000 to 100,000 IU A Day OVER A 1 YEAR PERIOD a couple of weeks ago. I noticed that the Kindle edition is now free on Amazon so if you are looking for a thought-provoking read this may interest you. The author is somewhat a free and radical thinker with a lot of creativity. He makes some interesting observations and tests his ideas on himself. I have been reading the book and finding it interesting, particularly since I was found to be low in Vitamin D this year already. The author talks about his theories and makes claims that large doses of Vitamin D can help tired out ligaments and joints recover. 

Update:
This new book from the author of The Entrepreneurial Patient blog is a must read book for anyone with hip problems and is thinking about about arthroscopic hip surgery or has had arthroscopic hip surgery for a labral tear or FAI.