Injuries

All about my injuries and the things I learn from them. I think the main thing I’ve learned so far is that it’s better to not get injured in the first place.

08
Mar

Soleus Injury – Right Leg

My marathon training has been going well. On Saturday I had a run-bike brick, and it felt absolutely wonderful. I’ve been studying up on nutrition/diet and at what point to eat what things before, during, and after workouts, and I think it’s making a difference. But of course just when things start going really well, that’s when the injuries come.…

31
Dec

Left Anterior Deltoid

Mommy, I hurt my arm.

So the other day I was swimming, freestyle, and everything felt fine. I had swam about 1,000 meters, not as hard as I could, but at a decent clip, perhaps 5-10% harder than normal, and all of a sudden my left arm, on the front, in between my shoulder and elbow, but more towards the…

28
Sep

The Case of the Clicking Knee

Did anybody else read The Three Investigators book series when they were a kid?

Anyway, my right knee has been clicking when I ride my bike. Or maybe it’s popping. Whatever you want to call it, it makes a noise and feels weird, but it doesn’t hurt. Just the same, it’s the type of thing I worry about, because it…

04
Jul

Weird Foot / Heel Nerve Pain

I’m not sure if this is an injury or a “condition” because there seems to be no incident or external source I can point to that has caused me the pain I’m currently going through. I think it might just be something that is happening independent of anything I have done. My main question is what I can do about…

16
Jun

Wait, not so fast.

Well, sometimes getting started again can be a challenge. I visited my physical therapist today because my lower-right back has been hurting as well as my left hamstring, and they seem to be connected. If I try to stretch my left hamstring even a tiny bit it just kills my lower right back. I mean I can’t even begin…

08
Jun

Getting Started…Again.

It has been two years since I started doing triathlons. At the same time I’m both impressed and dissappointed in what I’ve accomplished. I went from having never run over a mile in my life, having never ridden a road bike, and having not swam much since age 10, to completing the Oceanside Ironman 70.3–all within about 8 months.…

06
Apr

Foot Pain? What Next?!

Either my body is falling apart or I bought shoes that don’t fit right.

Last Saturday I ran 12 miles. In a blizzard. It felt great, and I was feeling great until about 8 hours later, when my left foot started to hurt on the bottom-middle. Not so much in the arch, but right in the middle of the foot,…

27
Mar

Back Pain No More

After a few hundred dollars and a few weeks going to the physical therapist my sciatica is 99% gone, which apparently means my discs have just about healed up. Every now and then I’ll get a small twinge, but for the most part I can now go days without feeling a thing. Considering I have at least two friends who…

15
Jan

Bulging and/or Ruptured Disc Causing Sciatic Pain

Today I went to the physical therapist for the first time since my left leg started hurting. Just to recap, I had to stop running on December 5th because of what felt like a hamstring injury on the left side. The muscle pain went away, but I was left with lightening bolts of pain through my leg whenever I moved…

09
Jan

14-week Marathon Training Plan?

Whatever my injury started out as, it definitely appears to be irritation of the sciatic nerve at the moment. It seems to be recovering quickly now that I’m back from Christmas vacation, which involved a lot of driving which seemed to irritate it a lot more, so I don’t think I’ve got a disc injury, since what I’ve read about…

23
Dec

Pinched Sciatic Nerve vs. Hamstring Pull

I still haven’t started training for my marathon, and I’m now a week and a half behind schedule and the clock is ticking. My problem is that I’m experiencing quite a bit of pain in my left leg, but I’m not sure if it’s a pulled or strained hamstring muscle, or a pinched or irritated sciatic nerve. I’ve been doing…

17
Dec

I’m not running

I was supposed to start my marathon training on Monday, but I didn’t. My hamstring has still been hurting quite a bit. Sharp, shooting pain from the top of my left buttock down to my knee. Yesterday I did a lot of stretching and I must admit it hurt a lot less today. I’ll do some more stretching tonight and…

21
Nov

Pulled Hamstring Treatment

1. Rest – Tell your wife you’ve got to lay on the couch and watch TV for the next two weeks.

2. Ice Cream – Get several pints of Ben & Jerry’s. Apply one pint for 15 minutes to the affected area. Once the ice cream has softened up a bit, eat it. Repeat this 2-3 times per day.

3.…