Ugh. Welcome back to week 2 of PIA (pain in the ass!). PIA is also code for Piriformis (pain) Is Annoying. Despite my best positive thoughts and stretching, piriformis pain wreaked havoc on my training plan this week. I made it through 31 miles this week, but they were disappointing miles of running which has me questioning if the Glass City Marathon full will be happening for me on April 23rd. I am fully open to dropping down to the half marathon if needed, no worries there! I have until April 15th to transfer events so this is a premature thought at this time, but it’s always an option. I only made it to the gym once this week, vs my standard two visits. I just wasn’t feeling it. Here’s what went down this week…
Mon – 3 miles, treadmill run. Nothing exciting to note here. A bit sore but quality TV watching time.
Tues – 9 miles, tempo run. Rise and shine! Oops, it was actually drizzly outside (37 degrees) when I started, which I was not expecting. I also had so make some modifications to my route due to flooding. But the weather felt nice and I was able to get my 5 miles of speedwork done. I paid for it afterwards though 🙁 Long runs AND speedwork are not my friends right now.
Weds – Rest day! Here’s my coworker who makes it difficult to use my mouse! Since I denied her a spot on my lap, she decided to one-up me and just lounge on my desk.
Thurs – 16 mile long run. The piriformis pain was present pretty much most of this run. If it wasn’t “pain” it was a dull ache. My pace has noticeably slowed with this issue, which I am frustrated by. It was a gloomy day along the river, which seemed to reflect my mood.
Fri – Rest day! Lots of stretching and PT exercises. The most effective stretch seems to be rolling on tennis ball, which is definitely also the most painful! Hurts so good. Kinda. Friday night was a contest for the concert bands. Symphonic Winds, my son’s band, didn’t play until 10:05pm. What? That’s practically my bed time 🙂 We didn’t get out of there until almost 11:30pm. All 3 of our concert bands received Superior ratings. Congrats to them all!
Sat – Skiing! My training plan actually said “fun workout” today, so this fit the bill. We got to try out our new ski equipment. Mt Holly is only 90 mins from our house and they actually got new snow last night as a winter storm hit them. I don’t think they got 5-8 inches as predicted, but it was enough for an enjoyable ski day and the temps were quite pleasant (40 degrees!). This resort is really small, but something is better than nothing and it will probably be the last skiing we have this season. Even better, my daughter joined us because she is now on spring break from college. Yay!
Here’s a fun picture of my daughter after she ran into me 😂 She started skiing backwards, but then ran into me!
Sun – 3.5 miles, run/walk. Did not do the 8 easy miles that was on my training plan. Whomp whomp. I decided to test out the waters this morning… and they are still rough! I ran until the pain felt “a bit much” and then I walked. Walking feels mostly fine. One of the articles I read about piriformis pain highly suggested walking, so I figured even if I couldn’t run, at least the walking part was beneficial. And, the sun looked wonderful. Fresh air and sunshine is always a win! The rest of my day was spent going on a few more walks and getting my step goal.
Need some more inspiration? I’m linking up with Deborah at Confessions of a Mother Runner and Kim from Running on the Fly for their Weekly Run Down. Check out all of the fun blogs there!
Q: Do you track your hydration during the day or drink with one of those big bottles which show how much you drank?
I recently had some blood work done and as a result I was told to drink more water. So this week it’s been my goal to track my water, and indeed, I was not drinking enough! It’s been a challenge to drink my goal of 58 oz, but I keep trying. It’s been very eye opening to see how much I am missing my goal!
UGH. Pain in that piriformis area can be so, so frustrating. I’m sorry you had such a rough week. But, at least you had your daughter home and skiing!
About speedwork- I’m craving it. But I’m afraid to do any right now. There’s no way my race is going to be “fast” (a trail race with sand dunes? I don’t think so!) so I’m really just training myself to stay on my feet and keep moving forward in the heat. But when this race is over I want to work on my speed again. It does increase injury risk a little, and if you have an issue it’s hard to go fast.
I hope you find a solution to this and start to feel better this week!
I was really hoping I would be “fast” for my marathon, so now it’s time reevaluate my goals and if this marathon will make any sense. No sense in pushing my injured self and just making it worse. 🤷🏼♀️ Decisions, decisions.
I don’t track my water intake, but know I’m well above where I ‘need” to be. I have a 20oz bottle at work, and I easily fill it three times, plus I always have a water bottle-in-tow when I’m doing my morning workouts/walks, etc. Piriformis pain is no joke! What was more frustrating than the pain, for me at least, was the limited range of motion I had. It felt like there was a knot preventing my hip/glute/hamstring from working properly and my stride (on the right side) was shorter than on the left due to the compromised range of motion.
Piriformis and all glute/hamstring pain is super annoying! Another annoyance is that my Garmin has been reporting my training is “Unproductive” for a week now. Geez, thanks for the reminder!
Don’t laugh, but I’ve been doing my speedwork during my pool running workouts! There is a coached workout with a running coach with repeats on a ‘track’. It is hard and it feels effective. Since I’m training for a trail race, I think this will be fine.
Sorry to hear that you’re still having the piriformis issues. Fingers crossed that it works itself out.
That’s very interesting! I have never tried pool running. Great choice for low impact and staying healthy I would guess!
Sorry the piriformis still continues to bug you. I know that dull pain well. Back when I seriously trained for marathons, speedwork bugged my piriformis as well, and then I partially tore my hamstring at the insertion point. The ski trip looks fun and congrats to your son! Enjoy spring break with your daughter. My daughter’s break isn’t until closer to the end of the month and she’s going to Jamaica, so I think she’ll come home for only a couple of days but I’ll take what I can get.
Same here – my daughter is heading to Toronto with her friends soon. Only a few days at our house, but of course her apartment close enough to visit us any day of the week! But still, it’s not the same as spending the night at home.
Yikes! I do worry about getting hurt more, so I’m not against dropping back, or dropping out of the race if needed! Gotta keep the big picture in mind.
Oh no. Sorry to hear you still have pain.
Hope it works itself out. You still have time.
No. I’m horrible about drinking water.
Have fun on spring break.
It’s hard to know if I should just continue running or stop and rest. I guess the level of discomfort will be my guide. As you know, it’s tough to miss out on our schedule and routine!!
I’m so sorry to hear that your piriformis pain is still happening. I hope you can get it to calm down so you can continue with your marathon training.
To answer your question, I’m, usually very good at hydrating, but for some reason I got really bad at it for most of February so I have just started recording my water intake again.
I think I solved my problem with hydration. I love water, but I don’t like drinking glass after glass of water. I mixed in some flavored water and that was easy to drink it all. My week is starting out good (for hydration anyways!).
I’m so sorry injuries have flared up; hope whatever happens you feel 100% confident in your decision about the full vs. the half.
Skiing looks fun. I went today for the first time all season. We didn’t have much snow/cold weather and then I had surgery and then I was away…GAH – the clock was ticking. The conditions ended up being perfect. It was my first time going solo and it was actually a lot of fun. I’m used to managing someone else’s gear or meeting up at the chairlift. It was a nice change of pace to only worry about myself.
My goal was to do 2 runs and not break anything. I did 8 runs…and didn’t break anything, so I’ll call it a success.
I have always been a huge water drinker; I don’t know how/why, but it comes “naturally” to me. I do use a Yeti and fill it up constantly and think because it’s so easy to drink from and keeps my water cold all day, I’m more inclined to drink it frequently. My husband loves the flavoured water additives, and that’s his hack for drinking more water.
Skiing alone would be very different! My husband did that one time when I was pregnant. He said he had a great time chatting it up with lots of people on the chairlift. We often use the “singles” line as a family when the lift lines are long. It’s speedy! I don’t mind the chair talk either. Always interesting to hear people’s stories!
Great job on 8 runs! That’s well over your goal.
So sorry about the issues with your piriformis. It’s so frustrating to be sidelined.
I do track my water intake. I used to be really bad at getting my water in, but ever since I started tracking, it’s been much better. My strategy is to start with a full glass (14 oz) of water first thing when I get up and then another 4 throughout the day (and I tend to be a “pounder”, not a “zipper”). LOL