Thursday, August 09, 2007

A First Time For Everything

PM: 52:30 :: 9M (3x3on/2off), 1M - 5:05, 1/2M -2:27

I decided to do a little hard running tonight. It turned out to be a bit warmer than I expected so I once again turned into a mobile sweat sprinkler by runs end. Katie biked along with me and, along with providing a water bottle, served to give me something to chase. This lead to some faster splits than I thought possible. I was definitely feeling it after finishing. I'm just trying to make it through these dog days.

I met with Dr. Pierce this morning and I got "news" (hard to classify as good or bad). As it turns out I don't have one sports hernia - I have two (bilateral) and a good ole' traditional hernia in my upper abdomen. That equals three. Thats a lot. I have surgery scheduled for November, after the JFK 50 mile. It will be my first surgery ever. Its hard not to be a little nervous, even though its routine. On the upside, I get a week off from work. It looks like there will be no running for two weeks and after that only a little here and there through six weeks post-op. I can handle that (especially in December). The success rate is about 75-80%. Crossed-fingers.

In the meantime I need to work on the underlying causes of the injury. Namely, lack of flexibility and core strength. The core strength factor will be hard to address with the ever-present pain, but the flexibility I should be able to improve. Stretching, eck. Necessary evil, I suppose. Also I'll just keeping plugging away at the miles and workouts, doing what I can. I still think I'm capable of some pretty good times this fall. Now I just need to prove it.

The Iowa Straw Poll is coming:

3 comments:

Mike said...

While it's obviously not the news you really wanted to hear, it's good to get a concrete diagnosis and have a plan of action. The inguinal hernia seems to be an elusive bugger to diagnose, but I can't imagine you have a fourth one in there.

I had a bilateral hernia diagnosed and operated on when I was 3 months old. I don't remember it hurting at all.

Your rehab plan sounds applicable for all of us hobbling around with sore abs and adductors.

Eric said...

Good luck with the hernias.

RONPAULRONPAULRONPAUL!

I hope he kicks ass at the Straw Poll today. Republican owned and operated Fox News won't even mention his name, let alone ABCNBCCBS, so it would be hilarious, exciting and awesome if the internets turned out to be right about Ron Paul and Orwellian Corporate Media was exposed for the manipulative hacks that they are.

I think I blacked out for a second...where am I?

Anonymous said...

Hey Patrick!

Wow, so you got the hernia news! I remember talking with you about the lower abdomen pain at Afton. I've got pain on both sides as well. It's been present for over a year now, and I better get in for that check up. I'm pretty certain I've got the sports hernia as well.

What did the hernia specialist, Pierce, do to diagnose the hernia? Cattey, over in Milwaukee is another specialist. The way I understand it, they basically diagnose a sports hernia by looking at an MRI and ruling out everything else that could cause the symptoms of a sports hernia. Other than that, there doesn't seem to be any other way to detect a sports hernia other than symptoms.

Drop me a line sometime. I'd love to hear some more details on how you were diagnosed. I think I'll be heading in to a specialist after Superior Sawtooth 100 in September. Until then, I'll gut it out (no pun intended).

Talk to you later!
Andy