doctor, doctor give me the news

Sorry, I couldn't help it!!!!

So today I went to see Dr. Shah again. He was at St. Thomas Hospital in Akron today so it was a nice change from the Hudson office. Anyway, I came with my list of questions and my trusty laptop with new vid of me running taken yesterday. So here is the verdict:

-it is possible that there is something mechanically wrong with my hips; like something I was born with but we don't need to worry about it now
-I probably am suited best for shorter distances as a result of the mechanical issues

and drumroll please,

I can start running again. But I have to start really slow. So I'm allowed to do a walk/run regimen for 15 mins 3-4 times a week. Then after two weeks I can start increasing my time. Once I reach 20 mins, I can increase frequency for two weeks and then after that I can increase time and so on and so on. I'm just happy to be able to run! I have to do treadmill running though for a month and then add one outside run a week.

Last week was a tough one and I felt like I hadn't been making any progress. This week I decided that I would up my pilates to 3 times a week. I know one thing for sure. I can't go more than one day between consecutive appointments. If I do Tuesday/Thursday, things click better. The time off between Thursday and Tuesday is fine, however, last month I did Tuesday/Saturday and for some reason I always felt like I was starting over on Saturdays. So this month I'm going to go Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and see if it just Saturdays or if there really is a difference.

Yesterday, Lydia told me that she thought I was progressing so that made me happy. I definitely am much more flexible than before and I can totally tell that my muscles are more relaxed and happier. :) Which make me happy. I will say that the soreness has been increasing for the past few weeks so I'm hoping that things start to calm down. I'm still not running. :( I know right!? Anyway, I hoping to slowly ease back in. I don't want to jump back in too fast and screw everything up again. My muscles are learning new ways to move and work so I have to be careful to 'teach' them up to just the point BEFORE fatigue. If your muscles get tired they resort back to their previous way of moving. So to help counteract that, I've decided to do a plan similar to a 'couch-to-5k' program. One where you walk then run then walk. Basically, the running time increase incrementally and the walking decreases. The idea is that one can go from no running to a 5k in thirty days. Since my last race was a week after my injury, I have nowhere to go except straight to major PR land so that will be encouraging.