Sunday, March 25, 2012

Wonky stride update and a shiny new PR!

On Friday I finally bit the bullet and went saw a physician for my left leg "issue". I think my co-worker was tired of hearing about my leg not getting better. She emailed a great physician who is normally booked out, but he was willing to fit me into his Friday morning schedule. It's nice working at a clinic sometimes where you know all of the providers so well!

I was pretty nervous going into the appointment. Mostly afraid he was going to say I couldn't run Eugene next month. That would be a devastating blow. I told him that I started noticing my stride was off a couple of weeks after CIM and how it felt like I was dragging my left leg. I mentioned I had been seeing my chiropractor on a regular basis since the end of January, but that I was still experiencing the "leg dragging" every once in a while. It doesn't hurt, it just feels off and uncomfortable. Wonky is a good term for it. :-)

He asked me a bunch of questions and then did a quick examination of my left and right leg reflexes. His conclusion is that I have a compressed nerve that is causing the lazy leg or "leg dragging". He wants me to have a gait analysis completed at PT and then he has referred me to a neurologist to have a nerve conduction study done. Once I have the study done with a neuro consult then hopefully that will confirm the original diagnosis so that I can finally start the process of getting better. He doesn't seem to think I will have an answer by Eugene which is lame, however, he said that I won't make it worse by running. So....I can still run as long as the wonky stride doesn't bother me too much. YAY!!!! In the mean time I am stretching every opportunity I can get and will be seeing my chiropractor on a regular basis. With less than 5 weeks until Eugene I really need to stay in 1 piece. I am hoping and praying that I will be able to run a sold race next month.

Has anyone experienced a compressed nerve before?????

Moving on....

Since I missed two key speed workouts last week I texted my coach and asked him if he thought I should do a 5 mile race on Saturday. He didn't have a problem with it and said as long as I felt good when I woke up to go for it. YAY! I haven't had a race in what seems like forever so I was really excited.

I got signed up at the race by 9 am and the race didn't start until 10 am. I wanted to get a good warm up in to see how my leg felt AND because I was freaking out about missing so many miles during the week. Got in a solid 3 miles and still had plenty of time to stretch really good. I was pretty chilly, but not too bad. I was thankful that I was wearing my arm sleeves because they really help to keep me warm.

Getting ready to head to the start 

Warmed up and ready to race!

I have never run the Rapid Rabbit before so I didn't know where the course was or how many people would be there. I was surprised at the large number that turned out. 

The race started and of course everyone sprinted off in front of me. My coach had told me to start out a 6:40 pace and then see how I felt from there. I couldn't believe how many people dusted me in the first 400 meters, but I knew that those dum dums would be dying soon. I love picking people off that start too fast- they make for good road kills. Sure enough even before the 1 mile mark I had already passed several of them. 

The first couple of miles went between a country road and housing development- mostly flat with rolling hills. I ran behind this 12 yo (he might have been older?) until about the 2.5 mile mark. That kid was driving me crazy! He was wearing a zippered sweatshirt that wasn't zipped and was flapping around everywhere. I was so glad to finally get by him (the little twerp kept speeding up on my first couple of attempts to pass him). I was going to be ticked if he beat me, LOL. 

I passed another guy about mile 3.5. I wasn't sure if I was going to catch up because I could feel myself fading at that point. He told me good job and then told me I could catch the guy in front of us. Unfortunately that guy was like 5 blocks in front of us and I didn't think I could make up that kind of distance. The last 1.5 miles were flat with a gradual uphill. It was a very b-o-r-i-n-g stretch, but I was focused on the guy in front of me. With 1 mile left we became inter mixed with the 3 mile race participants so I lost sight of "my guy" for a while. I was digging pretty dip, but wasn't paying attention to my garmin. I knew that I had less than a 1500 meters left and I could see where the finish area was. I found another gear and caught up to "my guy" and I PASSED him!!! I was so happy that I caught him, I couldn't help but smile. I looked done at garmin and realized I was going to PR!!! :-)


Almost done...

Just a little further...

Official finishing time-- 33:12 (6:38 pace)
That is a 5 mile PR by 48 seconds!!!!!!

I was thrilled with my shiny new PR, but more thrilled that I didn't experience any issue with my leg. HOORAY!!!!


--Tasha

10 comments:

  1. I've never heard of a compression nerve before. Interesting. I hope the analysis will shed some light on the leg and give you some answers. So glad he didn't tell you you couldn't run - phew!!

    Congrats on that fantastic PR - woohooo!

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    1. Thank you! I had never heard of a compressed nerve before either! I googled it and was surprised to see how common it is. Hopefully lots of stretching and icing will help!

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  2. Congrats on the PR!!
    Good luck with the leg. Definitely get the gait analysis and continue the chiro if that seems to be helping. I might hold off on the nerve conduction test. If the PT has some recommendations about your gait, you may want to see if that helps first. Plus the nerve conduction tests are not exactly comfortable. (I have never had one myself but I have observed them being given)

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    1. Thank you! I actually asked one of the neurologists at the hospital where I work how the test is done. Just him describing it freaked me out. He said its uncomfortable, but since I have a fairly high tolerance for pain I should be okay. Eeek!

      Still sticking with the chiro in the mean time. My gait analysis is on the 3rd.

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  3. congrats you speedy girl!!! you are so awesome and I'm so glad your leg didn't bother you for the race. I don't know if I've ever had a compressed nerve before but I feel like I have because I've definitely had those symptoms. Glad it's nothing super major!

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    1. Thanks chica! I'm super glad that its nothing major and I'm glad that I finally got brave enough to see a physician too!

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  4. Woot woot! Awesome race!

    Glad you're getting some answers about your leg. There's nothing worse than not knowing what's wrong when something won't work right!

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    1. I know, now I at least know what I am dealing with and how to make it better. Hopefully it gets better sooner than later. I'm not very patient. :-)

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  5. Great race!! I'm still soo impressed with your speed! Glad you can still run and hope that it's not too complicated to get your leg issue resolved. I will be praying for your leg to get better :)

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