It's not over yet

I had an emergency appointment with Adam today.  Poor man.  He asked me how I was doing and I burst into tears, whereupon he wheeched me into the lift and handed me a tissue (having come prepared for distress; nothing takes him by surprise).  He spent the entire hour working just on my hip and found a couple of very sore areas, but nothing that made him think 'stress fracture' or even 'no marathon for you.'  So, after a painful massage, ultrasound, major stretching, and sensible advice, here's how things stand:

• There's definitely hip flexor involvement as well as involvement of my IT band (only over the hip)/gluteus medius/hamstring.  This explains the aching pain at the top of my thigh as well as the sharp pain in my hip.

• Adam blames the cold for most of this.  He said that many of the runners at the gym, even the ones who are very experienced Super Whizzy Runners, are having problems with their hips and hip flexors because of the cold.  We also decided that the HM compounded the problem, not just because I was so cold at the end and didn't have a chance to stretch before getting into the car, but because half the race was on the pavement and the constant stepping up and down put more stress on already tight hips. 

• I'm to take ibuprophen twice a day for the next couple of days; use an arnica-based heat gel on the relevant sore bits; wear my compression tights as much as I can; use the sauna, steam room and jacuzzi at the gym after each work-out (because heat helps); keep doing stretching and strengthening exercises for my hips; and THINK POSITIVE....hmmm, which one of those do you think will be the most difficult for me???

• As far as running goes, Adam thinks that I should be ready to do my planned 2 miles on Wednesday.  Assuming that goes well, then I'll do 5 miles on Friday and a long run on the weekend.  It was meant to be 20+ miles but, because I am sensible now, I will only do 15-16 miles.  Assuming that goes well, I'll cut my taper to two weeks and use the next week for a 20+ mile run instead.

• It's important to keep my legs warm when I'm running, which means wearing multiple layers and doing a longer warm-up than normal.  Adam also suggested moving back into my old Guide 4s for at least some of the runs to see if this makes a difference to how my legs feel.  Oh, and no speed work for a while.  Slow and steady.  Sigh.

After today, my mind is enthusiastic again about getting myself moving.  Only time will tell if my body is prepared to cooperate.  Keep your fingers crossed!