cheryl

BYU oh BYU. It was like watching a train wreck in slow motion. What can I say, TCU did their homework and our Cougars could not adjust or do anything new. Hopefully it was a good learning experience for them and they will have some answers for their next matchups. I am nervous for the Utes to face TCU with the new confidence this win over BYU gave them.

Oh crap, I just spent a whole paragraph talking football when this is a running blog…

I loved your joke!

My injury was diagnosed as 'Piriformis Syndrome with Sciatica'. The biggest pain has been in my glute but i've often felt it in the upper hamstring as well. Probably different from your injury, but I can certain emphathize with you on the slow daily progress.

Hang in there. It stinks to be injured, huh? One good thing for me is that I'll really appreciate being able to run (once i can, of course) and be more conscientious about when to push it, when to go easy, and also when to crosstrain for total body fitness and balance.

Eric--that's fine to talk football, I think pretty much anything is fair game on these blogs. Read Walter's blogs if you want to see how far things go. I agree, I hope BYU has learned some lessons from this game. Don't be so predictable, change things up a little. We'll see how they do from hereon out.

Cal--I've suffered from the piriformis stuff and sciatica also. I think it's all interrelated. I think the key in my case is keeping the hamstrings well stretched and strong and doing the piriformis stretch every day. I once had a chiropractor tell me to stretch the piriformis everyday whether I thought I needed to or not. That's the best advice I've ever gotten for this injury. I didn't always heed it and I think that's why I'm injured now. Now I will stretch religiously. Is there anything besides the stretching and strengthening that you do for your injury?

The Dr. prescribed Prednisone for the inflamed nerve and said to do the stretches 3 times a day, to loosen up the piriformis.

Prior to this injury I was suffering from lower ab and groin pains. I think that my body tried to compensate for those and may have brought on this other condition. Tom Lee has had all the same complaints as well, so i think its all inter-related.

(I had never been into stretching in the past, but it will be an integral part of all my future routines.)

Oh, that made me laugh, Cheryl! ERIC---do not read Walter's blogs unless you have a lot of time on your hands!! And do not make a comment unless you want your inbox to have 100 fastrunningblog e-mails every morning!!!

Cheryl, I am a fan of the cross training, really! It builds up the unused muscles in your body and it is just plain more fun! I hope you learn to love it as much as I do! Which gym are you going to?

Kelli--I do enjoy the cross-training. I figure if I have to have a running injury this is the best time, during the winter when I don't really want to be running in the cold and dark anyway, and enough time before racing season starts again that I should be ready for that. I go to the South Jordan Rec Center, it's close to my house and has just about everything. I especially like the stairmaster, that really gives a good workout. The elliptical is fun too. I agree that it helps strengthen unused muscles. My best year of running is when I did a lot of cross-training in addition to running. I don't think I'll go back to running 6 days a week, 50 or 60 miles a week. I don't think I can handle that. This year was a good experiment in high mileage, but it just didn't work for me. Have fun at the running group. I think about you guys a lot.

We think about you, too! ;o)

Cheryl, I went to Walters blog and got caught up on toes, lagoon and breaking up concrete with a jackhammer so I guess everything is fair game.

Oh yeah, about the BYU game, it felt as if Norm Chow was running the offense. 1down-Pass 2down-Run 3down-Run 4down-Punt! You are absolutely right, they need to mix things up, that is one thing that Gary Crowton actually did well.

And in closing, you are an animal for using the stairmaster that length of time. If I use it for 5 minutes and my thighs and achilles scream at me and render themselves useless for an entire week. Here you are going for 30-40 minutes at a time?!?! If you are trying to get some recovery time you might want to try something less ambitious and masochistic like running down Sasha.

Eric--that stairmaster is a beast. I have to really psych myself up to get on it. I've found I can go high intensity for a few seconds, then lower the intensity and recover for a few minutes, and that seems to work. You're right though, it's quite the machine, probably designed for masochists, which we all are, right?

Cheryl, right you are. You know, what ever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. Too bad it doesn't make you immune from pain. Are you planning on coming to the Pumpkin Run? It might be nice just to come socialize if you aren't planning to run.