September Summary

ran today for an easy 3.5 miles.  things still hurt pretty much like they did 8 weeks ago, so the whole rest & recover thing just doesn't work.  Also, taking off 8 weeks really messes with your fitness. HR was 149 for an average 8:44 pace.  Would have been 130 back in July.

September Totals

• 1 run
  
• 3.5 miles
  

October Plans

• get surgery
  
• get better
  
• get fit (again)
  

Waiting...

Of course, now has to be the time that William Brown is on vacation doesn't it!   He is out until mid-October, so I have an appointment for an exam on October 17th.  Not sure how quickly surgery could follow, hopefully that next week.

He has a rehab schedule on his website, that has you doing jogging/easy running in week 4, and assuming things go well, return to "normal" after 9 weeks.

So if I can get the surgery the week of October 20th, here is how things could play out.....

Rehab - 9 weeks

• Starting 10/27 (weeks 1,2,3) - walking 4xday
  
• Starting 11/17 (weeks 4,5,6) - jogging/easy running, ending at 3 miles, 4 days/week
  
• Starting 12/8 (weeks 7,8,9) - running (just easy miles) - ending at 6 miles, 6-7 days/week
  

Mileage Rebuilding - 7 weeks

• Add in tempo runs (start at 3m, grow to 6m)
• Add in doubles (start at 1x, grow to 3x)
• Add in strides (start at 5x100m, grow to 10x100m)
• Add in log runs (start at 9m, grow to 21m)
• Mileage - start in 40's, grow to 70's

That would put me in position to start marathon training around the middle of February, which means I'd be looking for a race around June.

I'm feeling pretty out of shape right now - haven't run (or done any exercise) in 8 weeks, and have put on about 10lbs.  I figure I've cut my calorie intake by about 1,000/day, but probably should have cut it by about 1,400 to stay at the same weight.

I figure that being in shape for surgery is probably a good thing so am going to run 3-4 times/week for the next 3 weeks.  Nothing long or fast, just some easy 4-5 milers.  I don't think it's going to make anything materially worse at this stage.  So tomorrow will be my first run since August 16th, and with the help of some Vitamin I, I'm sure it'll be fine.

I thought I was internet savvy....

So here I am, a high tech expert, who spends a lot of time working on the web.  I've been researching sports hernias for several months and had come to the conclusion that I would be travelling to Philadelphia to get surgery.  I'd seen my local doctor twice to make sure I'm not doing anything crazy and after the last viist he said he'd check with one of his colleagues, who is the team doctor for the Oakland Raiders.  He called me back today and said there is a local doctor who specializes in sports hernias. He does all the local pro sports teams.

His name is William Brown III, and to be fair, I did come across his name once but didn't find enough info on him to make the list of true specialists.

So I did some research today and found his website.  I am amazed that I missed it, especially given the URL.  I must have done 100's of google searches on this stuff and never came across it. Wow! what a dufus.

http://www.sportshernia.com

So the good news is that I can probably get this done locally, the bad news is that I appear to be an idiot.

Update:

OK, so after a little research it appears that I'm not as clueless as I first thought.  This website only launched a few weeks ago. Here is a press release talking about it.  Also, it doesn't show up in google search when you search on sports hernia.  I guess it will once it is a little more established.

Now I just need the receptionist to get back from lunch so I can make an appointment!

Sports Hernia Information

People keep asking me "what's a sports hernia"?. I've been digging around the web for info and here's some of the stuff I uncovered...

A good, but detailed paper from one of the experts....

Some of the experts

• Dr. William C. Meyers (Philadelphia)
  
• Dr. Richard Cattey (Milwaukee)
  
• Dr. Jerry Gilmore (London)
  
• Dr. Ulrike Muschawek (Munich)
• Dr. William Brown (Fremont, California)
• Dr. Jeff Hoadley (Atlanta)

Wikipedia Info
A long discussion on letsrun, a runners message board.
Some potentially bad news in terms of insurance coverage
Some more insurance commentary

Various other documents/articles

• Med Rants
  
• Core Concepts
  
• Hospital for Special Surgery
  
• About.com
  
• Mayo Clinic
  
• Good description of the injury and surgery
  
• The Physician and Sports Medicene
• Very Informative & knowledgable blog by fellow sufferer

Bottomline is that it is not a widely understood or treated condition since it is mainly confined to professional athletes and dumb people such as myself.

EDIT: someone (thanks, Jonathan!) sent me another SH specialist so I am updating the list to add Dr. Jeff Hoadley out of Atlanta, who has a pretty informative website on the topic.

EDIT: Added link to informative blog by fellow sufferer

Zero Progress

So it has been almost 6 weeks since I stopped running and I think I have made zero progress in terms of recovery. Tried just a few steps running the other day and it felt as bad as ever. I am convinced this will not heal on it's own, so it's back to the doctor for me to see about getting referred to the specialist who can slice me open and stitch me up.

Weight is now up 6 pounds. On track for 200 lbs by Christmas.....