Races Like a Girl

Well, it’s about time for another yellow post. I only post this stuff so that it’s easy for me to go back and look at what was happening. Plus I’m obsessive-compulsive and it bugs me when I have gaps in training posts.

I was a cross-training machine in mid-to-late October, but things dropped off in the last two weeks. These were two incredibly busy weeks for me with work commitments (I have two big freelance projects these days with many due “deliverables,” as we call them), the NYC marathon — and lots of time spent in in the medical realm.

Not just MRI facilities and podiatrists, but also an endodontist whom I didn’t like very much at all. But then, people in the dental professional have a hard time being liked in general. The fact that she made me wait an hour to see her, then spent 15 minutes during our consultation berating a vendor, did not help her industry.

Denis Leary: Dave, let me explain something to you, okay? People…hate you, you’re a dentist.

Campbell Scott: Is that right?

Denis Leary: They can’t wait to get out of your office, okay? They think about you, they think “pain.” They would like nothing more than to never have to see you again. And your best work never even sees the light of day.

Campbell Scott: Well, you’re going to lose every tooth in your mouth, my friend. You’ve got one of the worst cases of gum disease I’ve ever seen.

— The Secret Lives of Dentists

But the less said about my ongoing dental drama, the better. Except this: my problem is not due to neglect, if you must know. If it’s even a problem, that is; it could be total tooth apocalypse or just a mysterious shadow on the x-ray (I’m hoping it’s the latter when I go back in to find out). But whatever’s going on traces back to a bike accident I had in 1989.

Just to put this in perspective, here are some things that also happened in 1989:

• Mikhael Gorbachev was named president of the Soviet Union
• The Berlin Wall came down
• We invaded Panama to capture Manuel Noriega
• “Roseanne” and “The Cosby Show” were the top shows
• “Wind Beneath My Wings” was Record of the Year
• …and everyone had fluffy, fluffy hair and big shoulder pads!

I already had a root canal 10 years ago because of that accident (in addition to the three I had at the time to reconstruct three of my teeth). I did not have dental insurance then. I do not have dental insurance now. I will never have dental insurance. There is a very good reason for why I do not ride bikes except ones that are indoors and stay in place.

A state of the art cell phone. In 1989.

Basically, I am sick of sitting in traffic or hauling around on the train/subway, waiting around in horrible waiting rooms, having unpleasant things done to me, and then writing large checks for the privilege. So I’m taking a break from it for a few weeks.

The endodontist can wait until after Thanksgiving (a day I will probably be working — and the gym is open that day for losers like me!) as I’m doubtful my teeth will crumble or fall out in that time.

I am taking a wait-and-see approach to doing anything further on the osteitis pubis front. I know what I have, which is inflammation. Now I need to see how it responds to the return to running over the next week or two. If running obviously aggravates it, or it simply isn’t getting better, then I’ll take action. If it continues to improve, even slowly, I’ll let it ride.

The big change in cross-training is that I have returned to weight-bearing lower body work, but cautiously. I am careful with the leg press machine in particular. And walking lunges pissed off my right hamstring yesterday, so those are out for awhile. But I must do standing squats and deadlifts to strengthen the muscles that support my, er, pelvic region. And I’m back to rolling and stretching, since I can already feel my IT band and other muscles knotting up again.

I did another grassy field run today, half an hour this time. That did irritate my poor tendon (and brought back a very faint pain in the gluteus). Not exactly encouraging. But it’s early days yet. I probably won’t try a run again until Wednesday. The good news is that it was not as spiritiually demoralizing as Friday’s run. I truly think that second run back after a long layoff is the worst one.

So there’s the recap. In summary, I didn’t do as much training as I would have liked and I’m finding doctors to be tiresome.

Filed under: everyday life, injury |