Reluctantly, I admit

I'm not indestructible.  And I absolutely hate that.

Note:  My first workout for March.  A rest day?  Seriously?  You have no idea how much it pained me to take it, much less to write those words.  And it's not a matter of pride, but one of frustration.  I done gone and hurt myself.

And not moving makes me very, very, very cranky.

I don't like to complain about getting hurt.  I generally barely acknowledge it to myself, and rarely miss a workout because of it.  Truthfully, in my way of thinking, if you can work around it with little trouble, it's not an issue.  But it's very hard to work around a hip, and that's where this problem is.  It's been brewing for a little while, maybe ten days or so.  I believe I initially hurt it doing heavy curtsey lunges; balance is very difficult in that move (I was doing them with a barbell over the shoulders) and I suspect I really overdid without meaning to.  Anyway, the hip pain is similar to what I experienced when I had my iliotibital band problem, except it didn't come on the same way (no initial and progressive knee pain, no pain outside the thigh, plus there seems to have been a precipitating even, not a gradual onset - not to mention, my running mileage has been in a steady range for months, with no issues prior to this).  The problem seems to be in the tensor fascia lata muscle and nearby soft tissue, but limited to this hip area.

I've tried the old "ignore it" method of treatment, and it's gotten worse instead of better.  My four mile run on Sunday?  Was supposed to be 13, but the pain was so bad, I actually had to stop and walk several miles home.  I totally blame myself for that (LOL, as opposed to, say, blaming aliens?); I really muscled through Friday's workout, knew I probably shouldn't have been doing that when it was happening, and paid the price.  Dumb ass.  My thinking was that I KNEW the thing needed rest but that I was ALMOST at a planned easy week, so if I just went ahead and did what I wanted to do anyway, it would all work out.

Not so much.

So here I am, cranky, whining (and I promise, I won't do this again), and full of doom and gloom.  I've already predicted the end of the world as I know it - specifically that I'll be grossly undertrained for my April race, if I'm able to do it at all, and won't be able to meet any other racing goals I'd set for myself this year, or ever, because this injury suggests a fundamental underlying structural weakness that won't hold up to whatever else I have planned for myself.  In more rational moments, I realize that 1) I've been hurt before, 2) I'll be hurt again, 3) I'll recover, and 4) the world won't end, but it'll take an effort on my part to not make it a more miserable place in the short term.  Not to mention: 5) I might learn something from this.

So there you have it.  And thanks but no thanks to cheese with my whine: I'm not all that in to cheese.  But I'll take a good Philly soft pretzel.