Soccer Sunday's: Eau de Bengay

So soccer this weekend was kind of a bust. It was a bad soccer weekend for me. They can’t all be good. It started Saturday; I had my first game with my women’s league. I only played about 15 minutes before I had to leave the game. I went for a header and didn’t get there in time and in order to avoid a hand ball I snapped my arm back really fast and did some sort of awkward turn and as a result I instantly had pain shoot between my shoulder blades and up my neck. I tried to shake it out but I found pretty quickly I couldn’t move my neck from side to side! WTH!

I swear I am the only person on the planet who injures themselves by not doing anything at all…I never have another player to blame for pushing me or tackling or whatever… I always manage to hurt myself! Case in point, last fall I hurt my foot just by running on a muddy uneven surface…must have twisted it the wrong way or something. Not laying off of it resulting in me having to sit out a week of soccer….and now this.

I sat on the sidelines the rest of the game trying anything I could think of to stretch my neck and back out but nothing worked so I laid down, but then I found I couldn’t get up again because I couldn’t lift my head up! I had to roll over to stand! When I finally got up I stood like Lurch all hunched over because I couldn’t stand up straight and I couldn’t turn my neck to see in my peripheral. It was attractive let me tell you. Driving home was fun. But on the plus side my ladies team rocked it and we won 3-0!! I tried my best to cheer them on with out moving haha.

After the game I hit up the drug store for some icy hot cream and pads, and then I laid down for the rest of the afternoon. Smelling like bengay and I took like 800mg of ibprophin. I felt better after that, but had a shitty night’s sleep because I couldn’t get comfortable and I woke up the pain reduced itself to one area. I now had a culprit. My freakin' left shoulder!

I HATE my left shoulder! I’ve injured it umpteenth times. It’s always been out of whack and I think it’s been that way since high school when I threw shot put and discus for the track team. I injured it when I was 22 (carrying an overly heavy camera bag for several hours with out evenly distributing the weight…big no-no ladies), then again at 26…playing softball just by throwing the ball. Once again… I hurt myself doing nothing!

So I’ve done the whole physical therapy thing, it didn’t really help. I’ve been getting massages every month sometimes twice a month which is costing me a pretty penny…but it’s never been right and I just learned to modify my work outs once I start to feel the muscle fatigue. For example I can only do about three regular pushups before I have to do pushups on my knees because I feel the muscle about to give. Side planks on my left side are near impossible because I can’t really weight bear, and tricep dips are pretty much a no-no for me. I don’t every carry a shoulder bag on my left side, I won’t play any sport that involves throwing, hell half the time I won’t even take a throw-in in soccer…but I still managed to hurt myself!...Doing nothing! Grr!

Ok Deep breath!

Back to soccer. So I was laid up most of Sunday as well. By the afternoon I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to be able to make my game at night, but constant rotation of icy hot/ ice pack/ Tylenol / laying down on a memory foam pillow I felt better by 6 in the evening…which left me two hours from game time. And I REALLY wanted to play!

Soccer is like a drug to me… It’s my own personal brand of exercise heroine! LOL! If I have a game and I’m not out of state…I want to play!

So by game time I had minimal pain in my neck and I could move it side to side, my shoulder…well lets just say the Tylenol and icy hot took care of that for me (Eau de bengay is my newest fragrance). So I was ready to play. Mother Nature had other plans. It POURED it’s ass off. And I’m talking sideways monsoon rain. But we play on a turf field so there was no reason to call the game for bad field conditions. So, to quote Wayne’s World… GAME OOOON!

By the end of we were all a sopping we mess… not a dry article of clothing on my body, shirts, socks, shorts, shoes, and undergarments… all of it was soaked. And we lost…but hey the conditions were tough, especially when we spent the first half with rain in our eyes. The second half of the game the rain was on our backs and we could actually see the field but the other team was already so far ahead in goals.

So I got to play, I didn’t play well and I also ran off and left behind my water bottles because I was in such a hurry to get out of the rain. That makes water bottles #3 and #4 that I’ve lost in the last month! DOH!

Well… that’s enough griping from me I have an extra long massage scheduled tonight so I’m looking forward to that!

Hey Murphy Screw You! And Your Law Too!

Warning venting ahead...

So, if you haven't noticed I never posted a Soccer Sunday update this week or many entries at all. This is mostly because I am pissed off. Really fucking pissed off right now. I mean so pissed the only solution I can think of is ranting on my blog.

Story time!

I wasn't supposed to play a soccer game this Saturday. It was a bye week for me and I was planning on going for a run instead to continue race training. However, I got the call that our other team (because we're popular and awesome like that we were split in two teams) needed subs. Like any addict I jumped for a chance to get a fix...

So anyway, I figured hey... I'd still be running anyway...so I played soccer.  The first half of the game was fine. No problems what so ever. Second half of the game (you know when you switch sides of the field) the entire back end of that side was a god damn swamp!

swampsoccer.co.uk... looks like a blast!

Ok, I'm exaggerating, it wasn't that bad, but every step I took felt like I was running in quick sand... and some how don't ask me how because I'm special like this, and I swear I only EVER manage to hurt myself doing NOTHING, I hurt my foot. Of course I didn't realize this until after the game when I took my cleats off and started walking on it that it hurt to walk on it.  So I walked around a bit, then I went out for lunch with my team mate and we walked around a little more as we went shopping. All the while it hurt but I'm thinking whatever it's just a kink it will work itself out.

Sunday I had another game, and my ankle wasn't bothering me too much anymore so I wrapped that sucker up in an ace bandage and kicked some defensive ass! I believe we won 3-1! GO TEAM! However immediately after the game it hurt again this time I needed something more supportive than an ace bandage.

This has been my fucking right foot for the entire week!

I decided to rest Monday... attempted bootcamp on Tuesday, and the little bit of running I did was not fun. Later that day I walked a few blocks to the bank and to grab lunch and I started getting shooting pains along my foot. Again, WHAT THE FUCK!! What the fuck did I do to it!? It's not swollen, it's not bruised, sometimes I can walk on it fine, sometimes it just fucking hurts!

I chilled out Wednesday, I even passed on playing my make up soccer game because I didn't want to risk further injury...see I told you I could quit if I needed too. Today I went with out wrapping it and it felt ok, but then this evening I took my parents dog for a walk, again only around the block, not very far and I got those shooting pains again.

How the FUCK am I supposed run 7.3 miles on Saturday!?!?!

All week I've kept telling myself it will be ok, you're fine it's not THAT bad...but then what happened tonight when all I did was walk around the block and it started throbing totally crushed me again...my head has been like a tug of war...

Maybe it will get better (thought that happened today, wasn't so lucky)

Maybe I should throw in the towel for Saturday?

Maybe I should pop a few tylenol and give it a go anyway...
but what if I hurt it more and then i'm sidelined even longer??

The race is a little more than 24 hours away and I don't know what to do! I'm in full on freak out mode! I don't know if I can run and I've been avoiding talking about it because I just keep hoping it will turn around. I've been excited about this for over two months, I've been training for this. I really want to do this race, I want to cross that finish line, I want that sense of accomplishment. And it's my only shot because this race only happens once a year, it's not like my soccer games where I can sit out one because there's another one a few days later. This is it! And OF COURSE it had to come down to the wire like this for me. Murphy's Fucking Law.

Yeah I know boo-hoo right? Big fucking baby. I know it could be much worse and I could be seriously injured instead of just having some unknown nagging injury. But I feel completely gutted right now.

However after crying (yup, big baby) over it for a little while, I've determined that IF I can't run Saturday (because I'm still hoping that tomorrow I wake up and I'm bouncing off the walls on my right foot) but anyway I've decided if it comes down to it and I don't run the relay, as soon as I feel able to run I am running those god damn 7.3 miles and I'll make my own damn finish line out of side walk chalk if I need to.

Sidelined!

Hello followers or casual readers! Its been over a week since I've posted. I have excuses though!! Let me tell you a little about how the past week has been for me:

Monday 9/7 (labor day) - Went to a movie, stood up afterwards... "Hrm that's odd my knee hurts... whatever."

Tuesday 9/8 - 5:30 AM Boot Camp, knee still bothering me... wierd? Went and saw Kings of Leon that evening, consumed copious amounts of boxed wine and flavored vodka. Knee pain what knee pain?? Wheeee!

Wednesday 9/9 - Ran 3 miles. Knee really bothering me.. WTF! Went to drug store and purchase a band.

Thursday 9/10 - 5:30 AM Boot Camp, knee is really bothering me. Wearing the band during my work out and I still had to modify every exercise to stay off my left knee, could not sprint at all. Not looking good for soccer games this weekend. Iced my knee for half an hour after the work out, wore ace bandage and band all day. Sent warning email to soccer captains that I didn't think I would be able to play this weekend.

Friday 9/11 - 4:45 Am Alarm goes off for boot camp. Knee is bothering me big time. I decide to lay off of it. There's a slight tickle in my throat. I go back to sleep for a few hours.

Friday Noon: It's pouring down rain and cold, had to go run some errands for the j.o.b. in this shit weather. Throat still bothering me. Knee is wrapped/banded.

Friday 2:30 PM: Throat problem turns into cough, I'm getting light headed, and my back is starting to hurt Ruh Rohh! not a good sign.

Friday 3:30 PM: Feeling pretty delirious, ache in knee is replaced by aches all over my body, very light headed throat hurting really bad and coughing more.

Friday 4:30 PM: Leaving the office early had to call my mom to drive me home because I was so light headed. Took ibprophen and passed out. Woke up with really bad cough and burning in chest.

Saturday 9/12 - Super sick, delirious in bed all day. Knee pain? Ha! I ache every where! Probably have a fever but I don't own a thermometer. Definitely not playing soccer.

 Sunday 9/13 - I purchase a thermometer. I have a FEVER! ACK! What the hell? I never get sick!

 I have a fever and the only prescription is... MORE COWBELL!!

Monday 9/14 - Went to Dr. spent the day in bed sleeping and coughing. Told the boot camp people about my cold and they said I should probably take the week off that way I'd let my knee rest too. What!? a whole week with no exercising. Well, to be honest the way I was feeling I wasn't about to argue with them.

Tuesday 9/15 - Tried to go into work but they sent me home. Co-worker told me he didn't want my "swine flu". Spent day in bed resting and coughing.

Wednesday 9/16 - Back to work (um, yay?) starting to feel human again! I want my routine back!


So there you have it that was my week in a nut shell. Knee pain and then a sudden nasty cold. Fuck me! I have definitely been sidelined from any kind of working out.

The whole experience made me wonder... what are the dangers of working out if you're sick or slightly injured? I found an interesting article in Runner's World about working out with a cold:

David Nieman, Ph.D., who heads the Human Performance Laboratory at Appalachian State University, and has run 58 marathons and ultras, uses the "neck rule." Symptoms below the neck (chest cold, bronchial infection, body ache) require time off, while symptoms above the neck (runny nose, stuffiness, sneezing) don't pose a risk to runners continuing workouts.

This view is supported by research done at Ball State University by Tom Weidner, Ph.D., director of athletic training research. In one study, Weidner took two groups of 30 runners each and inoculated them with the common cold. One group ran 30 to 40 minutes every day for a week. The other group was sedentary. According to Weidner, "the two groups didn't differ in the length or severity of their colds." In another study, he found that running with a cold didn't compromise performance. He concluded that running with a head cold--as long as you don't push beyond accustomed workouts--is beneficial in maintaining fitness and psychological well-being.

So yea that seems pretty obvious if you have an upper respiratory infection you're probably going to have a problem breathing while you're trying to get in your cardio.

How about when you have a FEVAH!??

Temperature Control
If you're still in doubt about whether it's safe to run or not, take your temperature. If it's above 99 degrees, skip your run. "Some people think that they can 'sweat out' a fever by running," says Nieman. "That's wrong. Running won't help your immune system fight the fever."

Nieman saw this firsthand when his running partner once ran a marathon with a 101-degree fever. Soon after, the runner developed severe and persistent symptoms similar to those of chronic fatigue syndrome. "Every day he'd wake up feeling creaky and arthritic," says Nieman. "When he tried to run, he'd stumble and fall." Eventually doctors concluded he had a "postviral syndrome," a latent condition that was exacerbated by the race.

Although this syndrome is rare, it's an example of the risk you take by running while ill. "Running with a fever makes the fever and flu-like symptoms worse," says Nieman, "and it can lead to other complications." During exercise, your heart pumps a large amount of blood from your muscles to your skin, dissipating the heat your body generates. If you have a fever, your temperature will rise even higher, and your heart will be put under greater strain to keep your temperature from soaring. In some cases, this can produce an irregular heartbeat. Also, a virus can cause your muscles to feel sore and achy; exercising when your muscles are already compromised could lead to injury.

Nieman recommends that runners with a fever or the flu hold off until the day after the symptoms disappear--and then go for a short, easy run. Runners should wait one to two weeks before resuming their pre-illness intensity and mileage. Otherwise, you risk a relapse, he says.

Above all, obey your body and the thermometer--not your training program.

OK got it I need to take time off until my burning cough goes away. (Which I swear better be by Friday because I don't want to miss two weeks of soccer!!!!!)

So what about the knee pain??

I'm almost certain that my knee pain was iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS) based on the location of the pain. This is just self diagnosis but my boot camp trainer agreed. Say what??

Iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS) is most common in athletes who participate in long-distance running. Studies have indicated a 4.3-7.5% occurrence rate for ITBS in long-distance runners. ITBS is less common in shorter-distance or sprint-distance runners. The higher rate in long-distance runners is primarily because of the increased stance phase during longer-distance running. ITBS also has been reported in military recruits, cyclists, and tennis players. The frequency of ITBS is also increased in adolescents undergoing the rapid growth phase. (Source: eMedicine)

It's pretty common and caused by over use. It was recommended that I use a foam roller or stick to loosen up the muscles along my outer thighs.

Here's some other recommendations by Runners World:

Stretch

Many yoga poses stretch the ITB, but some are too intense for tight leg muscles. Here's a gentler move: Lie down, arms extended out, knees bent, right knee crossed over your left. Drop both knees to the left as you roll to the left hip. Rest your right foot on the ground and keep your right shoulder down. Hold for two to three minutes. (Connective tissue needs time to release.) Repeat on the other side.

Strengthen

On a run, your thigh moves inward after your foot hits the ground. Too much of this can cause ITBS. But if you strengthen your glutes, they can off set this inward motion. Lie on your right side. Bend your left knee and rest your left ankle just below the right knee. Keep your ankle there; lift your left knee; lower. Do two sets of eight reps on each leg. Too easy? Put an ankle weight just above the knee.

Massage

Deep-tissue work can alleviate tightness in the ITB. Partner massage: Lie on your side with your knees bent. Have your partner put his forearm on your outer thigh and push. As the area loosens, apply more pressure. Solo massage: Sit on the ground and pull your foot toward your glutes. Rotate your knee inward and gently knead (squeeze and pull) the outside of the thigh. Work from your hip to your knee.

and of course there's the recipe for a lot of common sports injuries... RICE:


Rest


Ice


Compression


Elevation


So far for my knee I have been resting, icing, compressing with an ace bandage and a band and elevating by placing a pillow under my knee which also helps keep it in a more relaxed position instead of stick straight against the surface of my bed or couch.

p.s. if you are seriously ill or injured please don't self diagnose... go to a Doctor!!