He told me that that "really sucks," but that he was convinced it's piriformis syndrome. He said that the fact I felt better for a couple of days after the shot meant that we're targeting the right area. Most steroid injections (including mine) combine the steroid (in my case, celestone) with a local anesthetic (lidocaine and sensorcaine). It seems that while the celestone didn't make my piriformis syndrome go away, the lidocaine and/or sensorcaine did, albeit temporarily, which means that we're on the right track.
Dr. Metzl told me that the next thing for me to do is to get targeted physical therapy on my piriformis. I told him I had been seeing Dr. Degis for PT, who had just switched the focus of my PT from my hamstring to my piriformis. Dr. Metzl told me I should see a different therapist, Marisa D'Adadmo, who is apparently very experienced with piriformis syndrome in runners. I'm supposed to see Marisa once or twice a week, for six weeks, and if I'm not better, I will check in with Dr. Metzl again.
At this point, though, I'm not exactly sure what I should do. I've been working with Dr. Degis for quite some time, and I feel like I have a good relationship with him. And since we just started targeting my piriformis, I think I want to give him a chance to help me recover. I'm thinking that if, after two or three weeks, I don't feel any better, then maybe I will switch therapists and start seeing Marina.
One last thing about my appointment with Dr. Metzl. As were were finishing up, he told me (again) that I should just keep doing what I'm doing...meaning that I can keep running and biking. I think I'm going to put myself on a break, though. I can't imagine that continuing to run is going to help things. I'll still bike and swim, but for the time being, I've already resigned myself to taking a little running hiatus (well, except for one little relay race...more on that in my next post).
* * *
Last week was also the Metroman Triathlon, in Asbury Park. I had done this race last year, and was looking forward all year to redeeming myself after my sucky second-to-last place ocean swim last year (and not-much-better bike). Unfortunately, because of my butt condition, I had decided that I wasn't going to do the full triathlon course (1500m swim, 21 mile bike, 10k run), but was just going to do the swim and bike portion. Fortunately, Anthony (who ran the Distance Medley Relay at the FRNY Track Meet with me) agreed to do the run for me. We had about 15 Front Runners signed up for the tri or the relay, so I was really excited for the race.
And this year, I felt prepared for the ocean swim. Having completed the two-mile Hudson River Swim in June, and the Avon Ocean Mile the week before, I wasn't going to let a little swim faze me. In fact, after seeing most of the Front Runners do the Avon swim without a wetsuit, I decided to go sans wetsuit too. And I was really glad that I did. The water temperature was around 75 degrees. But more than that, it just felt so much more FUN to swim without a wetsuit. Because of the salt water, I was already buoyant. The waves were not too rough, so I never felt nervous (although, towards the end, I was definitely ready for it to be over). And unlike last year, when I was having trouble sighting, and getting freaked out by all of the swimmers coming at me from different directions, I think the other swimmers actually helped me to stay on course. The only thing I didn't like was that my tri-top was chafing the right side of my neck, and every time I took a stroke or breath it would chafe more. So I had to spend a good deal of time adjusting it while swimming. That was annoying.
When I finished the swim, it was such a great feeling to exit the water. There were still plenty of people in the ocean as I was leaving, including many who started in my wave, although they were just about all women (the relay teams started with the women and we all wore pink caps). Still, I left the water feeling a lot more confident than I felt last year, when I was one of the final people leaving the water despite the fact that I was in one of the first waves. Also, Chris Stoia's parents were by the transition, and they were cheering me on. That was really sweet of them.
Then, it was off to the bike for me. The only issue with the bike was that my damn bike computer was not working properly. So for the first couple of miles, I was fidgeting with it, trying to line up the sensor thing with the little magnet on the spoke. I finally just gave up. Then about four miles into the ride, it just started working. This actually happens frequently on my bike rides, but never during a race. Note to self: find a way to fix it.
Twenty-two miles later, I handed off my chip to Anthony. I did not envy him. By the time the run came, the temperature was probably in the mid-90s. And since the entire run was on the boardwalk, there was nothing to block the sun's oppressive rays. The other runners on the course looked miserable. But Anthony stuck it out and finished strong.
Team Dave and Anthony's final time was 2:40:22, broken down as follows:
Swim: 35:42 (176/200)
T1: 2:26 (116/200)
Bike: 1:12:19 (133/200)
T2: 0:55 (26/200)Run: 49:00 (84/200).
For comparison, my swim last year was 45:47 and my bike was 1:15:27... so I showed an improvement in both. Yayyy!
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