Dreaming through the noise.

When it comes to physical activity, I think my eyes were bigger than my stomach. Double metaphorically speaking.

I've upped my miles walked over the last three weeks and that's left me feeling mostly good. I did a hike while in Estes. It was nothing crazy; a mile, but largely uphill. I had some slight irritation in my glute/quad after the hike but it went away quickly. Back at home, I continued my strength training and my long walks. But by Sunday, I should've gotten a clue about the type of tenderness I was feeling.

My walk yesterday put me in my place. 

By the time I hit the mile point, my left quad was feeling fiery and I could feel that familiar deep ache in my glute. Both eased up a bit once I got home, but the naggy pain continued on and off throughout the night and into today.

And today I remembered...that on Saturday, I did a handful of reverse nordics (and did them without much of a warm up). It had been a while since I'd done any and I really dialed in on these. Reverse nordics are a great exercise...but they do put extra strain on the glutes and hip flexors. 

So, between the increased walking and my first hike in 8 months, I'm thinking I pissed off the tendon/surrounding area. 

Which means I need to dial it back for a few days and reset. Shorter, flatter walks, isometrics and some body weight/banded moves for a few days.

I have to constantly remind myself that I've likely been dealing with gluteal tendinopathy for years at this point.

So it's going to take years to fix. Because tendons are absolute bloody bastards. 

I can't pinpoint the catalyst, but I think there are several blips on my timeline that ultimately led to this tendinopathy. 

In the summer of 2018, I slipped on a piece of ice cream wrapper trash some heathen had dropped on the sidewalk. And though I controlled my fall into a deep lunge, and that would have been much worse if I wasn't as flexible as I am/was at the time, it was jarring enough to leave my glute sore for a few weeks. (Stretching made it worse. I gave it time and it seemed to go away.) 

In September of 2022, on a hike at the trail around Red Rocks, some people were taking up more than their fair share of the path so I ended up a little too close to the side of the trail that drops into a sharp slope. My left foot hit loose dirt and slid behind me. My right foot somehow stayed stable and I caught myself in kind of a weird yoga pigeon pose position. It didn't feel jarring at the time, but a few days later, the pain that I'd felt in 2018 came back. I focused on walking and mobility and things seemed to improve. 

I even hiked in Zion in February of 2023 with no problem. 

But sometime in late 2023 or early 2024, tightness and achiness in the glute became a more regularly recurring issue.

I'd really notice it if I sat for too long, especially on the couch. When I'd stand up, the my glute pulled on my lower back and it felt like I had to work extra hard to straighten my torso. But still, I thought maybe a slightly adjusted strength training routine or more gentle, regular mobility routines and walking would fix it. It at least didn't make it worse. 

In June of 2025, Matt brought Covid home from a coworker. This was the first time he'd agreed to travel since the pandemic started. And I'm certain the coworker he shared an Uber with halfway through his trip was the culprit.

So we were both down and out for about two weeks. And as I've learned, gluteal tendinopathy does not like full rest..

As I tried to get back into a routine, I hit the breaking point. An August bike ride - six miles, on a heavy ebike, complete with getting my body jarred at one point when I tried to pull Matt up a hill - sent me into a spiral of aches that I tried to solve with a routine of bridges, clamshells and other glute focused work. 

In December of 2025, I admitted defeat after a round of skating at the rink made things flare again. Nothing I was doing seemed to be helping, so I had to call in the professionals. 
 
The initial PT in January of this year got rid of the knot I'd been feeling in my glute. I could finally sit and then stand without feeling like I had to untangle myself. So I took that as a good sign.

Said knot hasn't come back. So yay me?

The general timeline you'll often hear or read about when it comes to healing gluteal tendinopathy is 6 to 12 months. That's the conservative estimate. There's a very strong "or more" tacked on to that.

And I'm definitely in the "or more" category. (And while I know there's always the possibility of something like a tear...since I have absolutely no desire for any kind of surgery, I'm going with the Upright Health mantra of "always think muscles" at this point.) And considering things have improved, just not as fast as I would like, I'm hopeful that's truly what it is. 

There were some minor flares in the spring, but I remember feeling really good in May. So good that I added goblet squats back into my strength routine for a week or two.

Which sent me into a flare by mid June... 

July marked six months. The flare from June had mostly cleared up by the end of July/beginning of August, but the stress of taking care of Mithril set me back in terms of regular training and PT and I had to build back up through September and October. 

And here I sit again...in another flare. 

There's such a fine line between trying to up your capacity and overdoing it. 

If all I wanted was to be able to run around taking care of the house and gardening and going for neighborhood walks or bike rides without too much discomfort, I would just about be there, I think. 

But I want to be able to do all the stuff I used to do without really thinking about it.

Which necessitates thinking about it now... 

I might have to get particularly nerdy about my progressive loading. I already use Garmin Connect and Hevy to track my workouts. But it might be past time to breakout a spreadsheet to really drill down on my reps and weight and when to progress them. 

Physically, I think is the most frustrating fucking thing I've had to deal with in my life thus far.