Wanted: New Right Leg, preferably one with strong thigh, but not super strong. Needs to work in conjunction with left leg. Imperative that it works without pain. Needed immediately.
Since I ran in the snow and then decided I was superwoman and tried to do a speed work out that was clearly too hard for me, I have been dealing with pain in my right thigh. It begins hurting when I run, and then sort of settles out until around mile seven of a long run. Then my leg begins to cramp and pushing through is a pain in the ass. Shorter runs, it just feels stiff after the first mile. Interestingly, it is most sore after I sleep or sit for a long period of time. I can’t decide if it is actually getting better or I am just getting use to it. But I think it is getting better. Ibuprofen helps. The long and the short of it is, it is starting to make me crazy. It feels like forever since I have run without pain and it is starting to get in the way of my life when not running. After a long run, it can sneak up on me when I get out of the car and make walking without pain impossible. And then, after I walk around it will go away. Or at least be manageable.
I have started to be more hesitant when I run, and won’t run two days in a row. This was something new for me, so it isn’t as though I had been doing it for a long time anyway. I do the shorter recovery run and have ditched my threshold runs. This bugs me. I keep hoping that one more day of not running will help to heal it. And, as I said before, I think it is getting better. But not to the point yet, where I can enjoy running. It is like coaxing a stiff board forward. Even biking doesn’t seem to help.
In response, I have researched constantly on the Internet, ( I have not read all of these, I stop when I get bored, feel out of my depth or read stop running) and in true me fashion, have ditched any possible reason that gets in the way of my running. So, anything that says stop activity until there is no more pain, is automatically rejected. Couldn’t be that. On one forum I found a response that was sort of what I was looking for. A runner posted similar pain, and one of the responses spoke about running through the pain. How a doctor had predicted that there would be no long term damage, but that there would be pain for quite some time. Two months was what this poster related.
I have also looked for better strength training routines that could help prevent further injury. This has lead me to the articles on the posterior chain and the importance of the psoas, especially to a runner. So, after unscientifically rejecting anything I don’t like, I have come up with what I do like, or at least can live with. I have cut my running back by a day. I have developed two new workout routines that target my glutes, hamstrings, quads, calf muscles, hip flexors, lower back and abs. And finally, I have promised myself that I will take walk breaks during my long runs until the pain disappears.
Hopefully, it will continue to get better. Since I don’t think there is any way I can just click this leg out and pop in a new one.
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