A Possible Cause

I may have discovered a biomechanical cause for my sore hips. Yesterday, I noticed that when I tense my glutes (yes! buns-of steel), that I could feel the burning. Weird, who would have thunk a tight tush would cause such issues.

Ever since then, I have been trying to make a conscious effort to relax all my leg muscles. So far, so good.

After a cookout and 4 adult beverages yesterday (thank you warm weather and DST), my legs were tight this morning. A recipe for frustration lately.

This afternoon, I warmed up, stretched (which didn't do much) and ran my scheduled 1.5 miles. Granted, I ran slow and stopped for a 4 minute stretch break about 5 minutes in, but I concentrated on making sure my legs were relaxed. Lo and behold, I sat in a chair all afternoon without much discomfort. YEEHAW!

Hopefully I figured something out, or maybe I just had a good day.

Some Say Suck It Up

I had some interesting discussions yesterday with Kevin. He's been laid up all week, recovering from wisdom teeth removal. I wanted to head over to REI to spend my 2008 dividend on another bike mount for my rack. Kevin wanted to go too. I suggested that we get a short road ride in because of the 60+ degree (F) temperatures.

I had a 3 mile run to do before I could go out. To make a long story short, I finished the 3 miles, but I had to stop at least 4 times for thorough stretching during the run just to finish. 37 minutes of run time (really slow) took me at least 50 minutes clock time. Needless to say, I finished, but my legs weren't in that great of shape.

I decided that a road ride wasn't the best idea as I need to give my legs as much rest as possible. This disappointed Kevin greatly because he had been waiting all week to ride. As usual with the two of us, the mood was a bit adversarial because everything has to be a competition and neither one of us likes to admit defeat.

Kevin told me to suck it up and quit whining about my legs. I tried to explain that I wanted to ride just as much as he did and that I was dissappointed too. I may have thrown an "I hope you get a repeptitve injury some day so that you might understand" in there. Uncalled for, but boys will be boys. My point was that I am sucking it up in an attempt to still run the Cherry Blossom race.

So what's better, sucking it up by playing trough the pain or resting?

If I rest, then I shouldn't be training at all for the Cherry Blossom race, and I probably wouldn't train for much of anything at all because it seems that something always aches more than I'd like. That doesn't work. But I don't want to suck it up when I shouldn't and cause real problems down the line.

It's a delicate balance. Yesterday, I drew the line between my run and a road ride.

Like Sands Glued To Paper...

So are the last few days of my life.  ROUGH...like the way my legs feel if I sit down for more than 20 minutes at a time.  AHHHHHHHH!  If can't make it through my run tomorrow (3 mi) without problems, it's gonna be time to pull the plug on this Cherry Blossom race.    

On the good news side of things, I received my REI dividend yesterday. $54.something.  And I got a 20% off coupon.  So, I'm going to use those to get another bike mount for my roof rack.  Now I'll be able to carry two bikes!

New Strategy

Thinking about this hip thing in my dreams, or in between them really as I turned over, I think I overdid my leg/core strength training on Tuesday.  One of the ways to improve my hip situation is to strengthen the muscles around them, or so I read.  I'm thinking my muscles were still pretty tight from that yesterday, which is why I felt off during warmups.  I'm going to try a new strategy of off day rest with lots-o-stretches.  Maybe that'll help. 

Seesaws Go Up And Down

Like a seesaw, so go my hips.  I could feel it before my run while stretching.  I thought I warmed up pretty well, but I guess not.  During the first mile (of 2), I decided that my foot strike is all over the place...heel, arch, outside, ball...I can't seem to consistently hit the same part of my foot.  I don't know if I'm concentrating on it toom much because of this hip thing or if I've always been inconsistent and  just haven't noticed it.  Supposedly hip bursitis is caused by poor biomechanics.  If I had stuck with biomedical engineering in college maybe I would know the cause, but I've been told over pronating can cause it, which I tend to do.  Wish I knew a running specialist doctor who would observe me on a treadmill for 10 minutes.  

You know what hurts the worst?  Sitting down.  The actual run isn't bad nor afterwards during cooldown and stretching.  It's when I sit down for long periods back in my office when it's the worst. 

Wednesday Training Haiku

one point five miles on
treadmill, no burning hip pain
a baby step YES!

Back In The Saddle...Well Maybe

So I finally ran again today. Whew! It was really nice. Toward the end of last week, my burning hips had mostly been extinguished and it was onto my knee pain. Luckily, the weather was on my side and I got to ride my road bike both weekend days.

Knee (to Road Bike): You are my friend. Whenever I'm in pain, you help comfort me.

Road Bike (to knee): You used to hate me! You complained about me all the time.

Knee (to Road Bike): Yes, but that was before Hands moved the seat post to the correct height. Now I love you!

(Knee and Road Bike hug and the curtains close)

Now that the play has finished derailing this post, back to the subject.

I had a dream last night that I ran and my knee hurt alot afterwards. So, what happens next? Of course, I woke up and my knee hurt. I had planned on running in the morning while (future) Dr. J was showering, but my knee hurt. DAMN! It went back and forth my head...it's been a week and a half, I should be able to run...but my knee hurts I don't want to get more injured...yes, but there's only 8 weeks left until the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, I have to run sometime or another and it'll be most convenient right now instead of at lunch...but my knee hurts, etc, etc, etc.

I let the decision come down to temperature. If it was warm...then I would run. If not, I knew it was going to be fairly nice again today...low 50's...so I could go at lunch. Or I could just wait until Wednesday or Saturday because my knee hurts!

Turns out it was 37 degrees, which sounded too close to 32 degrees, which is freezing, and I didn't want to run enough to run when it's freezing outside. See how my mind plays games?

I took my running clothes to work, half expecting to bail. Lunch time came around and I made the decision to test the legs. It was about 50...chilly in just a t-shirt and shorts...but it turned out to be perfect once I got warmed up. I ran 2 miles at 10:24 pace. Just enough to call it a workout, yet slow enough go easy on my knee-sy. Bad joke...I'm aware.

After the run, I stretched for about ten minutes. Stretching is supposed to be good for sore joints, so I'm trying to branch out from my usual quad-hamstring-calf routine. I didn't feel much discomfort in my knee or hips afterwards...just a small something in my hip. 7 hours later, my legs feel about the same as before I ran. I'll take a couple ibuprofen today and tomorrow with dinner just in case.

Feels great to be back at it!