Sunday Funday? Not so much. Let me explain…
This will be my longest run until my race (finally) on September 18. That’s right people, we’re less than a month away from the big day. Well, a big day.
I had been experiencing a bit of soreness and discomfort since maybe Monday or Tuesday, and I guess I should have listened to my body better, because this run took it over the top. But first, back to my run…
I did three 4-ish-mile loops rather than an out-and-back style run that I usually prefer because I didn’t want to be too far from my starting point in case I needed to stop for some reason. Being stranded 1 mile away is far better than being stranded 6 miles away. Anyway, like I said, the leg was sore, so I took mini walking breaks every 20 minutes or so.
Because of the pain, I decided that once I got home and stretched that I would do my first ever ice bath…
Okay, we didn’t have that much ice in our freezer, so it was more of a cold water bath, but that works just as well. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be and 15 minutes of killing time by texting and taking pictures and I was out of there.
Blotchy and sweaty, but doing fine.
I was still quite a bit sore, but I was still able to get around just fine. I showered and get dressed and went out with one of my friends from high school who goes to another college about 1.5 hours from here since she is in town until her classes start up again. We had Thai food, talked about what we’ve been up to and gossiped about what people we graduated with were up to and took a little walk around campus since she hadn’t seen it really since she graduated.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t too smart and decided to wear cute flats to go with my dress rather than a sensible pair of shoes to walk in and I ended up getting 4 blisters on my feet. They aren’t painful and seem to be healing fine, although for the first day it looked like my foot was trying to grow another toe out of the sides of my feet.
Anyway, back to the story. The walking didn’t seem to aggravate the hurting leg, my feet were the only thing feeling pain. Fast forward maybe 2 or 3 hours after I got home and I was really hurting in the leg department. Right under my butt cheek? I’m not sure exactly what is there, but I’ve been told I possibly strained my hamstring.
Chef Katelyn Skinnytop to heal my leg and my aching heart.
I could barely stand, walk, or even bend over without pain. I’ve been icing, stretching, resting, and doing some light walking around trying to just get me back to functional since I still have to bike into work tomorrow morning. While I think I’ll making a little progress, it really doesn’t seem like much.
I really don’t want this to turn into a full-on injury, so I’m taking a break from running and pretty much anything involving my lower body (other than my work commute). I just feel so fortunate that this is happening still a month out from my race rather than closer to the date. Taking a break doesn’t seem as big of a deal. Since I’m not one to just sit still, I’ve been doing a lot of upper body exercises and a little bit of core work when it seems like my leg can take it (it only really hurts when I’m standing and bearing weight, so floor work seems to be okay).
New role model. For sure. Oh, and my monstrously-long nails that desperately need a trim but are just too pretty for me to.
I started reading Kara Goucher’s book recently and it couldn’t have come at a better time. It’s amazing! I was wary to get this book at first, but I’m really glad now that I bought it. I’m not even halfway through but I can honestly say that Kara is my new idol. Now that I’m injured and can’t (won’t) run that would normally throw me into a funk. But reading Kara’s section on injury has really helped me.
I am not a runner. I am a person who runs. Running is just one facet of me; it does not define me. I am a daughter, a student, a girlfriend, a friend, a reader, a blogger, a writer, an intern, a Spartan; and that can’t be taken away from me.
Have you ever been injured and unable to run? What did you do?
What’s on your Sunday agenda?
Ellen Ratliff 
I can definitely sympathise; in March I tore almost all the way through my left hamstring muscle, right under my butt, and it hurt like hell. 6 months later, I still am not fully recovered or without pain, and haven’t got back to the mileage I was doing beforehand. Fingers crossed your injury is less serious!
If you haven’t already, I’d get down to a doctor; it sounds like you’ve got some sort of strain, and though the less serious ones can’t really be ‘treated’, they can at least give you something for the pain and tell you the best path to recovery.
I actually avoid pain killers and pills at all costs if I can because I’ve had some problems with them in the past, even ibuprofen. If anything, I’ll take 1 tylenol for the day, but I trust my body to know what it needs to do in order to heal and I don’t want to interrupt that process by taking pills that make the body stop what it was programmed to do.
When I first started track back during sophomore year of high school, I got these insane pains in my calves. No exaggeration, I could barely walk because all of the strain would send pain up the back of my leg. I hobbled along and got new shoes that helped my footing – I found out I overpronate – and after about a week it went away. Lots and lots of stretching. 😛
Nothing too exciting for today, maybe some writing or cleaning. The parents want to go to the Corn ‘N’ Tater Fest (don’t ask) so I might go with for a few hours.
I hope your leg gets better before your half!! I know how excited you are to run it!!! Good luck girl!! 🙂
I now dump a full 16 lb bag of ice in. It’s torture. But it works for sure! Hope the hamstring gets better fast for you!
Yikes. Those ice baths always look brutal! SO sorry you are feeling hurt. Running does take it’s toll! Just keep listening to your body, resting, foam rolling, etc!
That book looks really good!
It’s amazing! I plan on doing a full book review once I’ve finished.