It's Sunday, and it's running clinic day!! Today on the schedule we had a 75 min run. 10 minute warm up, 50 minutes at 80% and a 15 minute cool down. That would be about 15km for our group. Not a bad way to start Easter Sunday!!
The run started out at a very nice slow pace. We picked up the pace around 2 1/2 - 3 km so more of a 5-20 minute warm up. If we do it this way we are on the trails and no longer troubled by stopping at the traffic lights and crossing roads etc.
The first 4-5km felt pretty good, then the pain in my left hip started up again. By the time I reached 6km I felt like I was running to favor my left side. I can feel my right foot hitting the ground harder, and what feels like very flat footed. At this point I had a lot going through my head. I can keep running, I know I can finish the run. It will hurt, and I will be limping the rest of the day and possibly tomorrow, but I can keep pace and finish. OR, I can back off the pace, try not to get too far behind and run slowly home. Wait this is a silly option, I am way too competitive, even with just myself to actually back off the pace and stick to it. OR, I can get to the end of the road, and call it a day before we turn back around to run home. We that's a silly idea too. How will I be ready for the 10km which is 3 weeks away if I only run 1/2 of the workout. BUT, if I do push myself through the run, there is a possibility that I will injure myself further. Oh what the heck do I do?!?! What a tough decision to make!!
I battled with myself for quite some time, then I got rational. I am better stopping short and being able to finish, actually I'm better being able to start the 10km in 3 weeks than to push myself to further injury. I really didn't feel good about my decision initially, but as the day has gone by, and the soreness is setting in, I am SO very glad I made the decision to stop.
Injuries are such a tough battle to fight. You don't want to feel like a quitter for giving up, but at the same time, you cannot just keep running yourself further and further into the ground. (Which I have been doing). My initial onset of pain was back in January when I first started running. I have done nothing about it until last week when after my 14+km run last Sunday I was struggling to walk for 2 days.
What am I doing about my pain? I went to see the Chiropractor and a Massage Therapist on Wednesday. Fortunately for me the Chiro is a runner himself and he never once asked me to stop running. Diagnosis: Apparently my ball joint in my hip is not rotating properly. It is maybe pulling forwards instead of doing a circular motion? Something with my knees and my feet too, but I dont remember all the technical info. Anyways, this irregular motion is causing me to self correct my footing which is what is causing all the intense pain within my soft tissue. Prognosis: pretty good, it seems I can be fixed! I have to go for weekly adjustments in my hips knees and feet to get my all lined up straight. I need to strengthen my gluteous minimus, and do preventative exercises to make sure I don't lose my IT band too. I do massage therapy (as often as the budget allows, and when needed) to help with the pain management and to try and work through all of the soft tissue damage. I am thankful my extended benefits cover Registered Massage Therapy, and will be making full use of those benefits!!
The moral of my story, if you have an injury, or you have some pain that is not going away and progressively getting worse, GET IT CHECKED OUT!! If you really don't want to stop running, find a Dr who is a runner, or see a sports Dr. They are not as quick to tell you to stop running. Just don't leave it until a few weeks before your big event to get sorted, you need time to recover, and get some good runs in before the big race!!
Happy Running!!
JoJo!!
