That's what I'm telling my body. In the nicest way I can, of course. "Hey body, suck it up!" You see, I went on this lovely, hard, grueling long run on Sunday. It may not have been the wisest idea to do 7 miles after running on the treadmill all winter. The treadmill works different muscle groups in your legs than running on pavement would work. So basically, all winter long, my hamstrings have been getting a bit lazy. They are the fat couch potato of my leg muscles.
My hamstrings kind of hate me this week.
But I was expecting this, wasn't I? Yes and no. Naive me was hoping all would be fine. In an effort not to do damage and let my legs rest a bit, I did not run Monday or Tuesday. By Tuesday night, I decided I've had enough of this and it's time to get back out there. Which I did, this morning. I ran 3 miles, and it was definitely work. My hamstrings weren't in pain, but they were saying "hey, what is this crap?! Can we go back to bed now?" But I have a game plan.
I try my best not to get injured while running. Injuries are common, and sometimes you can run through them and sometimes you need rest. Last Spring, I had some chronic hip pain that I ran through. Then it was tendinitis in late Summer that my doctor told me to run through as well. I read a post on Pinterest that said redheads have a higher pain tolerance, even though technically we have a gene mutation that allows for red hair. Hey, I'll buy that. I mean, everything on the internet is true, right?
Anyway, with my hamstrings, I'm not so sure. I've heard of people getting more severe injuries from doing exactly what I did. But I thought I was invincible and went running anyway. Now I have to allow for annoying pain. Now I have to plan shorter runs and slower runs. But that's ok, because at least I'm still running. So, my plan is to take another rest day, then get out there and do some hills. Hills make you stronger. Hills make your legs push. Hills also give you a nice tush. I'll buy that, too.
Have you had a sports injury? How did you work through it?
Thankfully, I haven't had a really bad injury, but about a month ago I had to take the week off because I had some really weird hip pain. And THEN after that went away, my knee started hurting. I'm going to blame the treadmill. I basically ran on just that for two months during the polar vortex, and then running outside is TOUGH now. Stupid winter. I feel you, girl!
ReplyDeleteMy weird hip pain last Spring turned into weird knee pain too. But not the same sides of the body. I think I may have been overcompensating one side for the other. But the hip pain definitely started on the treadmill. They are the devil! I did 7.5 miles outside yesterday, and I'm feeling pretty good today. Hopefully winter is on it's way out so we can keep running outside!
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