Running/Suffering

What is the nature of suffering when running?

Someone posted previously (I think KSH) about the difference between hurting from injury and hurting from pushing your body to the limit. When I am swimming or cycling, I know when I'm tapped out, muscles hurting, quads completely empty, all-over aching but in a feel-good way.

However, when I run it hurts in an all-different way, usually when I'm past my "comfort zone" of 5-6 miles. Sharp jarring pain in my lower back, shooting pains up the backs of my thighs. I usually stop because of these pains, not because my aerobic capacity has been reached. There seems to be no aftereffects on the day-after, other than a slight stiffness.

Since I've never been much of a runner, I don't know if these pains are the usual "suffering" everyone goes through, or if it is symptomatic of injury/damage. I can run a 5k with no problems, but if I'd like to do the Oly distance.

I am currently running pain free (knock wood) for the first time in my life. I attribute that to two things:

1. I stay off the road as much as possible and trail run

2. I am building my distance slowly, slowly, slowly.....


And I agree with you, when I hurt on the bike, I do not feel hurt, and yet when I hurt in the run...it feels like an injury.

Shrugging my shoulders.....

If you're not used to running, it takes a LONG time to build up mileage without injury. Cycling isn't as hard on the body... Mileage increase isn't comparable to running. With cycling if you get to 70% of a century distance once, you can do the full distance. I don't know that I would do that running.

Granted, my long run is only 3 or so miles. But I've been working on that a long time. I've been spending a few months just running 2 and 3 miles before I try to proceed foward to 5 and 6.

Over at coolrunning.com people keep saying to only increase your distance each week by 10 percent. Then every couple weeks scale back the mileage again for a recovery week. It's a pretty good site for running info, just like this website is good for information primarily of a cycling nature.

Guage your body just like with cycling. It just takes less running to equal the same impact as cycling. If your joints are hurting the next day, rest them longer or scale back the effort and do a recovery day of walking or something.

Bluetree, you could be hurting because, as you said, you're out of your comfort zone, and pushing your body to go farther than it's accustomed to. I've always thought that runners have a high tolerance for pain because running always hurts in some manner, but you learn what's a "good" hurt and what's a "bad" hurt after a while. If you're not in pain the next day, you're probably fine, but if you have pain other than muscle soreness or stiffness the next day, you should back off the distance. I will say that I have had the sharp, shooting pains up the backs of my legs, and that was not a good thing -- turns out I had pinched nerves in my back. So, watch the shooting pains, since they usually are not a "good" hurt, and build your mileage VERY slowly. By the way, are your shoes in good condition and appropriate for your feet? I've had more problems from wearing the wrong shoes than anything else.

KB

Gradually increasing pain during a run with increased effort is how I think of suffering. It should go away when you stop or back off and it shouldn't linger into the next day or two except as sore muscles.

Sharp pain is not usually under the same category. Sometimes it shows up on a run but isn't there on the next run. In this case it's not worth worrying about. But if it is coming on consistently with effort and shooting pain into your legs, you may be causing nerve irritation in your back.

I would recommend backing off the speed, or moving to a softer surface such as trails (Like RnR suggested). If you're already running slowly for that increased distance, I would try going to a 10 min run, 1 min walk schedule when you are going to run long and don't increase your long runs by more that 15 min per week. Then I would add more core strengthening, maybe a pilates class to your training. After about 3 to 4 weeks of this, you could go back to trying some faster running or more continuous effort on long runs and see if the sharp pain is gone. It may be that as you increase your distance, your core musculature is unable to stabilize your low back area and this in turn leads to the sharp pain. Hence the need for abdomenal strengthening.

I had leg-dragging, air-gasping, eye-popping agony on the 4th (&last) round of my "competition" run beginning of december. I no longer registered the pretty Xmas lights overhead. Just hanging onto BF for dear life and finish, because I did not want to "give up" the pace he was setting (easy for him).

Other n that my hips started going "rusty" at the end of my 2 longest runs so far (after an hour and more) - it felt a bit like sciatica. It went away overnight though.

I'm doing a beginner running program and am only on 3 minutes of jogging at a time. Those are the longest 3 minutes EVER. It hurts like nothing else. No bike ride or swim could ever be this painful.

But it's fun. :D

Running is very hard on the body. It's a high impact activity. With every stride you are putting the force of several times your body weight onto one leg. The impact is absorbed and dissipated throughout your body, especially in the leg joints and then up into your back, etc. When you start a run your body is fresh and rested and better able to deal with the stresses. As you run the cumulative stresses build up and things start to tire and hurt. We each differ in how much pounding it takes to reach this point. Beyond that it's mental toughness that allows some of us to endure the pain and continue on where others would stop.

The body is amazingly resilient, adaptable, and self healing. Increasing your workout in small increments allows the body time to adapt to the stress through increased bone density, and increased blood flow to muscles, tendons, and ligaments and to repair the previous damage.

Contrast running to riding and you can see that in riding there is basically no pounding, just the vibrations that are transmitted through the tire and frame to your hands and bottom. The stresses on the body are entirely different.

Personally, I find 2.5 miles of running to be far harder than 25 miles of biking.

+1 what Wahine said.

Also, I love the book "ChiRunning" by Danny Dreyer. Using his "tricks" really helped me be able to run (a little) after being told I should NEVER run again.

Mostly I just run/walk at a half-and-half time proportion, but I can do it without pain.

Thanks for all the suggestions/support. I spoke to my coach yesterday and we went over a lot of things, not the least of which was my route. It turns out that the first half of my run is 3-4 miles flat along the beachfront, until I get to my turnaround.
My return route goes inland through some rolling hills/bluffs. The up-and-down terrain and possibly, my bad posture on the downhills may be the cause of my back pains. I find myself leaning back and "braking" so he gave me some drills to practice on downhills. He also told me to run on asphalt instead of the concrete sidewalks, when possible. I never knew there was a difference! :rolleyes:

Hey Bluetree... looks like you got a lot of really great advice here and from your coach.

Here's that quote, if you wanted it:

Quote:

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From Zia_Cyclist: Another aspect of mental training is recognizing the difference between pain and suffering.

Pain is an acute, hurting feeling that if you don't stop immediately will lead to injury.

Suffering on the other hand is that feeling you get when pushing your body to the limit. Don't get me wrong, it hurts. But, suffering isn't going to lead to injury.

When I read about this and learned the difference it lead me to push harder on some of my long runs and in races.

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Well, I did it this morning, with my new "rules":
I ran off the concrete as much as I could, from 90% down to about 40%; I ran on grass next to the path, instead of on it (apologies to the City of Redondo Beach); I took the dirt track whenever possible; I took the road instead of the sidewalk when safe; I practiced my downhill posture (felt reallty weird, like I was hunched forward) and yeah, towards the end I was hurting.
The good news is that the shooting pains were gone. The only hurting was the dull aching in my hammys and glutes after mile 6 or so. I suppose this is the "good" hurt, right? ;)

Thanks for all your help, gals!

BIG difference between asphalt and concrete!

KB