Rabbit's epic healing thread ;-) (feel free to ignore)

[alpinerabbit]

Hi Tulip ! I do eat meat, just not all the time. Tonight's indian lentils, rice, veggies.


It's been an interesting trip so far.

I'm wondering to what extent pain is just a part of an aspiring distance runner's life. I don't mean searing, limping, screaming pain and I don't mind a hard workout. I mean the little twinges, tweaks and itches - with me, they come and go, never for long but always at one or a couple out of a choice of known spots.

is this just the way it is and I need to learn how far I can go (and do that slowly) and how to manage them? Have I been too much of a scaredycat? (rabbit, I mean.)

[alpinerabbit]

Soooo...

after that first time of doing lunges, I had the most horrid DOMS (oh how sophisticated sounding!! sore muscles anyway) in my right rectus femoris (read outside quad) and both sides of my butt (gluteus medius).
So quite obviously, the rectus is the weak spot, overloading the other leg muscles. Looks like I had a reason for having all the trouble on the same leg. At least we're getting some results here.

I went running one time since, and had a twinge around the outside of the knee and nearly freaked about getting ITBS.
I also had sore, hot lumps in my right quad.

Another PT session, she finished off with stroking out the thigh after the exercise; the day after it really hurt down there and it was swollen - SHOCK! And cycling season approaching? If this kills my season I will be so pissed off at myself, so I'd rather give up the whole idea of triathlon, period, and stick to cycling. After all I also screwed up the shoulder so maybe this just isn't my sport? and so on and so forth ad nauseam...

By yesterday I was bored, way too cold for any biking, so I did my lunges and stretching and rolling in the morning. By lunch, bored out of my freaking mind, I did go for another run, I thought heck, even if this will be the last time I ever run.

8.5 K, took me over a freaking hour, but I was just peachy. Another bit of stretching afterwards.

This morning, nothing. No pain.

So I'm not giving up, but maybe reducing to 2 times a week but longer. Jeez, this is really getting epic.

[Jolt]

Yikes, sorry to hear things are rough! I wouldn't worry too much about the DOMS when you've just started something new. That is a normal thing that happens (I've been having it lately myself, having recently started doing some strength training and experimenting with running barefoot) and should decrease after a few times of doing the new workout. Definitely keep working on those knots; that twinge around the outside of the knee could well have been from one in the vastus lateralis rather than an ITB problem and if your quads have been having issues it's pretty likely. Keep an eye on that though (and make sure you don't have a trigger point in the TFL on that side--that can make it tight which of course makes the ITB tight)--IT band syndrome is a bummer. Good luck and keep us posted.

[alpinerabbit]

Yes thanks - as I was writing humorously, it might not have gotten across that I'm pretty sure it's not ITBS, but at the moment I felt it I freaked.

I'm keeping the TFL in mind when stretching and massaging*, and I actually appreciated the sore muscles I get from that exercise. It means something's happening and it pointed to the muscle that is weak, so that's a good thing in my view.

Today I'm really, really good and the mood is far away from the "panic" range of the color scale.


*it's hard to get at but the massage ball is doing the trick

[Jolt]

Yes thanks - as I was writing humorously, it might not have gotten across that I'm pretty sure it's not ITBS, but at the moment I felt it I freaked.

I'm keeping the TFL in mind when stretching and massaging*, and I actually appreciated the sore muscles I get from that exercise. It means something's happening and it pointed to the muscle that is weak, so that's a good thing in my view.

Today I'm really, really good and the mood is far away from the "panic" range of the color scale.


*it's hard to get at but the massage ball is doing the trick

Glad to hear today is better. I know what you mean about appreciating the sore muscles--it means the exercise is working! And I agree about the TFL being an awkward spot to massage; I use a firm rubber ball (smaller than a tennis ball) on the floor and that works pretty well.

[eclectic]

Wow alpine! I haven't been on for awhile - you certainly are having a time of it. Glad to see you are making some progress. Don't give up on tris yet. Heal, strengthen and condition slowly w/ sense and you will be back at it.

Sorry to hear about your shoulder
When you swim do you x-train strokes or just do freestyle?
The majority of what we do is freestyle but it is mixed up w/ full IM strokes. I have found that has helped me keep all my joints and muscles in balance also I can do backstroke and butterfly a lot better than when I first started

- Have to share this story - one of my students came w/ a support on his foot (whatever they are called as they don't cast any more) He had cracked some bones in his foot. I asked him what he had done. It was a swimming injury. Like he said "I am doing the lowest impact and totally non-contact of all sports and I break my foot" Apparently he was coming into the wall fast, missed the turn and broke it on impact and push off. Go figure . . .

[alpinerabbit]

Wow. what crappy luck :-(

I do all strokes in guided practice, and mostly freestyle on my own with some breast. I think I simply overdid it, although I think attempts at fly might have contributed to the strain. I also think my backstroke is not up to par (catch and push phase).