April 20-26 Runs

[Jolt]

Jolt, it may well be the adductors, Right now my left groin is on fire and I am also having neck/head pain, along with some hip/sitz bone stuff. All on the left. I rode to W. Concord to do errands this morning on my hybrid. Just the 12 mile rt made me feel like kicking my bike and getting fat and lazy.
Since I have had MRIs of everything and all they show is a little degeneration, sort of normal for my age and activity level, I have got to do something. I've been doing all of the exercises she had me do last year, stretching, the roller, but the more I do, the worse it gets.

What a bummer! I have something to recommend looking into: I recently picked up this book, 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back (by Esther Gokhale), that is all about posture and using your body the right way, and am so far finding it very useful. You might want to look at it--it's not just for back problems even though that's the title of the book and is a big part of what it focuses on. The woman who wrote it went to several countries where the incidence of back pain is very low and observed their posture and movement; there are photographs of people doing daily activities in those and other places throughout. There are sections dealing with sleeping positions, sitting, standing, using the core muscles to protect the spine, bending and walking (the walking one focuses a lot on using the glutes, and that is the main reason I decided the book would be helpful in my situation). It also has a section with exercises you can do for specific areas that need work on strength or flexibility. Be forewarned that you'll learn how bad the way so many things are set up is for posture--seats in cars are awful (as are the ones on the commuter rail and the T, I have realized--no wonder one can never get really comfortable on a long ride), most chairs and couches aren't so great either, etc. Sort of makes you want to overhaul your whole furniture setup... Anyway, I highly recommend this book based on my experience so far.

[michelem]

Oops! Missed posting for this week's thread, so figure better late than never.

Couldn’t stand to let the nice weather go to waste, so went for an approx. 7 mile run Sunday morning. Left the house at 8am and somewhere between 45 and 50 degrees. It’s an out-and-back route I’m familiar with, from my house along surface streets, to a lovely paved trail. No real hills to speak of (although plenty of “false flats” -- slight upgrades you can barely see, but sure can feel) until the last 3/4 miles home, which is an approx. 6.5% grade up. Anyway, felt pretty good up to the turnaround point, approximately 30 minutes in, but really struggled on the way back. For one, there was that lovely wind again (although it was less than 10mph, so nothing like Friday). And two, I started feeling super-hungry and like I was losing energy big-time. I think this new way of eating (higher protein/lower carbs to support the strength training I'm doing with P90X) is not providing enough glycogen for me to run on an empty stomach like I’m used to doing in the mornings. However, I can’t eat or drink anything any sooner than 3 hours before I run unless I want to be making pit stops along the way. Sigh . . . Anyway, completed the run/jog in just over an hour.

So, I learned my lesson and will adjust my intake accordingly when planning to go for a run!

Wow, congrats divingbiker! Sounds like you picked quite a doozy for your first race!

Yellow, Ice bath??? YIKES!!! There is NO WAY I'd ever do one of those. You are one strong woman!

Urlea, I'm getting excited for you and can't wait to hear how May 9 goes for you.

Everyone else, keep on running!