joint affects from running

[Red Rock]

I have been trying to run/walk about every other day for about a week and half now. A few questions as to the effects on my body.

Do you always get joint pain (feet and hips especially) after running?

Is it a newb thing with running? Will it go away?

After my last run, I made sure that I soaked in a cool/warm bath before I took a nice warmer shower. I think that helped my legs a lot. I also did not do a lot of walking on them either for the 8-10 hours.

I have been sticking to dirt roads around where I live. I have totally avoided asphalt because I know I will hurt from running on it.

Thank you,
Red Rock

[Grog]

Some discomfort is not unusual, but if you're experiencing pain I'd take it as a signal.

Running is a pretty hard thing to get used to for your body. It's important to increase volume VERY progressively and to allow sufficient time for rest.

How far/long have you been going for?

[Grog]

And, to answer your questions:

Do you always get joint pain (feet and hips especially) after running?

I've started having foot pain after I started to run more than 30 km on a regular basis, training for a marathon. I also had severe foot pain from over-doing hill repeats when I was training for short-distance runs a couple of years ago. I do not consider it 'normal' and I am currently working to improve my foot strength. (See the "barefoot running" thread for more info.)

Foot pain comes in lots of different ways. It could also be related to your shoes, which you don't tell us anything about... And also, how long does the pain last for? How intense on a scale of 10?

Is it a newb thing with running? Will it go away?

It will not go away if your shoes are inappropriate, if you increase mileage and/or intensity too fast, if your form is problematic, etc. I find that some new runners have a tendency to jump really high, wasting a lot of energy and forcing their joints to absorb a much bigger impact than necessary.

Your mileage may vary! I hope you can solve this because running is fun!

[Red Rock]

Thank you Grog.

I guess to answer some of my own questions would be this:

I went to the running store here in town to purchase my shoes, so I think they are ok.

My timing might be off (perhaps two weeks? I can't remember for sure). I could be doing to much to fast. That is entirley possible. However, I have been trying to run for a few minutes then walk a few and repeat. My last time out was for a total hour. I did an out and back.

Maybe what I am calling pain might be better classified as soreness. There was immediate relief after I took my cold bath. I did need to be off my feet though because my legs sort of ached.

One good thing from this last outing was I was more able to adjust my stride and make it much shorter so I would not be working as hard. I was actually trying to bring my heart rate down because I have been at my max ever since I have been out.

I also have been doing like a pre run walk of about 5-10 minutes and same upon return.

I just wanted to say my response has been delayed due to assisitng in the Ford Iroman Triathalon of St. George. Yesterday and night was very busy.

Thank you,
Red Rock

[Grog]

One hour?! You're a tough cookie! That's a lot of running (even with walking thrown in) for a beginning runner. Even for a non-beginning runner it tends to be quite a bit, except for people who train for half marathons or longer distances. I used to train a group of beginners (otherwise modestly fit people, not athletes but not unhealthy folks either) for a 10K race and I'd start with 15-20 minutes run/walk and add about 5 minutes a week. Some weeks we wouldn't add anything at all.

I'm no doctor but I think that if cold water improves your situation then it's because your feet are inflamed.

It looks like you have a good strategy in place (adding walking before and after). You might want to scale back on the volume a big and give both your heart and your joints a chance to adapt. It will help you keep this up for much longer.

Let us know how it goes!

[Red Rock]

Thank you Grog for your help. I will work on not doing so much all at once. It is really hard to do that since it is my time to vegitate.

What about bringing the bike along and doing a small brick? is this asking for to much of myself?

Thank you,
Red Rock

[Grog]

I don't know! Riding a bike sure sounds like a gentler thing for your joints than running.

Enjoy!