Injury Update & First Races of 2014
I'm not out of the woods on being injured yet, but things have improved in the past couple of weeks. I started to run again increasing in 0.5 mile increments, and I've now worked up to 4 miles with 4.5 to come this week. Physical Therapy is helpful and I'm doing a number of exercises to strengthen my glutes and hips, which should support the hip flexor and adductor better. The other big change is my gait - I'd been running with my feet landing too close together and was using too much adductor, so I'm focusing on keep my feet landing farther apart (under the hips) and leaning forward a bit to give the hip flexor more space during my stride. My stride is definitely longer, and I can tell I'm using energy differently.
The hardest part about the gait change (especially combined with time off) is feeling so completely out of shape. I'm taking some walk breaks and the shorter distances take more effort than I'd like. Paces that used to be my easy day paces feel hard. On the bright side, I know where I started when I first began to run and I'm no where near there. I also know I can do it again; I keep telling myself to keep going, I'll get back to where I was.
The one caveat to my potential comeback is some minor, residual pain in the groin area. It's like a little pinch, barely there but there enough to make my brain worry that it'll get worse again. I hope that isn't the case, but since it's been a couple of months I'm going to have an MRI to check for a labral tear or something else. Fingers crossed it's not anything new and that it's just slower healing in that spot.
For now, I'm able to run and excited for my next two events. Finally, my first races of the year! Although I'm not at race pace shape, I plan to enjoy the atmosphere and to do my best. I'll be traveling to Virginia Beach to run the Shamrock Townebank 8K on March 15 with many other Oiselle team ladies; this was supposed to be a half for me, but I dropped back for obvious reasons. My other upcoming event is Ragnar SoCal on April 4-5 with 11 other awesome SF Marathon ambassadors. I'll be hanging out in Van 2 as runner 8; anyone else out there running Ragnar SoCal? Let me know, I'd love to say hello!
The hardest part about the gait change (especially combined with time off) is feeling so completely out of shape. I'm taking some walk breaks and the shorter distances take more effort than I'd like. Paces that used to be my easy day paces feel hard. On the bright side, I know where I started when I first began to run and I'm no where near there. I also know I can do it again; I keep telling myself to keep going, I'll get back to where I was.
The one caveat to my potential comeback is some minor, residual pain in the groin area. It's like a little pinch, barely there but there enough to make my brain worry that it'll get worse again. I hope that isn't the case, but since it's been a couple of months I'm going to have an MRI to check for a labral tear or something else. Fingers crossed it's not anything new and that it's just slower healing in that spot.
For now, I'm able to run and excited for my next two events. Finally, my first races of the year! Although I'm not at race pace shape, I plan to enjoy the atmosphere and to do my best. I'll be traveling to Virginia Beach to run the Shamrock Townebank 8K on March 15 with many other Oiselle team ladies; this was supposed to be a half for me, but I dropped back for obvious reasons. My other upcoming event is Ragnar SoCal on April 4-5 with 11 other awesome SF Marathon ambassadors. I'll be hanging out in Van 2 as runner 8; anyone else out there running Ragnar SoCal? Let me know, I'd love to say hello!
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