My hips don’t lie
When I wrote in my last post about keeping things in perspective, I had times like this in mind. If my running isn’t being sidelined by sickness, it’s injury. sigh
On one of my runs before Medoc I started feeling a bit of pain in my right hip (the muscles running in front and just to the side) . It wasn’t particularly painful, more of a heightened discomfort. I would feel creaky in the mornings and the discomfort increased after all the walking we did in Paris. However, I don’t recall it feeling that bad after Medoc.
My first run after the marathon was seven days later, and again, I don’t recall my hip hurting much. My cold kept me from running for a week, but I then started training in earnest for Goofy. Not only did I do a couple of days of hill repeats, many of my runs were on hilly courses. I also started doing my physical therapy exercises again, thinking the pain could be from my weak hips (that had been the source of my patellafemoral pain syndrome earlier this year).
My cold returned, so I took the following week off. But on Saturday I felt good enough to run again, so my darling and I took off on a 9+ mile run, which included running up the almost mile-long Stone Way Hill (although long, it’s a gradual incline). My hip was rather sore afterwards and the pain remained the next morning. While I probably should have rested it, I instead headed to a hydrofit class at the pool (Sundays are my cross-training days). I didn’t feel any pain during the exercises, but I was again creaky come Monday morning.
Now I think about it, there were many things I did on Monday that were probably unwise: not only did I do side leg lifts with weights (one of my PT exercises), I then did a 6 1/2 mile fartlek workout that afternoon. Although I could feel the pain, it wasn’t enough to make me stop. Afterwards I popped a couple of ibuprofen and iced the area, but it remained quite tender (and still is). By yesterday evening I could tell I had overdone it.
Who knows what’s causing it: thinking my stride has been too long (which can cause hip pain), I’ve consciously shortened it. Sure, my runs have included more hills, but it hasn’t seemed too extreme (we live in a hilly area after all; it’s difficult to avoid them!). I haven’t taken my Pilates class for quite a while, and due to my cold I haven’t been going to my ab class. So it could be I just need to work on strengthening all the muscles surrounding the area. (Let’s hope that’s the easy answer). I have another appointment with my PT next week.
So for now I’m back on relative rest. I’m scheduled for an easy run tomorrow, but will probably hit the pool instead. We’ll see how I feel on Thursday; it may be another pool day. I had planned on running the Dawg Dash 10K on Sunday, but that’s now up in the air. I know if I’m to get back to running I need to be smart. And sometimes that means NOT running for a while. Argh!
October 10th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Ouch! Maybe you should back off running until the hip calms down.
October 10th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
do you want some unsolicited advice? i’m gonna give it anyway.
i’d skip the dawg dash. i’d take a break from the hills for right now. but keep running … keep icing … keep doing ibuprofen. i’d add core & lower back strengthening excersises (oh, you said that) – they help keep hips stable. i have also found that i think my massage therapist helps more than the PT. i continue to do all the excersizes i got from PT girl – because i do think they help tremendously, but go instead to massage every other week. but most of all – DONT GOOGLE ANYTHING! and don’t go lurking around on blogging buddies old posts – you’ll just make yourself crazy!! i am an expert at crazy. especially the kind of crazy that accompanies all the unknowns of an injury. i can see it a mile away. takes one to know one, ya know?! above all – relax. whatever it is – it will get better. 🙂 also sounds like a good time to try out pool running!
October 10th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Thank you so much for your comments. I’m thinking nixing the Dawg Dash is a good idea, especially since I had planned on running it as fast as I can. I’m sure I’ll know more on Tuesday after my PT appointment, but I definitely need to get in for a massage as well. It’s feeling better today, but I can still feel a bit of a “tickle.” Given the problems that have plagued me in the past, I wouldn’t be surprised to find it’s my wonky alignment that’s causing it!
October 10th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Fellow injured runners unite! I hope you blog about your pool workouts. I’m a little nervous transitioning to water. I fear the lifeguards may try to rescue me thinking I am drowning. Oh well, at least I can laugh about it. Laughter is the best medicine, right?
October 10th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
You may be surprised — your pool may be totally set up for this type of workout! I bought a water belt but realized it was totally unnecessary as my pool has plenty of them (including the water hand weights). They even offer an Aqua Jog class (although it’s in the middle of the day, so I won’t be able to make it). Ideally your pool will have some sort of unstructured swim (rather than lap swim) where you can do this. And hopefully they’ll even have some sort of class!
October 11th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
I used to have a lot of hip problems, which I decided to blame on the repetitive motion of running. Now, after I run, I go somewhere where I can’t be seen and do 5 – 10 minutes of “dance like” moves that involve swinging my hips from side to side, and moving them in a circular fashion. While I’m doing this, I feel things stretching, and other things popping back into place, so I’m pretty sure it helps. I’d hate to be caught on video though! I’ve also been doing lots of leg lifts. Now all of my problems are below the knee, so I’m working on that, too. It’s always something!
Good luck with rest and recovery. I hope it goes much faster than my post-Seafair debacle!
October 11th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
Heck — my neighbors have seen me outside in just a job bra and too-tight shorts, seeing me do a goofy dance will be nothing!
I feel much better today, and I’ve even gotten some exercise in. I hit the pool yesterday and today (and will be blogging about my new routine).
October 13th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Ditto all the advice above! Hope the hips are feeling better by now – or at least not worst. I have been doing ALOT of stretching in all different ways and some very specific strengthening to help out the hips.
But the massage and a steady stream of prescrip antiinflammatories are definitely keeping it healing in the right direction.
Take care!
October 15th, 2007 at 6:44 am
Betsy,
Just found out about your Medoc blog – what a great time we had! Wish I could have enjoyed the Marathon out on the course, but had to “endure” it on crutches in Pauillac waiting for the rest of you to finish. Ejoyed the coffee, croissants, wine, beer, mussels, etc. during that 5+ hours!
Also heard about your hip injury from your blog. Since you already did the Marathon training, I’m sure it’s nothing like my stress fracture, and then broken leg, but it’s still a good strategy to get an MRI, to rule out some of those nasty possibilities.
Good luck with your Goofy challenge!
October 15th, 2007 at 8:01 am
Hi John! I saw your posts on the Runners World discussion board (I FINALLY signed up after months of lurking). Hope you’re doing well.
October 15th, 2007 at 11:00 pm
Hope your hip improves very quickly. I get pain over my hip from time to time, my physio says that it is due to IBS which causes me bother all along that leg. It seems to clear up with rest and stretching.