Tag Archive: injury

Hardcore discomfort

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Mon. January 18, 2010

I think I really put a heck of a lot of effort into yesterday’s run and subsequent plyometrics class because I’ve been really sore since this morning. It’s not even with only one muscle group. I can feel it in my glutes, quads, hamstrings, inner thighs. As you can imagine, moving around was totally difficult today. Sitting down anywhere was an ordeal. I’ve had to slowly lower myself until I kind of just plop down. After work, I decided to try to walk it out, but I totally felt every single nuance in the sidewalk’s slope. Even the slightest uphill section became this large mound that I had to tread gently on. I couldn’t hold my usual stride, so all of my steps were slow and deliberate. I walked like this all while at least attempting to maintain some semblance of control and/or dignity. It’s all I could do.

On the one hand, I’m just plain tired and wish that I didn’t have to deal with this discomfort. On the other hand I know that my leg muscles will become even stronger after they recover. That will help me out immensely when running. So, I guess that means that I’m willing to just put up with it all. The only other times that I’ve dealt with such discomfort have been right after my large races, but even then the discomfort from those is usually localized. I just haven’t had so many leg muscle groups affected all at once before. It’s a strange feeling.

Anyway, tomorrow is another day. Hopefully I’ll be better off by tomorrow morning or else my run later in the evening is going to be torturous.

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Jason vs. stabbing pain

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Wed. January 13, 2010

I had just gotten off the streetcar and was on my way down to track level to get to the subway. I had hill training planned and needed to get home early enough to make it up north to join my group. I had full intentions of getting in a short nap on the subway to get some rest in before my planned vigorous activities. As I walked down the stairs though, I must have misstepped or something because all of a sudden my right knee was attacked with this stabbing pain right below my right knee cap. My walk turned into a limp. The seats on the subway aren’t known for being roomy, so when I sat down my legs were put in some weird position that I could extricate myself easily from without kicking some old woman in the ribs. So I sat like that, and eventually the pain kind of faded. However, when my stop came and I got up it all came rushing back. Walking home from the station was difficult. When I got home, I just had to sit down and think. What now?

I’ve had this type of knee pain before in the past. Usually it clears pretty quickly. Sometimes I’m actually able to run on it on the same day. So, I decided to give myself half an hour to decide what to do. I started getting ready and even tried dashing around my condo just to see if I could handle the load. In the end, knowing how tough a workout hill training is, I decided to not go. I emailed my group leaders and emailed the store manager to inform them all of my situation. I wanted to ensure that my group was covered. In the end, I got wind that they were all fine.

It really gets me down whenever things like this happen. I mean, I really want to be there for my people. The manager made sure to remind me though that if I’m injured, I’m injured. It’s not like I’m shirking my responsibilities, right? Once again, the best thing I can do now is to rest well so that by the time Sunday comes around I’ll be ready to make the week’s long run.

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Listening to my body

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Fri. January 1, 2010

Ever since I started running in May of 2007, there have been a multitude of lessons that I’ve had to learn. I have no doubt that all of this has helped to build my maturity levels. I expected that it would definitely give me a greater sense of self-confidence, and would make me more fit. There are a couple of things that were unexpected though. In particular, the one thing that I’m thinking about right now is my increased level of body awareness. It’s been stressed to me many times over these years that I need to listen to my body. And now I’m passing it on to the people that I’m teaching.

So, today was our scheduled Resolution Run. I participated in the run in the past two years and was intent on doing it again. I paid my fees early on and picked up my “free” running jacket after Tuesday’s run. Frankly, I think I look awesome in the jacket, but that’s besides the point. Anyway, when I got home that night, I noticed that my left calf was feeling weird. It felt as if I had pulled a muscle or tore something. It wasn’t a good feeling at all. I decided to just rest the leg and see how it would feel by the time the morning came around. Unfortunately for me, when I woke up the calf felt worse. The pain was very localized and really only manifested itself when I tried to flex my calf. Go figure. Well, that night I had hill training scheduled. After weighing my alternatives, I decided that I was in no condition to run hills with my issue. Hill training is pretty vigorous, and I knew that if I did it I’d probably aggravate it all. So, I emailed all of my group leaders to make sure that at least one of them would be there to guide the rest of the class. In the end, I knew that everyone would manage without me.

So, along came today. My leg was feeling a little bit better. The pain went from being sharp and localized to feeling like a bruise. Thing is, the day prior my right knee started hurting. I think my body was busy compensating for the bad left leg and somehow caused a misalignment on my right side. Given that the Resolution Run isn’t timed and wasn’t meant to be hardcore, I was tempted to run through the pain. I probably could have, too. Ultimately though I decided that the smart thing to do would be to just not participate in the run itself. Seeing as how I’d already paid the fee, I decided that the best thing to do would be to show up early and volunteer; they always need people to marshal these things. So, I brought my camera and headed for the Running Room early on. I was given my station, and that was that. I spent most of my time taking photos of everyone that passed by. I got plenty of great shots. I made sure to smile and cheer everyone one in the attempt to get everyone to really look dynamic in the photos. I’ve actually uploaded my photos for the event to my gallery. You can check them out here: Resolution Run 2010. The whole time, my fingers were exposed to the cold winds just so that I could get a proper hold of my camera. Sure, I was cold, but I didn’t mind. Despite the fact that I wasn’t participating as a runner, I had a great time out there. I was just happy to see so many friendly faces out there starting the year off with the resolve to have a healthier lifestyle. It’s great, you know. I’m entirely glad that I listened to my body. I wouldn’t have experienced what I did today if I’d forced my way through the discomfort. It’s not a matter of quitting. It’s more a matter of intelligent training. It’s important to take the time to heal.

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Jason’s 2009

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Thu. December 31, 2009

Just like I stated last year, at this time of year I have a tendency to avoid doing these run down type posts. I tend to do these on my birthday, and usually it’s enough. Thing is, I think for a year like this a little bit of navel-gazing is necessary. There’s a lot of talk about this year being a tough one. By and large, yes, it was tough. With all of the doom and gloom, it can be easy for me to sink into a dark place. There are, however, enough reasons for me to look up and forward. That’s why it’s important for me to see what I’ve gone through.

This is one heck of an entry, so I’m placing it after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

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Running log: 2009/12/13

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Sun. December 13, 2009

This morning, as I started putting on my running gear I turned on the TV to catch the weather predictions. The forecast called for freezing rain starting at some point during the morning. I just shrugged and carried on doing what I was doing. I don’t know how I got to this point, but I’ve learned to keep getting out there despite any wicked weather. Actually, that’s not true. If the weather calls for thunder and lightning then out of safety I’ll stay at home. However, if it’s raining or snowing I won’t let it scare me outright. If the snow is several feet deep, maybe I’ll reconsider, but only because it’d be a bitch to travel all the way north of the city.

Anyway, today the schedule called for a 10K run. I used the same route as last week. The feedback I got from the group last time was that it was challenging due to its hilly nature, but everyone was happy to have gotten through it. Today seemed to be the same. Although we had to deal with the added challenge of icy sidewalks. Luckily, it was really only on the first stretch where we had to tread carefully. Man, you’d think that the sidewalks by HWY 7 would be well maintained, right? Guess not. Every now and then I turned back to have a look at the people behind me, praying that no one had fallen flat on their ass like J.Lo at the AMAs. Fortunately everyone stayed upright–that includes me.

Today we had a good sized group of people. I’d imagine that make twenty something people ran with my group. Over the first few kilometres the group spread out nicely. The nimble people were off in the distance. The casual runners were doing their thing. I was somewhere in the middle making sure everyone was OK. I swear, the last few long runs have been feeling relatively relaxed and easy. Today seemed ever so slightly tougher, but I still managed to keep a steady pace. At the beginning I was feeling a little bit cautious because my right ankle wasn’t feeling right. There was a slight ache toward the back of the foot. The first thing that came to mind was Achilles tendonitis. I was afraid all of the ice on the sidewalks would aggravate the ache, but to my surprise the ache faded as the kilometres piled up. By the time I ended, the ache was gone. Of course, now it’s back. It feels like there’s a bit of tightness there. Anyway, it’s something that I’ll need to keep an eye on over the next little while.

So far, about one third of the way through this clinic, the weather’s been rather kind to us. Of course, winter hasn’t even officially started yet. I’m sure there are going to be some heavy duty storms to contend with in the next month or two. Even so, I get the feeling that people in my clinic are facing the next little while with a great sense of optimism. Having that is entirely necessary in order to make it through the dark days. I just hope I can keep everyone motivated, you know?

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Initial aches and pains

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Tue. December 1, 2009

Well, this entry is just a little follow up to Sunday’s plyometrics class. Indeed, like everyone said, I felt sore today. The way everyone was talking about it, you’d think that I’d be incapacitated. I’m not in such rough shape though. The soreness is basically what I might feel after any new workout. In fact, I’m pretty sure that I’ve felt worse soreness after my first half marathon.

Where am I feeling it? The bulk of the discomfort is in the inner thigh and the part of the quadriceps on the inside of the leg. A quick check online tells me that it’s the Vastus Medialis muscle. When I have to sit down, I have to take an extra moment or two and slow down my movement. When I get up, I can feel that my lower abs are also kind of achy. Despite all of this, I still made it out there for my run. At the start of the run I was very conscious of what was feeling sore, but as I got going I was able to ignore it all. Go figure.

So, days later I’m still happy to have done the workout. I’m seriously considering doing it on a regular basis. The instructor said that the first class is always tough, but even the second class tends to be 50% better. If that’s so, then I know I can take it. I just need to get over my initial aches and pains. No worries!

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Always stretch

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Mon. November 2, 2009

It kind of amazes me how I seem to forget about the importance of stretching after doing a race. I almost always stretch after a Sunday long run. Why don’t I do it consistently after races? Those are times when my body works extra hard to churn out good output; you’d think that loosening and lengthening the muscles would be a given, right? Ugh. Well, I suppose yesterday I was just in a hurry to get inside, see people, and get at the food.

Actually, no, that’s not entirely true.

I remember walking toward the golf clubhouse and desperately thinking that I need a spot to stretch my legs out. If you recall, I was in rough shape by the 18th kilometre with a calf cramp making things difficult. I found a fence and propped myself on one of the posts. I managed to get a minute of calf stretches in there. I then proceeded to hold my right leg back to do a quad stretch. As soon as I started that I felt my hips start to go tense. I knew that if I held my leg for another minute I’d probably end up cramping my hip flexors, which would only result in me collapsing into a pile of running gear, flesh, and electrolyte drinks. So at that point I gave up trying to stretch.

So what’s the outcome of all this? Well, my inner-thighs, quads, and hamstrings are all sore as heck. Walking down a flight of stairs is a challenge. I feel like an old man when I’m walking down the sidewalk.

I should have known better! Silly, silly, silly.

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Running log: 2009/09/13

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Mon. September 14, 2009

Yesterday was our longest scheduled run for this half marathon clinic. On schedule was a very long 21 kilometre route. In my mind, due to the success of the two prior 18K runs I wasn’t concerned at all. As well, I knew that I’d be going at a very relaxed pace because I knew that I’d be running with a friend that’s many weeks into a pregnancy. Yeah, I know, whenever someone hears about that the inevitable first question is about the safety of it all. I’ve been concerned too, but it’s guaranteed that she and her husband have consulted with a couple of doctors and have put a tremendous amount of thought into this. It’s not anyone else’s decision to make, right? Anyway…

The run itself wasn’t particularly remarkable–it was quite average, although slower because there’s only so much speed a pregnant woman can run at. Also, we made an increased amount of bathroom pit stops just to prevent any accidents. I’m being totally honest when I say this, but I didn’t mind at all. I don’t know what was going on in my mind, because in all honesty on another day I might have had less patience. Maybe the cooler weather helped to keep my state of mind in a happy place.

It wasn’t all easy though. At around the 2.5K mark we made our first pit stop at the Tim Hortons. While I was waiting outside I must have done a weird misstep on uneven ground or something because my right knee started aching like mad. When we started up again every step seemed to be an ordeal. Did I do some weird dislocation or subluxation? I wasn’t sure at all. I did a quick assessment though and knew that I could continue on. I had a feeling that the discomfort would just fade as I continued on. Plus, I knew that I was in no position to head back to the store. I didn’t want to be the guy that left a pregnant woman alone to do a 21K route. That just has bad karma written all over it, doesn’t it? Within about a kilometre or so the pain faded enough to allow me to continue on, although maybe a slight bit slower. No matter though because the slow speed suited her just as well.

So there you go. The run was very slow and stop and go, but it didn’t matter. We made it back in decent time (all things considered). I was pretty worn out by the end, but I didn’t feel like I was completely wiped out. I almost felt like I could go on farther, if only my body would allow me. My leg muscles were really feeling it. I stopped to stretch out, and I felt better afterwards. When I got home, I just fell asleep. I suppose I could have stayed awake because I really had the energy, but I knew that it made more sense to allow some recovery. That’s all well and good, but when I woke up that’s when I noticed that my right knee was feeling pretty rough. Delayed reaction, I guess.

Here I am now, the day after the run, trying to rest the leg and letting the soreness fade. I’m not going to let this scare me. I recognize this discomfort! I know it will fade eventually and in time for the race in two weeks. I might have to miss my midweek runs this week in order to not injure myself, but in the end that’s just a small price to pay for undamaged legs, right?

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