So I have been running now since February. I have been running around 3 miles, 3 times a week since last month. Now, as if I haven't had to deal with enough aches and pains, I have more. My lower back has been killing me! During the day, it feels decent, not really bad. But when I wake up in the morning, I can barely move. This does not bode well for a morning workout and thus it hasn't been happening. I cannot remember when the pain started, but it's been getting worse and worse and as of this past week up until now, has been downright excruciating each morning.
In addition to that, my right hip started hurting last Monday after that terrible, no good, very bad run. The rest days helped last week and I was able to complete three miles on Wednesday and also run on Friday. That run took place in the heat of the day so I only went out for 30 minutes (which turned into 27 due to misery, but that didn't have anything to do with my hip). Anyway, I walked on Sunday, but my hip felt very good yesterday so I thought maybe whatever was the problem was no longer. WRONG. I have started a new training schedule (more on that later) and I went out for a 2.5 mile run last night. During the run I felt okay, not a lot of issue with my back or hip, but after I returned home I could tell my hip was going to start hurting again. And this morning that was very clear. Both my back and hip were killing me when I woke up, killing me! I limped to the shower and have been limping ever since. Luckily my back feels a lot better a few hours later, but my hip hurts while just sitting!
So where does this leave me? I have to admit that I am getting a little discouraged. I keep thinking this running thing should be getting easier. It can still be hard, but shouldn't it be easier, and shouldn't my body be adjusting? I haven't made any major changes in pace, mileage or equipment over the past couple weeks so I do not understand why I have new pains. And how do I "fix" it? Do I continue forward, do I take time off? Since neither issue has affected my actual running, I feel like I should just continue and hope it goes away. Maybe I just need to continue working on my core strength and all that. But the discouraging feelings are hard to beat right now.
I've read a little about these "symptoms" and found that it could be caused by various things, one of which is running hills. I have been working on incorporating hills into my runs because my run on 7/15 is on hilly roads; I'm not sure about the one on 7/24. So last night I stayed away from the big hill and just went around my neighborhood. But there's still some smaller hills, I never realized how unlevel this place is until I started running! Anyway, I guess I can take a break from the road by going back to the treadmill, or limit my route to the two block "track" I started with and just go around and around.
As I said above, I have started a new training schedule. I have been looking at various 10k training plans at ideas for increasing my distance to 10k. I basically merged two plans together to come up with a plan I think I can stick with. It is an 8 week schedule which gradually increases the distance and also incorporates a bit of cross training and strength training into the mix. It only allows for 1 day of rest each week, although I could also rest on the cross training day (Tuesday). Given how my hip and back feel, I might be resting today, but we'll see how I feel later. Here is a copy of the schedule (you can click on it to view the whole thing):
CT=Cross Train
S=Strength
EZ/Walk=easy run or walk
One final piece of business is that today is my official weigh in day and I have gained .8 pounds. I'm not concerned because I know it's water retention related to being female. Such is life. Next week I hope to report a large loss to make up for it.
No comments:
Post a Comment