Injury Update

The fast few weeks I have been dealing with some annoying hip pain, which I briefly mentioned in this post.  Throughout my running career, I have been extremely lucky with injuries (knocks on wood).  So, this injury came as a bit of a surprise, and a lot of frustration.  Thankfully, I didn't have to adjust my plan too much, with the exception of a couple of extra rest days.  I did a lot in between the runs to try to heal as quickly as possible.

#1 ICE!
Icing is an amazing thing.  It's funny because I used to think icing was silly.  Now I love it.  You'll often find me sitting on the couch with bags of ice on my legs even if they don't really hurt.  I am a huge advocate for icing.  I iced my hip/side pain like crazy.  At home I stuck bags of ice in the top of my pants and went along with my business.  At work I did the same with small ice packs.  Scrubs are great for hiding things.

#2 Foam Rolling
I enjoy foam rolling, but I definitely don't do it enough.  I did however make sure to foam roll my hip/side/back/bum area a lot over the past couple of weeks.   I managed to get myself in to some very interesting positions.  I need to be better about foam rolling all the time, not just when something hurts.  

hurts so good

#3 Stretching 

I made sure to stretch my hip/side every chance I got.  I'm sure I got many questionable looks from people.  Don't care.  It felt good, so I did it.

#4 Rest

This was the hardest for me to do.  Don't get me wrong, I love rest days.  I have two every week.  My body needs them, and I do a lot better with two a week.  However, additional rest days on top of those two?  UGH.  But I knew I needed them.  I would rather take a couple of extra rest days, than be forced to take weeks or months off.  I have a marathon to run next month, I certainly don't have time for that.  When the pain was at its worst, I cut a couple of workouts short, and gave myself 2 extra days of rest.  I'm really trying to do that whole listen to your body thing.  

While I am not a doctor, I am happy to report that these 4 things worked for me.  I am even happier to report that after almost 3 weeks of pain that ranged from mild to moderate at times, it seems to be gone completely! 

On Sunday I ran 18 miles.  18 beautiful, pain-free miles.