#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.
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#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.
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| 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.
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