Well, my run today didn’t go as well as I’d like, but I did manage to figure out my problem so that is good. The last two times I have done my long runs I have had hip/thigh pain on my left leg either on the inside or the outside of my hip starting some time in the middle of my run. I had been a little concerned about it and had done a couple internet searches and one of them mention uneven legs and a few other things. I figured I was going to watch it and see if it continued and if it did I was going to have to reassess what I was doing. Anyhow, I have been running at home on my treadmill for my long runs lately since it’s been so cold, but do my short runs usually at the gym after my strength training. Last Tuesday I did 6 miles so I planned to up my Tuesday run to 8 this week and leave my Saturday run at 10 since I don’t feel ready to move past 10 miles quite yet. And most of my concern was because of this hip/thigh pain.
Anyhow, fast forward to today’s run. This time the pain started up about on the third mile and I start looking at my legs as I run and looking at my treadmill and trying to figure out if I am doing something wrong. About half way through the fourth mile, I figure out the problem. My house! I have a 50+ year old house. My treadmill is in the basement. I’m looking at the floor and looking at my legs as they run and notice that I am uneven and further notice that the floor has a slight slope. Uh, yah, not a big surprise. A lot of our house isn’t level like it should be. As I’m running, I’m thinking I’ll bet that’s the problem. I am almost at 5 miles by then, but my left leg is starting to really bug me. I didn’t want to stop because I only had one more mile to get to 6 miles and that was what I ran last week. I didn’t want to run less than last week’s run and was afraid if I stopped to move my treadmill it might take me a little bit so at the very least I wanted to get to 6 miles even if I didn’t go to the 8 I had wanted to do. I get to 6 and I turned my treadmill so it was running perpendicular instead of parallel to the wall. It took me about 5 mintues because the stupid cord wouldn’t reach and I couldn’t find an extension cord and by the time I got it turned around my heart rate was way down and I just didn’t see the point of going for another 2 miles. I did hop on it long enough though to determine if it fixed the problem I was having with my leg and yay! As annoyed as I was that I didn’t get the run in that I wanted I am so relieved that I have figured out the problem. The pain wasn’t too bad after last week’s run, but it was enough to put a flag up in my head that I needed to watch it and see how this week went and then reassess my plans. I feel so much better knowing what the problem is! And I am going to control my compulsive self and resist the urge to get on the treadmill and do-over my run. I was very tempted to go down and redo my run and try for the 8 miles again, but I do use my brain when it is necessary. Going to rest up my legs and save it for my long run on Saturday.
Haha something so simple! It’s good that your legs aren’t different lengths or anything difficult to fix like that.
Keep up the good work Teresa!
I have to say that comment is a bit funny, Luke! 🙂
It is good that you could narrow down what the problem was and I do hope that your future runs go better and that the pain and discomfort go away. I struggle with arthritis in the knee but for some reason for me the further I run the better it feels, go figure.
I also understand the desire to “do over”. That’s exactly how I felt when I binge ate. I wanted to redo the whole day. Almost like thin the movie, Ground Hogs Day. I wanted to do it all over till I finally got it right.
I did make it to the gym this morning and it went real well. I hope to post it all once I catch up on my blogging first. I have missed all of you and I need to make my rounds to catch up.
Thanks again for your words of encouragement and support. Keep up the great running!