As for the adductor/groin/hip problem, on Wednesday I was about to concede defeat, admit that I was genuinely injured and take a few rest days. I was in real pain on 1 or 2 occasions, enough for my colleague to notice as I gingerly made my way down the office corridor. However, it was definitely better on Thursday, so I decided to keep training regardless. I'm not sure if it was pure bone-headedness that kept me going or if running is such a strong addiction that it's better to work through the discomfort. The affected area feels really tight rather than painful, which makes it hard to gauge if there is progress being made or not.
Despite some reservations I did another set of hill drills on Friday morning. The HR graph of that session is quite telling and describes the entire workout in one neat graph:
Obviously pace means nothing on a workout like that. I work my way up the hill and recovery is a walk.very slow jog down. The one thing bothering me the most are the flies. It's very humid at the moment and I'm completely drenched in sweat when working hard and when walking back down the hill the flies are just swarming around me.
Anyway, on Saturday morning I did not feel great and finally decided to take a few rest days. I'm actually not sure if that is the right action to take because it always feels the worst right after getting up from sitting. After walking around for a minute I feel mostly fine. Same with getting up in the morning, as soon as I get moving I start to feel better. Running itself does not cause any extra discomfort.
However, this was certainly caused by running, so it is a running injury. I'm sure it happened when I ran an unaccustomed pace in the parkrun last Saturday, though it did take several hours for the first sign of discomfort to appear. I did not run yesterday but did some work in the garden, which felt fine. I'll probably go to a physio early next week, for the first time since 2008!
- 2 Jul
- am: 8 miles, 1:04:34, 8:05 pace, HR 141
- pm: 5 miles, 38:01, 7:36 pace, HR 146
- 3 jul
- 9 miles, 1:29:36, 9:56 pace, HR 136
- 5x30 sec sprints; high knees; thigh drive; hill sprints
It may feel worse after sitting because sitting is really bad for you. Try to limit your sitting as much as possible. This means using a standing desk in front of your computer, both at the office and at home. And when you do sit, don't sit in a soft easy chair.
ReplyDeleteOnce I started standing at the computer instead of sitting, my sore hip/butt went away. BTW, I didn't buy an expensive standing desk - I just put boxes under my keyboard and mouse.
Good luck with the physio - they should be able to prescribe remedial exercises to get rid of the pesky injury. I like Bob's tip too. Don't sit too long.
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