It appears that running a marathon in two weeks may have been a little, uh, overambitious. I just can’t help it; I’m signed up for two separate Nike+ iPod challenges (one to run the farthest in a month; the other to run 50 miles in the 25 days up to Christmas) and my competitive urge has kicked in. Tuesday night I actually set a new personal best for the mile (10:24) but as I was climbing the hill from Sydney Uni’s No. 2 Oval, I felt a sudden stab in my hamstring. Again. Crap. I ended up walking the rest of the distance home. I guess I’ve been ramping up the distance too quickly. I decided to give it a rest on Wednesday and Thursday. I also started rubbing Voltaren on the muscle a few times a day (since I can’t take ibuprofen anymore) and I’ve taken a couple Epsom salt baths. I also saw a massage therapist Thursday afternoon who gave my legs a thoroughly painful going-over. Friday I felt cautiously optimistic enough to try a short run. I went for a two mile run around Vic Park and tried to concentrate on taking shorter strides and not killing myself. I also ran 90% of it on the grass, which I figured would help. I still felt some pain, but it wasn’t really the muscular strain of before. (I think it was just soreness from the massage.) Afterwards I went to GNC to pick up some Endura. It’s nast but I’m forcing myself to choke it down a couple times a day. Does anybody else have any suggestions to get me back on the road as quickly as possible?
2 responses
sweetie could also be a lack of magnesium or another heavy metal – check it out with a natropath or such
Ice and rest and sloowwww stretching. A good hamstring strech is to lie on your back, put a towel around your foot and slowly pull your foot towards you keeping your leg straight. You can also do the same thing with your knee bent and bring your knee to your chest.
Be careful about ramping up your distance: most people recommend increasing your distance no more than 1 or 2 miles a week. And take the pace easy; don’t increase your pace on longer runs.
Good luck!