Well, it’s been a long road back from the hamstring tendinitis injury (but not nearly as long as plantar fasciitis). I’m not quite out of the woods, but am happy to be back running at least a few miles every day.

It’s amazing how hard a 7:30 mile seems after an injury layoff, but I take some comfort in knowing that I experienced similar issues when coming back from my PF/groin strain in 2006. I remember struggling with a 10-minute mile on the treadmill during rehab back in 2006, and wondering how on earth I would ever be able to run twice that fast for a 5K. Yet within a year I was able to average 5:15/mile for 26 miles. So my 8-minute miles right now don’t seem so bad, as I know I can still have a successful racing season in the summer ahead.

My recent hamstring injury is a tendinitis (inflammation of the tendon) where the hamstring muscle connects to the ischium (butt-bone). I have seen this referred to as “hamstring origin tendinitis“.

I first felt the injury on Dec. 25th (merry Christmas). It was quite minor, and I could run on it without much difficulty. I classified it in the “owie” category, and figured it would go away on its own after a few days. And maybe it would have.

But on Dec. 27 I attempted a 8×1000m interval workout…and pretty much destroyed the hamstring by the 6th interval. Within a span of a few minutes I went from being able to hold a 5:00/mile pace to having to walk home.

What what the root cause of the injury? I think it was a combination of all of the below (in ascending order):

• XC skiing for the first time in a year on Dec. 23. This made me pretty sore for the following week, and worked muscles that hadn’t been used in a long time. Consequently, I was running (and doing hard workouts) on weakened, sore legs during the next few days.
• Running on snow. We had a big snow storm on Christmas Eve, and my next few runs were on solid snow and ice. This slipping around is no good for the joints and muscles, and probably put unnatural strain and torque on already-sore muscles.
• Attempting to train hard for Houston. Looking back, I had just run two all-out marathons within a month, and what my body needed most was a break and a period of base-building. And that was my original plan after Trials. But then I received the opportunity to race the USATF Half Marathon Championships in Houston as a funded athlete. That was an offer that I couldn’t refuse at the time, but now I wish I had. Rather than letting my body fully recover and returning to easy mileage, I was out there doing tempo runs and interval workouts on weakened legs and in less-than-ideal weather/road conditions. Talk about setting the stage for an injury!

Obviously (looking at it after the fact), I could have avoided it all by turning down the Houston race, and just running easy mileage during the harsh winter months. But I think if the roads had good footing and if I hadn’t tried introducing a new activity (XC skiing) during heavy training, I might have stayed healthy as well. In any case, I learned not to try to train for a major race during the winter, at least as long as I live in Logan! I’ve learned that a period of easy running, core work, and weight lifting is probably the best winter training plan for me. With no winter races, I won’t feel like I need to “force” workouts.

But the good news is that I’m feeling about 95% healthy now. Here’s what I did to recover from the hamstring tendinitis:

• Rest. Running was not an option. I also took a week off with no activity, as even elliptical seemed to hurt it at first.
• After I realized it wasn’t getting much better with pure rest, I started Physical Therapy. I saw a licensed PT at our local sports med facility. I’ve done this before and think it’s a good idea for anyone with lingering injuries. My treatments:
  • Heat
  • Ultrasound
  • Stretching the hamstrings
  • Stretching the hips (these were really tight!)
  • Strengthening the hips, glutes, and hammies
    • Theraband activities / 4-way hip machine
    • Stability ball hamstring curls
    • Face-down leg raises (glutes)
    • “Walking” while sitting in a rolling chair (great hammie workout)
    • Hip sled (glutes, hammies, quads)
  • Resumed “safe” cross training:
    • Recumbent bike (non weight-bearing, did this the most early on)
    • Stair-stepper
    • Arc Trainer (great workout)
    • Elliptical (once inflammation was gone)
• Deep massage. This is helpful if you have an LMT who can get in deep to where the hamstring connects to the ischium. It is kind of a precarious spot, and you should first have an LMT that you trust and feel comfortable with. I got about three good massages, and it helped clear up a lot of the initial inflammation.
• Chiropractic. I saw my DC right after the injury, and my hips were way off. I think this was yet another factor that contributed to the injury. Correcting any misalignment (through PT and chiro) is necessary for a permanent fix once you get the inflammation down and resume running. The same goes for muscle imbalances. Getting rid of the inflammation is one thing, but resolving the root issue is another.

Now that I am back to running a little, I way to stay injury-free! This, of course, means taking things slowly. However, I know I can increase fitness faster (and safely), by supplementing with cross training. Another strategy I am starting to use to increase running volume while keep risk low is by breaking up my runs into short doubles. For example, rather than doing one 6-miler, I will do two 3-milers. The best way to get better at running is to run a lot, and doubles are great for that. Plus, the longer the run, the more battering and fatigue you get. Doubles help mitigate this, as fatigue and breakdowns in form do not set in as much on the shorter runs.

My primary goals for the spring are:

• Kick all remaining symptoms of the tendinitis
• Gradually increase mileage back to the 100+ mpw range
• Lose all the weight I gained (about 8 lbs)
• Resume real races by the end of May

It’s been a really crappy winter, but I have high hopes for it being offset by a great summer and fall! free real ringtones tone | download free mobile real ringtones t | composer free nokia ringtones | free u.s cellular ringtones | mp3 ringtones converter | send free ringtones to your phone | free cellular one ringtones | cell download free phone ringtones | free yahoo ringtones | free sprint real ringtones | music nextel real ringtones | yahoo ringtones free download | ringtones verizon wireless | free cellular phone ringtones | e315 motorola ringtones | free real tone ringtones | free ringtones | free ringtones converter | free real ringtones for verizon | cingular free music ringtones |