Pain
by Robert James Reese » Monday, March 29th, 2010 » 17 Comments
How much pain is normal? And how much is too much? I've been trying to find exactly where that line sits, but it's a struggle. I know that with the increase in mileage I'm working on, a certain amount of new pain is to be expected. But how much? I'm afraid to push too hard because of fears about injury. After running almost 87 miles two weeks ago, I was only able to log 63.7 last week. Every day, my legs were a little more sore, my knees a little more stiff. By the time Thursday rolled around, I was hurting so bad that I took an unplanned rest day, fearing that the ITBS in my right knee might be legitimately flaring up again. And it didn't even seem to help. The knee hurt just as bad on Friday, and then on Saturday's long run, my left calf started acting up. It feels like there's a golf ball stuck in there now and I was struggling just to make it through an easy 7 miler today. Part of me thinks that maybe it's all in my head, that maybe my brain is just trying to trick me into being lazy. After all, the pain seems nearly constant and is moving around to different points within my legs. But, what if it's real? The last thing I want to do is push too hard and end up sidelined before the summer starts. I just really wish there was a way to know.
17 Comments
Sometimes seemingly arbitrary "rules" have their uses. Two come to mind. First, don't run hard for 26.21875 days after a marathon effort. Second, always take two days off if the hamstring screams (as opposed to just coughs), which applies to other items that crop up and leave you hobbling.
I call these rules because they take you out of the picture, i.e., it's not that you don't want to do the run or the race or whatever but that you're not allowed to because of this stupid rule.
Stiffness and soreness are one thing, they come in cycles. But the more serious stuff is more serious and needs to be taken seriously. Keep the faith, though. This too shall pass.
And, as we've discussed before, the marathon rule just doesn't work for me because of the number of them on my schedule. But, I do see how running hard right after an all-out marathon could be problematic, so maybe the answer is to go a little less than all-out in more of the marathons so I can still get the quantity I'm looking for without facing the increased injury risk.
I like Joe's 'rules'. I'd add never be so tied to a miles/week goal that you're unable to have a day off or cut a run short. When you're running a 'lot', niggles are pretty normal. They come and go. Just be wary of the ones that hang around. Also, be relaxed about postponing a hard session if the legs aren't up to it.
Also, are you running lots of doubles? We're all different, but for what's it worth: my legs simply don't recover properly when I run doubles more than 3x a week. I do better on one long (up to 12 mile) recovery run than I do on, say, 7/AM + 5/PM.
Scott Weber
I had the same left calf pain in dec. 09 and it is SUX! I gave it 4-5 days rest and put on some compression calf sleeves and the rest was history.
You should be fine - rock on cowboy!
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