It's not a running-related injury. My feet, ankles, shins, calves, knees, IT bands, quads, hamstrings, hips and back are all fine. None of this can be traced to my running in minimalist shoes or experimenting with barefootedness. In fact, doing those things may have helped.
No, my problem is from doing something to hopefully help with my running: strengthening my core. Thanks to my own opinion and a consultation with Dr. WebMD I'm pretty sure what I have is a mild lower abdominal strain. And I think it happened while using a machine at my gym.
As far is it pertains to running, the strain is something that I know is there, especially in the first 15 minutes of a run. But then it loosens up some and I feel pretty fine for about an hour. And then I can feel it a little worse than during the first 15 minutes of my run until I stop. I also feel it when I sneeze or cough. And doing either after a run is especially annoying.
This morning I set out for a 2 hour long run on the B&A Trail that runs between Baltimore-ish and Annapolis, MD. I was fine for the first 1:15:00, but then I started to feel the strain in my abs and that forced me to slow down and maybe alter my stride some. It was also the warmest morning I've run in yet this year and I ran out of water at about the 1:25:00 mark. As long as I was hydrated I was ok, but once I wasn't able to keep myself so I was finished. My 2:00:00 run turned into a 2:20:00 run/walk because I was gimpy, thirsty, and salty sweat kept dripping into my eyes.
I've been training for 10 weeks and there's no chance I'm not running my half marathon. I'll just hope for a cool and cloudy morning and soldier through it the best I can. After that I'll give it a few days and see where I am. If I have to consult a doctor who doesn't have a .com in his name I'll do that then, but not now.
So if I've seemed grumpier than usual lately, that's why. But in terms of software development parlance, my increased grumpiness isn't a bug of the blog, it's a feature!
Sorry about the ab strain, Brett - that stinks. I can totally feel you on the thirst issue though. I went out for my first warm weather run a couple weeks ago and didn't think twice about setting out for an 8 miler without water. It was 86 degrees and having not yet acclimated I was seriously parched at the 3 mile mark. I was on the NCR and (repeatedly) resorted to drinking the water dripping off the moss-covered rock formations like I was on some jungle safari. Managed to soil my shoes treadmill-white shoes too. We live and we learn, eh?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Olivia. I figure as long as I keep my body parts away from the sides of gas pumps I'll be all right. :-)
ReplyDeleteI'd LOVE to run past you while you were gathering water off the rocks on the NCR. Don't think that story wouldn't make it to my blog if it wouldn't make it to yours!