My running keeps getting faster and farther, but it’s not been smooth sailing - especially not the last few weeks. I’ve been getting all my runs in, but it seems like anything that could be tight or sore is just that. Here’s a list of all my niggles:
Lower back - It seems that any time I spend a long duration in a car, my lower back hurts the next few days. I’m not sure if it’s because of my wallet in my back pocket making me sit uneven, or just my overall position, but my lower back doesn’t like something. It has been fine running, but sometimes during the day… ouch! After a weekend up in Duluth a few weeks ago, it was murder getting up out of chairs. It also hurt to the point of nearly collapsing when I sneezed. Since then it’s been much better.
Hamstrings / calves - I historically have tight hammies and calves, but they’ve behaved well since I started running again. Lately though I can’t do enough to stretch them out. Every morning I do a calf stretch on the stairs. (I also do it throughout the day if I’m near a set of stairs.) Stretching out my hamstring is a bit more tricky. I stopped running for a while because of high hamstring soreness, self-diagnosed as possibly being hamstring tendinopathy. With that in mind, I don’t want to overstretch. To play it safe I’ve been doing a hamstring stretch lying on the floor with a length of rope - as opposed to the ballet-like leg up on a railing stretch.
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| Stretching / massaging |
Plantar fibroma / arches - I’m blessed with a family history of poor arches and weak ankles. Nearly all the shoes I wear have supportive insoles added inside. After getting my shoe fitting at Mill City Running, I asked about insoles. They said that they typically don’t sell them with a new shoe right away. Run with the shoe first. Then if your foot is crying out for more support, an insole can be added. Well, my foot was crying out for more support. For years now, I’ve had bumps on my plantar fascia (the foot arch tendon). From doing some research, I believe these are plantar fibromas - I have a bump on each arch. They’re for the most part painless, but these bumps and my arches get sore if I do not have enough arch support. Luckily, I have many an old pair of Superfeet insoles to throw in my running shoes. It’s definitely helped, but I should probably get to a running store for a new pair. The other thing that helps is a simple tennis ball. It feels amazeballs to massage my foot and arch by just rolling my foot on one.
Hip flexors - These have been sore on my last few runs. No idea why, but I’ve been doing some active stretching to loosen them up. IT band stretching also seems to help.
Whatever else - I’m sure there are other niggles that I’ve had, because it seems like I’ve had a lot recently. What seems to finally be making a difference though is to do more stretching and to make sure I stretch opposite muscle groups (i.e. stretching both my hamstrings and my quads). I know it seems super obvious that stretching helps, but - after a few years away from running and then cancer - this running thing is basically new to me again. I’m continually relearning what works and what doesn’t.
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