First Injury of Marathon Training: Strained Hip Flexor

I ran a 13 mile long run last Sunday and felt great. Then came Monday evening and I started to feel a little pain on my upper thigh while walking. Considering I've ran through knee pain and shin splints before, I just thought this pain would go away after a couple days. Yep, I was wrong. I continued on my training plan, which called for five miles Tuesday, three on Wednesday, and five Thursday. I cut Thursday's short at 4.5. I took Thursday night and Friday to rest and attempted the three miles I had to do for Saturday. Ouch! I must've looked like such a newbie on the treadmill because I kept stopping after literally two steps of running.

I decided to skip my 10 mile long run on Sunday morning and thought I would return to it later that day after visiting my nephews. Well, as we all know, four year-olds have a lot of energy! We did a little racing on the front sidewalk. He really did win each race because I had to hobble along. Sunday night was the worst of the pain so far. Finally, this morning I called a physical therapy clinic for a free injury screening.

After a few exercises, my PT confirmed what I had guessed- strained hip flexor. The cause of my particular strain? Weak hips and glutes. I thought I had a strong butt! She prescribed some stretches and exercises that will help manage the pain and strengthen my glutes. She also said no running for one to two weeks, rest and heat.

No running for two weeks?! I haven't taken that long off from running since my first half marathon ten months ago. We'll see how restless I get just after a couple days off.

Boston Hype Pumping Me Up for Chicago Marathon

I'm writing this first post while watching the Boston Marathon. In these past weeks I've met some Twitter folk from Chicago who are running Boston. Although I don't really know them yet, I'm rooting for them and everyone else who was able to qualify. It's quite a feat! If I want to qualify, I'd have to run Chicago in 3:40, which is an 8:25 mile. Can I do it?

Because of the toll marathon training takes on the body, I said I'd only do one. Right. Watching Boston is getting me hyped that I could possibly be running it next year. I'm still six months away from my first marathon and I'm already thinking about my next! To further my excitement, I did a calculation of what my long run pace should be in order to ready me for a qualifying pace. It turns out that my long run pace should be between 9:26 and 10:39. Without knowing this when I did my first long run yesterday, I ran ten miles at a 9:35 pace. Right on schedule!

I look forward to telling you about my training experience! Cheers to six months of aches and pains, eating a lot, and living every day with a purpose!