Thursday, January 19, 2006

Running as physiotherapy?

My left rear thigh was still very tender yesterday. I could feel it when I walked, I could even feel it while I was sitting at my desk. But something told me it was a level of pain I'd be able to run with. And to be honest, the really sad thing is that the extent of my addiction and boredom with work is such that not running, or at least not trying, was just not an option.

So I met Gareth at the sento and we picked up Shiba-san and headed to the park. Satohi joined us a little later. After a warm-up of a few kilometers Shiba-san peeled off and went to the track workout. The leg was giving me some discomfort, but wasn't screaming at me. So we then started our 4:30/km pace run. I was assigned pacing duties and unfortunately, as is always the case no matter who is in charge, went out a bit too fast. I managed to get it back to the point where the first lap ( a bit over 3km) was only 8 s fast. Poor Gareth has been having some stomach problems since Sunday (when he hurled after his run in the Shibuya Ekiden) and had to pull out after the first lap. I paced Satohi through the second lap in perfect 4:30/km pace (kudos me!), and then she stopped because the pain in her knee was troubling her. So I continued for a third lap and pushed a bit harder, knocking that over in 4:19/km pace. I still felt that the heart rates were too high for the pace, whatever the pace it happened to be, but there is no point worrying about that too much. I cooled down with a jog around the small loop and also over to the track for some socializing before heading back to the sento and a nice hot tub. All up a bit over 16 km.

The very interesting thing is that my leg feels greatly improved this morning! Oh, I can still feel the sore spot alright, but it is much less acute and hardly worries me at all to walk. Makes me wonder what kind of injury it is that can be brought on by one run and eased by another!

4 comments:

2P said...

Hmmm just a thought - it is just possible that the pain in your hammie is not a muscle problem at all and is due to a problem with your lower back or hips. A kind of sciatica if you will. If that is the case the running may have relieved the pressure on the nerve/s.

Maybe a trip to your locak chiro may pay some dividends?

Tesso said...

Gees, your running buddies were dropping like flies. What are you doing to them ;-)

2P could be on to something. A few years ago I was laid up for about 10 weeks with achilles tendonitis and PF and suddenly I developed sciatica. I started running again and the sciatica disappeared.

Stephen Lacey said...

Yes, I think this could be a distinct possibility, at least in part. The problem here is finding a chiro. But I do need to start looking at some kind of treatment for the lower back and (potentially) related issues.

Katie said...

Was it your upper outer part of the hammie?? When my pelvis was out of whack my hip and glute were sore BUT it was actually that part of the hammie that was tight and pulling it all out of position. Oooh I wish we had sentos over here.... that would be so nice after a long run- especially the freezing cold bath!!

that is definately my kind of physio- cheap and fun!