PAIN-PAIN & MORE PAIN (Read 960 times)

I'm gonna let others answer this, but you might want to make your log public for purposes of this discussion. Hope you feel better soon!

I see a a couple big red flags in your post: first, you seem to be following your program to the letter - even when your body is suggesting a little flexibility might be smarter; second, the fact that you describe your pain as "severe," yet you went out and finished your run on the same day, despite your body making you stop earlier; and third, the fact that "no pain" became insurmountable pain in 1/4 mile this morning. Only two options here: 1) You're a complete wimp who can't take a little discomfort, or 2) you've injured yourself and you're making it worse. I think we can safely discard option one; that "severe" description of the pain doesn't sound like a little muscle burn. Plus, you keep running anyway. Dumb, but not wimpy. Welcome to the club. So you're hurt. Which is okay. Depending on the cause, if you let it heal fully (well, mostly at least), you ought to be able to reach your goal. There's only one thing that will ensure your failure: if you keep aggravating the injury. You got some great advice from Phat_Runner:

The increasing workload is more likely the culprit along with maybe not having a good enough base to start the program ...

Yup. I really wonder if you've got enough of a base at this point. As far as I know, none of those programs are designed for someone with no base at all. They all suggest some base. If you don't have it, if you're going from nothing to weekly long runs, injury is natural.

I ended having to play around with the schedule to get an extra days of rest here and there.

More great advice. Most of us (including me) tend to follow those programs a little too exactly sometimes. They aren't one-size-fits-all. They're designed to show you the fundamentals. PhatRunner's suggestion that you play around with it a bit is a very good one. You may have to incorporate an extra rest day. You may have to take a full week off for now. Maybe your weekly runs should be every other week instead of every week. Maybe you have to lay off speedwork or tempo runs. (A lot of maybe's there - since we can't see your log!) The only thing that will end your marathon hopes is if you run on a real injury, even when you know you shouldn't, because Higdon or Pfitzinger or whoever is telling you its time for 6.75 miler at MP +30 ... or something. Use the plan as a guide, not a red-letter Bible. Take some time off for now. Non-impact cross training (swimming, elliptical, bike, whatever) can maintain (or improve) your fitness. If your pain is really that acute or severe, if you think it might be a joint or tendon or a ligament (or you don't know), go see a sports doc. I won't say running should never hurt - but it should never hurt like this. Unless you're in a race and willing to sacrifice your body to finish. Or unless the monkeys are getting really, really close. Listen to your body. If you do, worst case scenario is that you have to postpone your run. Ignore your body, and you could push that marathon back years instead of weeks. Maybe forever. And that would, well, suck.

Really just want to say that I agree with what everyone has been saying. And then add some more. 1) Getting new shoes for me made has made a huge difference the two times I was injured. Go to a running store and talk to them - you may not need new shoes, but it is definately worth the time to at least visit. 2) If you have to stop a run short, this is OK! You need to listen to your body! Dont try to "make it up" the next day (or even worse - the same day!!!). Cross-train if you want for the same time (or shorter or longer), but dont push! 3) More stretching, ice, heat, and maybe NSAIDs probably wont hurt and may help. I dont know how much of these are you already doing, but you might want to try some new stretches or whatever. Good luck! Feel better!

Shoes should generally get no more than 300 miles on them.

I know the rule of thumb is 300-500, but I am starting to think that I must wear my shoes out a little on the fast side. I got about 250 miles on my first pair of shoes and my current shoes are right around that mark, too...and I've been having more issues with shin splints in the past couple of weeks. I thought it was mostly an issue of stress and not enough sleep, but now I have to wonder if my shoes could be partly to blame. Are there certain types of runners (or running strides) who wear their shoes out prematurely? I'm not exactly light on my feet, not sure if that would be an issue. k

I was a 'big boy' and now i'm a slightly smaller 'big boy' so my shoes lose their bounciness very fast and feel flat after about 2 to 3 months. The bigger problem for me is that when I get tired, i drag my heel of my shoe and so the outer sole of my heel gets worn out really fast, which speeds up the demise of the shoes. I'm hoping that this will improve with time.

The more you run in wet conditions, the faster they will wear out. The more times they are used in a week, the faster they will wear out (which is why I have 2-3 pair that I alternate so that any single pair has a chance to dry out fully and recover between uses).

I was thinking about this during my morning run (which was, BTW, MUCH better than most of my runs of late...I'm sure 2 better nights of sleep in a row helped greatly). I had a little bit of that right foot numbness, but no noticeable pains or tightness. So I decided to order a second pair of my shoes. 2 reasons I think this was a good idea...1. this way I will know for certain if any of my issues are due in any part to worn-out shoes, and 2. I will have an older pair to use when it's a sloppy mess outside, which will likely start this weekend (we are under a Winter storm watch as I type this). I also found them in my size for about $35 less than I had originally paid for my current pair. I have run under wet conditions quite a bit in the last couple of months, so maybe that is a factor if my shoes are wearing out a bit early. I've only had them 3 months, so they are still "young."

I know the rule of thumb is 300-500, but I am starting to think that I must wear my shoes out a little on the fast side.

You're not alone... I like to retire my shoes at 250... sometimes even 200! I don't know if they're really all "worn-out", but they don't feel good anymore (if I try to go further with them, my feet/knees/back hurt) and the new ones do. To me, that's worth the extra money I might spend every year on an extra couple pairs of shoes. And, BTW, I'm not a heavy guy, so it's not only about body weight... I think the model of the shoe and your personal running biomechanics must have some effect also. The shoes I love are really comfortable and lightweight, but durable they are not! Also, I agree that water seems to make a big difference. I don't worry about getting them wet when I run (they're tools, afterall, not a piece of furniture) but I am compulsive about drying my shoes out afterward... I like to stuff them with newspaper (change the newspaper frequently). I suspect that putting them in the clothes-dryer would be a bad idea.