Now all you able-bodied Boomers (if there are any), get out there and run!

It sure does seem like there are a lot of aches and pains out there. Be careful. Warmer and more humid today for a nice 5.3 miler @ 9:12. Have a good weekend!

I'm really sorry to hear about Holly's injury. I wouldn't wish this running withdrawal on anyone here! I hope you get a good diagnosis. Rode 36 miles on my bike starting at 6:30 this morning. One thing different about cycling is that you can stop in the middle for breakfast and then get right back into it. At the cafe, I ordered hotcakes and the waitress recommended that I just get two instead of three. Good tip: these were hotcakes the size of a dinner plate that take a half-bottle of syrup to get 'em to slide down. And even then I only finished one and a half. But really - I did need the energy for the return trip! Lots more to do today, so I've gotta run (not literally, unfortunately). The rest of you can get out there and run for real!

I suited up and ran on the treadmill in the garage a whole 2 minutes at about 13:00 pace before I decided that it was not yet time to run. (sigh) Truth is, even walking is very painful. There is a good sports medicine center not far from here, and I have made an appointment for this afternoon. I should probably just wait a week and see, but I am too impatient. I want to know NOW if this is something that will go away quickly or keep me off my feet for weeks. Besides, it’s always nice to get a specific diagnosis, and know the name of the muscle you damaged, rather than saying, my butt hurts.

Good luck Holly! For the hamstring, my self checks are as follows: 1. Can I punt like kicking a football? 2. If laying on my belly and lifting the leg does it hurt in someone pushes down on the leg? 3. Another version of this is just standing and kick your heel of the bad leg into the the side of the other foot (perpendicular).. does that hurt? If any or all of these hurt then rest a few/several/many days and then start doing gentle strengthening by pulling the leg back against resistance (like therabands or elastic cords). Don't resume running until you can do the above (1-3) without much pain. I had the same thing and it took 4 weeks to get back to 20 mpw and 5 to get to 40mpw. (6 weeks after the injury I PR'd a half marathon). 2 weeks of no running is a good place to start IMO. The Dr should have a plan which will involve PT for stretching and strengthening. Preventing this is by religious stretching. I stretch after every run 30 sec x 3 each leg by putting my leg up on the steps to the house and grabbing my toes/ball of foot and pulling back while pushing the leg down to stretch the Hamstrig, plantar facia and achilles all at the same time. It works for me. I can always bend down and touch my toes (maybe after a few gentle tries). Also, when doing speedwork, pay very close attention to form so as not to overstride. Also frequent short duration speed work like 100m strides keeps the hamstring stretched. I just wanted to share my thoughts since I've been through the same injury and recovered. Steve

good morning masters. Holly - hope you get a dx so you know exactly what is injured. That's great you got in so quick. If I had to make an appt with a specialist here, I'd be on a 4 - 6 wk wait. I'm almost tempted to just go ahead and make an appt with a podiatrist (one that John2635 recently saw), just on the off chance something is bothering me by the end of the summer. Seems that after a summer full of running, I'm bound to have something that hurts, and then I'd have an appt already. Ribs - good running this week and good for you for knowing to rest today so you can stick with your cutback week. And nice running for the Saint also. How's Hudson and Lucy doing? inseparable? Cranium - I mostly run solo, except for the occassional run with John2635. He's just now on the comeback from an injury that had him out for about 4-5 mos, so we haven't been running together too much lately. But tomorrow we are both in a 5K so I'll see him then. We do have scheduled groups runs in this area every Sat a.m. and I joined them one time, but runners here are seriously fast, so even on this group training run, I was running solo. Plus, I drove about 15 miles to meet up with them. I thought that was pretty senseless, so I haven't done that again. In regards to your question about ART - my sports chiro has done a similar technique that he calls "stripping" for my ITBS and also recently on the tendon that runs along my shin for some issues I was having there. It hurts like hell when he is doing it, but it sure works. I have a pretty high pain tolerance and when he's done this before, I've been in tears. I'll get in a short, EZ run during my lunch hour today - only 3 or 4 miles probably, since I am in a 5K tomorrow. It won't be speedy for me, that's for sure. But it'll be fun. Then the rest of our weekend will be spent trying to keep cool in the 100+ temps we are expecting. I think a swimming pool will work its way into my plans.

Holly, I'm so glad you made an appt. & could get in this quickly. I was all set to nag. Karin, thanks for letting me know the other day. I knew it wasn't likely anyway... I need to go to Novi today, & thought if the days matched maybe we could manage a quick cup of coffee. Waving back. . Enjoy your lunch. Mainerunnah, it would be great to have you back here. Speaking of people we miss, I've been wondering about Deez4boys. Also, shouldn't Sue be back her trip? Seemed prudent to skip another day. so, 23 min. elliptical, 25 arc trainer, & 23 on the recumbant bike. DickyG & Erika, thanks for the advice. I'll remember the sponges. not sure they'd fit though. did you take out the lining? Are you listening to your own advice yet? Steve, "Also, when doing speedwork, pay very close attention to form so as not to overstride. " Is this even on downhills? Haven't tried ART. interested, though. solo runs. back to work. mta: Carolyn, good luck tomorrow! Dave, I'll have to look at the pictures at home. thanks. talk about timing. Hi Deez4! ok. now i'll really work.

Good Morning Recovery run for me today. I did 4 miles in 39:14 (9:49/mile pace). Craneium: I run with a running group weekdays at the local HS track. On the weekends when I do my LR on Saturday and my Sunday run I run alone. Have a great day everyone. Bruce

soundie is super duper busy right now - she's not posting at either place regularly because life is full at the moment. Erika - I'll try to describe this stripping technique and I think it's pretty similar to what ART does. When I was having ITBS pain, my doc would have me lay on my side so that the injured thigh was facing up. He would then dig into my IT deeply with his hands, fingers, knuckles. He's a VERY fit/athletic guy (read: major stud!) and the strength in his hands is incredible. Okay - so he's basically using this deep myofascial release type torture massage to break down my IT Band. The first time he did this, he left bruising along my thigh, and then the follow up treatments weren't much better because I still had some bruising feeling in there. But after he broke the IT Band down, as the area would self-heal and rebuild itself, I had to stretch LOTS - so that it wasn't tightening up again as it healed. He also would basically dig his hands into the outer side of my thigh and pull that tendon away from the bone.

Steve, "Also, when doing speedwork, pay very close attention to form so as not to overstride. " Is this even on downhills?

dg.... I think so, but more to ease the impact on the legs and quads. I think if you increase turnover so you can feel your feet pushing off underneath and don't feel much if any braking action then downhill form is good. If you stride out too much, when the foot lands there will be a natural braking action that will be a jarring feeling. I like to minimize any jarring feeling. Maybe this is an individual running style thing. I'd be interested in what others think. The idea of ART is to apply finger pressure along the muscle fibers while contracting the muscles so the fingers are pushed in one direction whle the muscle contraction moves in the opposite diection. This removes the "hot spots" of crosslinks beteen the muscle fibers and allows them to move freely again. ART specialists really dig in so it can hurt while they are doing it but feels better later. If muscles are just sore it can help. If there is a pull, as in muscle damage I don't think ART helps (at least it didn't for me with a hamstring pull)