Chronic hamstring issue. (Read 59 times)

Over the past 2 months I've been dealing with a chronically tight right hamstring.  I believed I strained it during an interval workout this  past April where I pushed a little harder than I should have.  Since then, there were times when it would allow me to run, but there were weeks when it's been very tight and a little sore (more so over the past month).  Most frustrating is that I had to drop out of a marathon (this past May 26th) after it became very tight after about 10 miles (was on sub - 3 hour pace at that point).  I decided I better drop out instead of continuing and risking more damage.  I did taper for this marathon 3 weeks or so leading up to it and mileage and speedwork were decreased. I took this past week off and rested the leg.  I didn't even stretch as it was sore and I thought it just needed to relax it.  I ran 2 miles easy yesterday and it again tightened up after about 1/2 a mile, but there was not much pain.  I did stretch a little after yesterday's run and rolled it out on a foam roller.  It feels more aggrivated this morning and I have a little pain and tightness just sitting here at work.  It's just frustrating that after a week off there's been no real improvement.  I've had many hamstring strains over my past 29 years of running and things always seem to be better after rest.  As a side note:  I have seen 2 sports massage therapists over the past 2 months and deep tissue massage has offered little relief.  Pain seems to be more in the belly of the muscle and I've had a consistent tender spot (not extremely painful) in the lower half of the muscle that doens't seem to get any better.  Driving to and from work is a major issue at times as the leg will go into spasms as I get near the end of my commute (drive time one way is about 45-50 minutes).

Any advice would be much appreciated.  It's just been a very frustrating injury and sucks when taking time off seems to have little affect on things.  Not sure if things will be better during today's brief run (maybe it's tight because I haven't been doing anything for a week)

Thanks in advance for any feedback,

Chris