Puzzle Pieces

The past 6 months have been a complicated puzzle. The pieces were taken apart and scattered when I ran the San Antonio Marathon in November resulting in a minor Biceps Femoris tear on the left leg and a more significant tear in the right. It ended up taking me until April to get to the point where I could jog, slowly. Now eight weeks later, I am finally getting back on track, literally.

The first seven weeks were simply building mileage and seeing if my right leg would hold up. Along the way I learned a little about the injury.

I have been focusing on stretching A LOT. Some feel this is counter productive, but for me it has helped in a couple of ways. First, prior to last year, I would have been classified as a mid to fore-foot runner. I noticed my shoes last year were wearing in the heal significantly, especially the right shoe. Stretching has brought my stride back to normal for me, on the forefoot. Second, and this is purely subjective, I don't feel like I am fighting my body on every stride. In other words, running feels more natural.

Another, more recently learned tidbit, was gleaned from a recent Running Times article on Nate Jenkins. Nate is one of my running heros. He has been nursing a hip injury for quite a while. In the article he hypothosizes that a week hip muscle caused his body to shift the load to his hamstrings. This was an "ah HA!" moment for me. Since December of '07 I would have tightness in my right glute/hip area. I suspected it was a tight piriformis and as such I would stretch and stretch the piriformis, but any hard runs would make it miserable. After reading the article, I began doing strengthening exercises focusing on the gemellus muscles and other external rotators of the femur. This has helped tremendously.

I am looking forward to a solid fall running season.