For quite a while there I was running without pain…or at least very little.
Then 10 days ago I ran 12K along the Rideau Canal in Ottawa. It is a beautiful place to run.
It seems that 12K was a tad much for my left ankle. During that last couple of Ks, I felt a faint twinge in the inside of the ankle and down into the bottom of my foot. I’m guessing the cause of this was an “over-use” injury, i.e., the increase in the length of my run had my ankle complaining.
This had me very worried, because in just a few days, I’ll run my very first 10K race. I need to run that race and finish with confidence. It’s an important mental benchmark for my quest to 15K in September.
I have been icing my ankle regularly and have since run two 5Ks and a 3K last night. I have no pain now.
This bump in the road has reminded me how incredibly important it is to make my body strong so that I can run without injury.
It seems like it should be enough just to get one foot in front of the other to cover some distance. I mean, that’s really hard work.
But it isn’t enough. Turns out running requires the body’s entire resources. To run further than the end of the street, your body, not just your legs, needs to be strong.
It took me a while to figure that out.
When I first started running, the only time I wasn’t in pain was when I was actually running. The pain afterward was at times debilitating. I’d come to work and have a difficult time standing up straight. People thought maybe I should give up this running stuff.
I solved the problem when I figured out two important things:
1. I have to stretch. My back hurts when my hamstrings are tight. My knees hurt when my IT bands are tight. If you can’t touch your toes, you need to stretch.
2. I have to have strong hips, abs and upper body. As I have increased my physical strength, my after-run pain has all but gone away. My weak core and upper body led to running hunched over, so I had a really sore upper back and shoulders. My weak hip muscles contributed to my sore knees.
Once I began to address both of these needs my body has, the pain has almost disappeared. Now I just have to make sure I’m not over-training and causing myself injury. I’m thankful my ankle reminded me to pay attention and not get ahead of what my body to can do safely.
In coming posts, I’ll explain how I’ve dealt with stretching my body and making it stronger. In the meantime, let’s all bend over and touch our toes. It’s a good start…at least it was for me!
