Bursitis!

Week of June 18 ~ 24

Still no running, as soreness persists, but is lessening.

I found this and it describes my smyptoms exactly, so I guess this is it.

A common spot for bursitis is on the side of the hip. Here a large tendon passes over the bony bump on the side of the hip. The bony bump is called the greater trochanter. Inflammation in the bursa between the tendon and the greater trochanter is calledtrochanteric bursitis. This problem is common in older individuals. It may also occur in younger patients who are extremely active in exercises such as walking, running, or biking.

Friction can build in the bursa during walking if the long tendon on the side of the thigh is tight. It is unclear what causes this tightening of the tendon. The gluteus maximus attaches to this long tendon. As you walk, the gluteus maximus pulls this tendon over the greater trochanter with each step. When the tendon is tight, it rubs against the bursa. The rubbing causes friction to build in the bursa, leading to irritation and inflammation. Friction can also start if the outer hip muscle (gluteus medius) is weak, if one leg is longer than the other, or if you run on banked (slanted) surfaces. … This thickening, constant irritation, and inflammation may result in the condition becoming chronic, or long lasting.

The first symptom of trochanteric bursitis is usually pain. The pain can be felt in the area of the hip right over the bump that forms the greater trochanter. Eventually the pain may radiate down the outside of the thigh. As the problem progresses, the symptoms produce a limp when walking and stiffness in the hip joint. Eventually, the pain will also be present at rest and may even cause a problem with sleeping.

This is exactly where I have had pain for the last 6 months - sore to the touch - so I guess that qualifies as chronic. And I do have it at rest, in fact, it gets worse when I sit down.

I thought it was weird that that spot is ALWAYS sore to the touch, so I guess that is why.

I sent this to a fellow club member with leg/hip problems, and he said Yes, this is what I have had for 15 years (!!). He controls it with stretching, specifically, with the stretch known as Pigeon in yoga, where you put the affected leg in front of you at a 90-degree angle and extend the other one in back of you. I can't do 90, so I do about 45 and lean forward until I feel the stretch. You can also bend the back leg to make it easier to do.

Sometimes he stops while he is running and stretches for a while.

He says if he stops running he can walk with no discomfort, but it never heals completely - comes back when he starts running again. (Maybe if you stopped for 4-6 months it would go away, but that is an experiment I am not willing to try - as long as it is manageable.)

So I am stretching a lot, and since I have not run for a month, I plan to start tomorrow with very easy and short runs. Let's see what happens.

Still No Running So Here's an Aussie Music Video

Hamstring still sore, so no running yet. It is improving, but I plan to be super-cautious and not run until I am sure, no doubly sure, that it is healed.

Now for all you Aussie blokes, do you remember this? Most people, at least Americans, think it is a Johnny Cash song. Some know that it was done before him (and better) by Hank Snow. But the original version was by Lucky Starr.

Here is the Hank Snow version.

Still No Running

Week of June 4 ~ 10

But I did jog 1km on Friday and 2 km on Sunday! With pain in the hamstring, though....
I guess it will be a while yet.

Bummer: Hamstring Pain!

Week of May 28 ~ June 3

Well, the stress on the legs of two races in two weeks caught up with me.
I ran a Half on the 13th, then a 5K on the 20th. In between them I did a fairly hard interval workout on Wed. night, otherwise easy or nothing.
The following week, I only did two workouts: 6k of fast intervals on Wednesday and a fairly hard 24k on Sunday. So five days of rest. Then I took off Monday and Tuesday.
7 days of rest out of 9. You would think that would be enough. But...
Went out Wednesday for a 5k time trial and felt ok while warming up. Then felt ok at a not too hard 4:00/k pace for 400m. Then the left hamstring (where all the previous problems were) was sore for 400m. Then more sore for the next 400m. A dull pain. Which suddenly turned into a sharp pain, whereupon I immediately stopped.
After which it hurt to walk. And today, Sunday, it still hurts a bit to walk.
(By "sharp" I don't mean a severe pull, just sharp enough to tell me to stop.)

So...this time I think I've really learned the lesson. Don't do two races in two weeks, if one of them is a half marathon. (At least, if you're an older runner, don't. Older being, over 50?). Or if you "have to", just rest/jog for two weeks afterwards.
I think it was the second interval workout that was the mistake. Which was compounded by the Sunday 24km run.
Anyway, I'm out for at least a week, probably two. I believe that hamstring injuries require "active" rehab, so I'll jog a bit when I can, but today I couldn't even jog 4 strides. Did walk for an hour, though.

Hope the rest of you are feeling ok.