Re: Help! Sore Upper Quads - STILL!

guest — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 00:44:08 GMT

That is a tough one, sounds to me like you are a very experienced runner and you train with a lot of thought. Is it safe to assume you warm up before taking off on a 10+ mile run? Not warming up well coupled with running in the cold could result in a tendon issue. Check this article out...it may offer some more incite.

Help! Sore Upper Quads - STILL!

guest — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 19:41:10 GMT

Help!

Looking for advice on recovery / healing of upper quad pain.

I ran the Illinois Marathon on 4/11. It was my 5th marathon, my first on in the month of April. (I usually run Chicago in October.) About halfway through training, I developed upper quad pain in BOTH legs, which I've never had before. I "ran through it" up to and including my "heavy" 5/10/5/20 week. Each of those miles was tolerable, and the pain was minimal, BUT I was only able to complete 3 or 4 of my taper runs after that. I ran the marathon in 4:24 (Short of my goal of 4:00, Short of my PR of 4:11, but comfortably under my Secondary goal of 4:30, which I knew was more realistic once this pain started!) Since the marathon 6 days ago, I have not run, have tried to stretch, and have hydrated like crazy. But every time I try to run (crossing the street, chasing the dog, etc) I get the same pain. I want to recover close to 100% before heading into Chicago training in June, but I'm unsure how to do so. I do not want to lose my "base" in the process.

I have never had this problem before. I have dealt with shin splints, stress fractures, and foot pain, but my quads have always been solid. I have no idea why they are failing me now. And it's very odd for me to have "both of" something hurt. My rational mind says to look for the "x-factor" in my training...something that's different b/w this year and every other year that I've trained without this problem.

The only factors I can come up with are:

Weather - I'm usually not a cold-weather runner. My training (heavy training anyway) usually starts in June and ends in October. I'll run in the cold months, but not a lot, and not very far.

Shoes - I did move to a less supportive (I think) shoe for the bulk of my training, moving from Nike Triax 11's to Asics 2130's. I used PowerStep insoles with both, so I'm not sure how much of an issue that actually is...

Job - I moved from an "outside" job where I was in and out of the car a good part of the day to a job where I'm mostly seated at a desk. I'm not sore as I sit, but it is definitely a change in how I spend most of my day.

My question is two-fold. I'm looking for the quickest route to recovery so that I can start Chicago training (and chase my 3:59:59!) in good shape. AND, I'm looking to prevent this from happening again.

Any advice / suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks In Advance!

Tim

tbillini (twitter)

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Re: Help! Sore Upper Quads - STILL!

Help! Sore Upper Quads - STILL!