With renewed confidence in my body I continued full force with my running plan. But on Friday the 12th my right knee was really sore so I only ran 8.5 miles versus the 10 miles prescribed and decided to wade in cool Lake Michigan for a nice post run treat for my knee (I also paid the price for skipping the body glide that day, ouch). Saturday is my typical rest day which helped my knee recover for Sunday’s long run.
So Sunday I set out on my own to do 13 miles as the rest of my group were either in the Steelhead triathlon, another event, or away on vacation that day. This being a “down week” I figured I could run 13 miles by myself. So I cruised around St. Joseph and was nearing the last half mile on the St. Joseph Bridge when my right quad painfully locked up. What on earth? So I stopped and stretched it out and continued with the last half mile as it got tighter and tighter. Then during my cool down walk it painfully locked up again and I limped back to my car.
Luckily, the kids had spent the night at my in-laws so my husband could volunteer at one of the Steelhead Triathlon water stations and I could do my long run. It was all I could muster to hobble up the steps, take a shower, and drive down to Sawyer to pick them up. This quad muscle would NOT let go despite over 20 minutes of concentrated stretching. Then I made the mistake of placing a bag of frozen vegetables on my knee for the 25 minute drive down there, when I tried to get out of the car my quad said “no way, not moving.”
My quad remained this tight and painful through today. I decided enough was enough when after a botched attempt at doing speed work I called my husband in tears and said get me into see someone NOW. By 1pm my husband had arranged for me to see an athletic trainer.
The trainer twisted, turned, and flipped me in every direction only to inform me it was the teardrop shaped quad muscle that was stuck in a perpetual cramp and that stretching, hydration, cross training and a break from running was my prescription. He also discovered that my hips were out of alignment making one leg about an inch shorter than the other which could’ve exacerbated the problem. Hmm who knew?
He readjusted my hip, and I hobbled home to cry.
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