As my miles start to creep up as I train for a half marathon and eventually the Boston marathon my confidence is being shaken. I am having pain in a new place. And I don’t know what to do. A year ago I could run all I wanted and nothing hurt. I am not sure what is triggering this. But I have a list of possible suspects and the possible solutions.
- IT band again (don’t really think it is ), but the solution of stretching, foam rolling, and hip/glute strengthening exercises would help regardless.
- Shoe issue. I ran for YEARS in plain old stability shoes (Asics mostly) and NEVER had a problem. I have been trying to fix my heal striking and therefore have been running in more minimal shoes and right now I run in Newtons. Maybe I am just such a heavy striker that I can’t make the switch. The possible solution is different shoes and for this weekends run I am gonna bust out my moon boots (Hoka’s). They are not the sexiest looking shoes but I don’t really care anymore.
- Increase in track work may be tougher on me than I thought. I have recently started doing organized track workouts and I LOVE them! Running with a group really pushes me to run faster than when I do them on my own. The running on a track may be too repetitive. Solution, mix it up with trails. This is tough because of my schedule constraints but I just may have to make it happen.
Hopefully I can figure it out soon. I want so badly to have a strong Boston as well as a strong Challenge Penticton next summer. But all I really want is to run…