Am going through a similar thing at the moment. Has been going on for about a year.
Flew to a 70.3 May of 2015 and went for a run about 24 hrs after arriving. Flight and car journey meant 6hrs sitting on day of travel and run was a light trot evening before the event. Bam, right quad went in what I'll call a massive cramp only because that's the closest description I have. Massage, rolling and rest that night. Bit better by morning but still dodgy. Got through the swim but by the end I had full on "cramp" again and now going down into LHS adductors. Pulled out at the end of mile 1 of the bike. Too painful and couldn't get any power down. Saw Dr when I got home and general non-specific "we don't know" diagnosis. Wrote it off as one of those things that happens. Was a bummer though as was as fit and strong as I have ever been.
Had a couple of weeks off and back to training. Sometimes smaller cramps in quad on training runs (usually after or during a down hill or just after a mid-run break within a couple of mins of starting up again) but always able to stretch them off. Did a HIM in August in a new PB even though I was full of cold. Also did a half marathon in a new PB in Sept. coming off the back of a cold. Not aiming at a backdoor brag here just to say that things seemed back on track.
Then ran a marathon in late Nov (no cold this time!) and was on track for a good time and then at 13miles in started to get quad twinges. By 30km marker full on cramps in both quads and I was down to the ultra-marathoner's shuffle as I couldn't really bend the legs properly without lots of pain. Finished (not gloriously) and by this time was having problems raising the legs to go up stairs as quads were so unhappy with me. Saw Dr the following day and got MRI scan done which showed I had a fair bit of internal bleeding in the quads. So, a month off for me and then slowly getting back into it with regular physio and massage and pretty regular foam rolling as well.
All pretty much good until March when I really opened up and went for a good time in a hilly 5k. Got half way through and felt the quads start to go. So, shut it down and trotted to the finish and off to the Dr's the next day. Acupuncture and massage again. An ultrasound showing a bit of muscle tearing but not too bad. Rest of that week off and since then I've been foam rolling quads and ITB for 10-20mins every day in addition to the normal regime.
Am back to running reasonably again - can run 2hrs at a fairly easy pace (say just under 5min/km) with a fairly hard bike sessions the day before no problem. Ran a low 19min flat 5km on the weekend in the middle of a longer / easier effort of 25km just gone so some progress. But, I can "feel" it's still not right and that if I really try and go for it things might get interesting again.
Have had a vascular scan, blood work, ultrasound in the last week and results back today and everything has come back fine although apparently a bit low on Vit D (so some supplements to take now). Aside from that Dr's seem not to have many solid thoughts on what it all might be. Ultrasound showed a bit of fluid at knee and hip so "maybe" something to do with ITB but not enough that the Dr thinks it's anything but pretty typical and certainly not enough that he thinks he's found a likely cause.
So, as of today I'm starting taking Vit D supplements and back to Dr in a month. Can you say frustrated!
Will be really interested to see if anyone comes up with anything on this thread that might help answer the "what's causing this to happen" question.
Cheers
Flew to a 70.3 May of 2015 and went for a run about 24 hrs after arriving. Flight and car journey meant 6hrs sitting on day of travel and run was a light trot evening before the event. Bam, right quad went in what I'll call a massive cramp only because that's the closest description I have. Massage, rolling and rest that night. Bit better by morning but still dodgy. Got through the swim but by the end I had full on "cramp" again and now going down into LHS adductors. Pulled out at the end of mile 1 of the bike. Too painful and couldn't get any power down. Saw Dr when I got home and general non-specific "we don't know" diagnosis. Wrote it off as one of those things that happens. Was a bummer though as was as fit and strong as I have ever been.
Had a couple of weeks off and back to training. Sometimes smaller cramps in quad on training runs (usually after or during a down hill or just after a mid-run break within a couple of mins of starting up again) but always able to stretch them off. Did a HIM in August in a new PB even though I was full of cold. Also did a half marathon in a new PB in Sept. coming off the back of a cold. Not aiming at a backdoor brag here just to say that things seemed back on track.
Then ran a marathon in late Nov (no cold this time!) and was on track for a good time and then at 13miles in started to get quad twinges. By 30km marker full on cramps in both quads and I was down to the ultra-marathoner's shuffle as I couldn't really bend the legs properly without lots of pain. Finished (not gloriously) and by this time was having problems raising the legs to go up stairs as quads were so unhappy with me. Saw Dr the following day and got MRI scan done which showed I had a fair bit of internal bleeding in the quads. So, a month off for me and then slowly getting back into it with regular physio and massage and pretty regular foam rolling as well.
All pretty much good until March when I really opened up and went for a good time in a hilly 5k. Got half way through and felt the quads start to go. So, shut it down and trotted to the finish and off to the Dr's the next day. Acupuncture and massage again. An ultrasound showing a bit of muscle tearing but not too bad. Rest of that week off and since then I've been foam rolling quads and ITB for 10-20mins every day in addition to the normal regime.
Am back to running reasonably again - can run 2hrs at a fairly easy pace (say just under 5min/km) with a fairly hard bike sessions the day before no problem. Ran a low 19min flat 5km on the weekend in the middle of a longer / easier effort of 25km just gone so some progress. But, I can "feel" it's still not right and that if I really try and go for it things might get interesting again.
Have had a vascular scan, blood work, ultrasound in the last week and results back today and everything has come back fine although apparently a bit low on Vit D (so some supplements to take now). Aside from that Dr's seem not to have many solid thoughts on what it all might be. Ultrasound showed a bit of fluid at knee and hip so "maybe" something to do with ITB but not enough that the Dr thinks it's anything but pretty typical and certainly not enough that he thinks he's found a likely cause.
So, as of today I'm starting taking Vit D supplements and back to Dr in a month. Can you say frustrated!
Will be really interested to see if anyone comes up with anything on this thread that might help answer the "what's causing this to happen" question.
Cheers