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Hamstring Pain
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All,

I am having some pain near my left knee while biking. The pain is in the side towards the back (see the highlighted line in the attached picture). The highlighted circle is where there is some restriction after the long ride. There is no problem during running and swimming.

Background: I am training for the Houston 140.6 race and have had a solid 6 months of training under my belt including Austin 70.3 in October 2017. This pain surfaced after my 83 mile ride on Saturday, February 3rd. After that, I did a 3 swim workouts and couple of runs (16 miles and 7 miles) with no issue. I also biked slowly for an hour on my indoor bike. It wasn't bad. So, I did another 75 mile ride on Saturday, February 10th after taking an ibuprofen. The pain has resurfaced.

Could you please advice on how to resolve this?

Aspiring 140.6 Triathlete
Last edited by: vinaypandey: Feb 11, 18 11:38
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Re: Hamstring Pain [vinaypandey] [ In reply to ]
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If the red circle is on the lateral side of your leg, I believe that is the area that gets irritated when you are having IT band issues. The line looks to be the tendon (not hamstring muscle) that runs just above the back of the knee. Again, hard to say.

I don't know what you are currently doing for injury prevention, but I find that foam rolling helps a lot to manage/prevent IT band pain. I have had pain in that tendon behind the knee before, but it was the result of a specific action (also on the bike) where I ended up spinning my gears. It did not go away all season, but it was manageable.

If rest is not your cup of tea, then I would recommend riding as long as you can without experiencing pain and then slowly build from there. OR concentrate on the other two disciplenes for a bit and then come back to cycling. And foam rolling.
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Re: Hamstring Pain [vinaypandey] [ In reply to ]
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Probably a bike fit issue, since you don't feel it Swimming or Running. Check your cleat position and see if your knees are tracking straight. Setup bike trainer in front a mirror. If your knees are turned inward, you will have more pressure on outside of your leg.
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Re: Hamstring Pain [toastygloveman] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for the reply. The red circle is on the lateral side. I did extensive foam rolling yesterday. Personally, I don't think this is an ITB issue as it is not flaring up during my long runs. I am planning to take a break from biking for a couple of weeks and will come back to it after full recovery. Meanwhile, I will increase my run and swim mileage.
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Re: Hamstring Pain [vinaypandey] [ In reply to ]
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I think that is a good plan. You could probably could mix in some short trainer recovery rides.

I had a self diagnosed IT Band issue that only flared up while on the bike a couple of years ago. I don't know if it was actually the IT band, but whatever it was it did not effect me while running. I would just get a dull ache where your circle was during long cycling rides.
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Re: Hamstring Pain [jdais] [ In reply to ]
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jdais wrote:
Probably a bike fit issue, since you don't feel it Swimming or Running. Check your cleat position and see if your knees are tracking straight. Setup bike trainer in front a mirror. If your knees are turned inward, you will have more pressure on outside of your leg.

Thanks! This could be a bike fit issue. I am planning to check it in the next couple of days.
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Re: Hamstring Pain [toastygloveman] [ In reply to ]
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toastygloveman wrote:
I think that is a good plan. You could probably could mix in some short trainer recovery rides.

I had a self diagnosed IT Band issue that only flared up while on the bike a couple of years ago. I don't know if it was actually the IT band, but whatever it was it did not effect me while running. I would just get a dull ache where your circle was during long cycling rides.

Thanks for the insight. I really appreciate it.
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Re: Hamstring Pain [vinaypandey] [ In reply to ]
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I would be remiss if I forgot to mention that you should be foam rolling after workouts, not before... I don't know your level of experience with this sort of thing, so I thought I would mention it.

Best of Luck!
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Re: Hamstring Pain [toastygloveman] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks! Yes.
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Re: Hamstring Pain [vinaypandey] [ In reply to ]
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hi there


maybe u can try using compression leg massager for your hamstring available from amazon

amazon.com/dp/B009WXG3ZW




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Re: Hamstring Pain [vinaypandey] [ In reply to ]
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Did you ever find the root cause of your issue?
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Re: Hamstring Pain [jdais] [ In reply to ]
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All,

I completed my IM Texas this past weekend. Overall, I had a great race and finished just under 12:30 without any injuries.

I owe an update to you all guys. Again, my apologies for the delayed reply as you could imagine it was crazy with training and work.

The root cause of the issue was ITB as stated (suggested) in this forum. I did two things to take care of this. Firstly, I did extensive foam rolling of all my leg muscles for an hour (sometime 70-80 minutes) at least for a few days especially during my taper week (around 7th - 8th week of my training). This foam rolling helped to remove stiffness from my legs. Secondly, I moved my long run from Wednesday to Sunday. The fatigue from my long run on Wednesday was showing its effect in my biking form (may be).

I stopped foam rolling after couple of weeks. I did not make any other changes.

Sorry again for the delayed reply. Thanks again for replying to my queries. I reallly appreciate it.

Best regards,
Vinay
Last edited by: vinaypandey: May 1, 18 18:13
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Re: Hamstring Pain [vinaypandey] [ In reply to ]
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Good to hear you were able to resolve the issue
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