Good morning everyone
I’m looking for some thoughts about running on slanted surfaces, like the side of a road. Saturday morning I did a 26 mile bike 8 mile run brick, and I think I’m having problems today because the road surface for some of my run was slanted.
During the run, my right foot (the side at the higher elevation) was getting numb around mile 6, so I switched to the other side of the road for the last 2 miles. This is what made me actually think about the slant of the road surface.
I haven’t had any foot problems, but my right hip has been really sore and feels like it’s popping when I walk. It does seem better this morning, but still not quite right.
Any thoughts about running on the slanted side of a roadway? Obviously I’m not going to do this again…
Thanks Trinthes
Yeah in hindsight running on the slanted side of the road was pretty stupid. I’ve run indoor track enough to know that slant = bad. I guess that the fact that I actually felt good during my run kept me from thinking straight.
How slanted was the road? I can generally run a few miles a week on a normal slanted highway surface, although I try to avoid this whenever possible. If you’re not used to it or are running a lot on such a surface, I could see this causing hip problems. I had some hip problems during the winter from running on slanted roads excessively. I’ve also gotten achilles tendonitis in the past from slanted surfaces, so try to avoid them or make sure to alternate at some point in order to even up the stress. But anyways, just find some trails, they will make a world of difference.
The road I was running on was slanted maybe 20 degrees. Hopefully this doesn’t cause too many longer term problems, as it was only a one time thing and I switched sides after my uphill foot went numb.
Why on earth it was necessary for the road to slant down a half inch from the outside line I have no idea. Apparently usable shoulder wasn’t part of the design.
Do you think that trail running is beneficial as a supplement or replacement to road running? I can see a benefit to running trails because you’ll have to stabilize yourself more. Anything else?
When I lived in Houston, most of the roads were heavily cambered because of the rain we used to get. I got a case of itb, and we narrowed it down to the camber.
Once it settle down, I stopped running the roads and just stayed on the flat paths. never came back.
If you’re going to run on cambers, make sure you do plenty of itb stretching, and try to run equal amounts of both side camber, but I’d try and stay off it if you can. I ended up having to drive to my runs, but it beat being injured.
This is an interesting post for me, trying to find a good surface to run. A local running shop told me about road slant, the guy suggested switiching sides regularly. I would prefer to run on the road because it’s softer than a cement sidewalk, however, the sidewalk is pretty level. There’s a park that I drive to sometimes, it has a 4 mile asphalt loop, but I find it to be more uneven than the road. More scenic, though. I like running around the neighborhood because I can just go, but I wonder how much I beat myself up running on cement. There are no trails nearby.
I had the exact same problem with a section about 2 miles long of very slanted sidewalk. It was at the turnaround of a 10 mile course for me, 1 mile in and 1 mile back, so I got both slope directions. My ITB problems started basically one day when my left “cramped” during that portion of a 20 miler. At that point I didn’t know what an IT Band was, and it took some research to find out what exactly was wrong. Stay off the slopes, it’s baaaad for you.
Outside of the slopes, running while dehydrated seems to mess me up more than anything. I religiously weigh myself before, after and sometimes during my runs (depending on if I come back by the house for more Gu) and I cut off any run where I’ve lost more than 2-3 lb. I mention this because it seems the first things that get uncoordinated on me when I get dehydrated are my hip muscles…and then my hips pop/are sore for a few days afterwards. If you don’t keep track of your weight it’s easy to drop 4 or 5 lb and not know why you are feeling lethargic, and even easier to really hurt yourself.