I’ve been gradually increasing my weekly long run again as my last race approaches (Timberman). This week I targeted 1:50 - 1:55. I got off work on Tuesday at 3:30 and it was f-ing hot outside, like low 90’s and some humidity.
No problem, I go home, do some stuff around the house then take a nap. I wake up at 6:30 and see that some SERIOUS storms coming on the horizon. I look at the weather.com radar and… oh god, a couple hours of storms rolling through.
No problem, I’ll just run at the gym. My gym has two levels and “cardio studios” on both levels. Perfect, I’ll get a change of scenery half way through. I get through the first hour, run up the stairs and start the second. About half way through my earbuds are drowned so no more music. I get really bored and start calculating all the fractions of time that are remaining in this hour and then both hours combined, then square roots, then oh WHEN WILL IT END!? Finally 55 minutes rolls around and I’m done! My longest treadmill run to date and I’m definitely glad it’s over. As I’m walking back to the locker room I immediately notice a lot of soreness in my right hip. It seems external to the joint and, yeah, it’s pain not just soreness, I have a pronounced limp.
All yesterday I was limping around. I tried to go for a run in the evening and I made it to the end of the block. I could have pressed on but I think it would have just done more damage. Better to let it get better and try again another day. Today, a lot less limp. Tonight, I will try again.
I think the softness of the ride on a treadmill can mask some biomechanically stupid motions. I could be wrong, of course, but I really think that something about my form was wrong and that it would have been felt immediately and corrected out on the road. More feedback.
I spent several hours a week from December - March running on the treadmill and I got to the point of actually enjoying my time there. No more, every time I think about that awful machine I cringe. I’m over it.