As most of my regular readers, twitter and daily mile followers know, I've been struggling with a quad injury for the last 2 weeks +. It popped up, out of the blue, during a 7 mile run and has hung around (I'm really praying that it moves on soon). At first, I thought it was just a muscle strain and some mileage reduction would help. It didn't. Then I feared (and still do a bit) that it was a stress fracture or something deeper. I appears to not be that (as per an unofficial but somewhat thorough Ortho docs exam).
It appears that I have developed a bit of quadriceps tendonitis (or QT) which is something that can pop up from time to time. Basically... and I'm not a doctor, but from what I'm reading on the internet... it is a condition where the tendon that connects the quads (big leg muscles) to the knee becomes inflamed or irritated. It can take a couple of weeks of rest and rehab to get it back to full working condition. (I'm hoping it hurries... I miss the road.)
But that's not this week's tip (otherwise the giant ear would be slightly out of place). Here's the tip: Listen to your body.
After the Saturday run when my quads first started acting up, I didn't think too much of it. I'm used to little aches and pains popping up... I'm a runner... things happen. Sunday, it still felt a little funny but not terrible. So I continued on with my training plan with a 5 mile run on Monday. That was too much and I knew it about 3 miles into the run. What I didn't do was listen to my body. A 2 mile run would have probably kept me from inflaming it. But I didn't listen to my quad or its tendon... I listened to the paper that said I should run 5 miles.
Your body knows best. Listen to it. If it's saying "stop for a day" then stop for a day. If it's saying "slow down a bit..." then slow down a bit. It knows what's going on. Listen to it.
In my case, my lack of listening has led to a longer layover than I had planned (no running for 7 days now... and gonna be another 5 to 7 at least). If I would have dialed back the 5-miler, this might be an entirely different tip.
Keep running friends (and wishing I was...),
JC
Disclaimer (if you're into that sort of thing): Jim is not a professional runner nor is this blog endorsed by any company. These thoughts are merely the thoughts and experiences on one runner. What works and what doesn't work from a practical level. Jim hasn't set any records, but he's run a few races (Marathon: 4h 22m / Half-Marathon: 2h 3m / 5k: 22m 57s) and he's been around the block!
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Hope you bounce back soon!
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