Question for runners...

Spliner1969

So when I began my journey a little over 1.5 years ago I never expected to be able to run again. I used to run when I was younger, but time, laziness, injuries/etc. over the years stopped me from doing so, not to mention I never was very good at it. Ten or so years ago I managed to injure my back bad enough to need surgery as well as surgery on my right knee. It's part of what got me into the habit of sitting in a recliner every night and gaining weight.

So I hit maintenance about 5 months ago, and for the last 18-20 months I've been walking (fitness/fast walking) as a form of cardio/exercise. It helped me to meet my goals and I enjoy it. For the last six months or so I started jogging up hills while walking to increase my burn and my heart rate. I'm in pretty good shape now, my RHR is in the 50's, and I can easily walk 10k if I wanted up to 4mph.

Here's my question.. recently I've started running about half of my morning 5k, and half of my weekend 8k walks. I run up to 5-5.5mph and can go for up to a mile before I start to notice pain in my left groin area (adductor pain I assume). When it happens I have to slow down to a walk and it goes away. However if I start up running again it comes back so I can run for shorter and shorter distances throughout my 5k or 8k. I'd love to learn to run a full 5k, and I know I could handle it energy-wise but that pain in my left adductor muscles is annoying and holding me back. Anyone have suggestions? When I walk it goes away, it's only there when I run. Should I possibly be doing strengthening exercises for those muscles? I have noticed some of the same pain in the right leg but it's more rare, and usually only on longer run/walks. I've even tried taking a few days off to see if it's an injury or what, and when I start back up after around a mile it starts up again without fail.

Maybe I'm not cut out to be a runner, but really don't want to give it up. I thought when I started I would never run again because of my back and knees but they are no longer a problem now that I've built a strong core and stronger legs. Well.. stronger legs to a point I guess.

In the winter I'm pretty much stuck inside and use a Bowflex M5 (cross between a stair stepper and elliptical) so it may be that by spring, if it's an injury, it'll heal, but if there are strengthening exercises I should be doing this winter to help it along I'd love to know what they are.

Cherimoose

Spliner1969 wrote: »

Anyone have suggestions? When I walk it goes away, it's only there when I run. Should I possibly be doing strengthening exercises for those muscles?

The smartest approach with injuries is to get it assessed by a professional (physical therapist, sports doctor, etc). Following random advice from the web could make it worse.. even if it helped someone else.

That said, you could try stretching it hourly, and right before running too. Hold the stretch for 30+ seconds. You should know within a day or two if it's helping (post an update). If it does help, the muscle is probably tight, and strength exercises for the adductor will only make it tighter. Still, it's good to follow a full-body strength program, for general fitness. A good strength program for your age group is New Rules of Lifting for Life.

Spliner1969

Cherimoose wrote: »

Spliner1969 wrote: »

Anyone have suggestions? When I walk it goes away, it's only there when I run. Should I possibly be doing strengthening exercises for those muscles?

The smartest approach with injuries is to get it assessed by a professional (physical therapist, sports doctor, etc). Following random advice from the web could make it worse.. even if it helped someone else.

That said, you could try stretching it hourly, and right before running too. Hold the stretch for 30+ seconds. You should know within a day or two if it's helping (post an update). If it does help, the muscle is probably tight, and strength exercises for the adductor will only make it tighter. Still, it's good to follow a full-body strength program, for general fitness. A good strength program for your age group is New Rules of Lifting for Life.

I'll give it a shot. I'm not certain it's a full fledged injury, may be a tight muscle. Stretching makes sense and I'll post an update after a few days to see if it helps overall. If I thought it was a full fledged injury I'd go to the doctor or stop all together until it healed. I maybe have another month or so of running anyway before I have to give it up for the most part for the winter. But will also give "New Rules of Lifting for Life" a look-see as well.

I have some nerve damage in my lower spine which also causes some issues with muscle control in my left leg. For instance, for years I could not stand on my tip toes on my left side (foot drop). I can do it now but it's weaker, so I never gained all the control back with those muscles, and other muscles took up the slack for the ones that aren't working correctly. Funny thing is that when I'm tired people tell me I limp a bit. I don't notice it and as soon as they tell me that I concentrate a bit more on walking and the limp goes away. I don't notice it during my workouts as much, probably because I'm concentrating on decent form. Some of the pain could be a weakness on the left side that's unequal to the right. I may never get past it which is ok, I just wanted to see if I could work past it.

As far as lifting I do very little lifting with free weights, mostly I use body weight because of the weakness in my lower spine. I have ruptured and/or herniated several of my lumbar discs over the years, some as recently as last fall. So I am on a permanent "no more than 25lb" lifting restriction. It's a bummer most days because some of my grand kids are over 25 lbs now so I can no longer lift them up safely. Building a much stronger core has helped though.

Thanks for the tips!

Stoshew71

I second getting a professional opinion. I would ask around for a good sports doctor or PT that has a background with running or was recommended by other runners in your area. Your local running store or running club should have good suggestions. You mentioned previous back and spine injuries which to me may have an effect on your running gait. Getting good running mechanics and the correct exercises to focus on may be the trick. Again, a professional PT would best help with mechanics and strength exercises.

Spliner1969

You're probably right, I'm just starting out with it, and I likely will find I'll have to talk to a PT about it. For now I'm going to try stretches and I'm not going to be pushing through pain (to avoid serious injury). I have a feeling since I've spent 20+ years being inactive (that's how I got in the shape I was in before MFP) that the muscles used for running simply aren't up to the task. It's probably going to take more patience on my part. I have a sister (twin actually) that is a PT, so I can probe her for information too. But yea, a sports oriented PT would likely be best. All my ortho docs tell me "nope" and "forget it" and use terms like "never again". I've already proven them wrong so many times.

BasicGreatGuy

The pain you are experiencing is not normal, and is something that should be addressed by a professional. The worst thing you can do, is try and run through it, or try and overcompensate for it in some other way, which can mess up your natural gait, cause another injury such as a stress fracture.

777cbr

I am the contrarian, but this is what I have found in my running career. Running without getting injured takes time. More time than you think. Pain is the signal to tell you to slow down, mileage or intensity. Your muscles will get stronger a lot faster than your ligaments and joints. Stretching has been shown to offer no advantage in preventing injury and often can lead to more injuries as long as you have enough range of motion for correct form in the activity. While warming up is always a good thing walk and then run. The difference in the forces at 4mph vs. 5.5mph are huge. 80% of my training is done below 6mph and my marathon race pace is about 8.6mph. I will only run at 9mph twice a week and this will only be for 20 min at a time. I don't recommend what I do, but the point is whatever is a fast pace for you don't do it very often until you have a lot more miles under your belt. Maybe think about increasing distance instead of intensity for now. This will help build up your energy systems and throw in speed about once a week but as soon as you feel pain slow down.

meritage4

Hip adductor pain is not that unusual. See a physical therapist and get adductor strengthening exercises.

Spliner1969

Thanks everyone. For now I am taking a break, it's been storming out every morning anyway so sticking to my Bowflex M5 instead (no adductor pain with it). I think range of motion (or tight muscles) may be part of my issue, and I believe several of you are right, I may have just been trying too hard too fast. I need to slow down, get more mileage in, and go for distance rather than speed. Dropping to 4mph or so (which is a fast walk for me, I have long legs) makes the discomfort go away 100%. So I will stick to that for now, and possibly just run up hills (1/8th of a mile at a time max) like I was doing before without issues. The adductor pain only showed up when I attempted to push to a full mile of running at 5+mph. My sister gave me some exercises to work on in the mean time, so maybe next year I can give it another try. Winter is going to bring me inside more often that not anyway right now.

BrianSharpe

Another vote for seeing a PT.......we lose flexibility as we age (we also lose lean muscle mass, when you see the PT as for recommendations for weight training too given your back problems) and much to the amusement of my children my PT recommended a number of yoga poses to open up the hips along with spending more time stretching in general, foam rolling etc.

Spliner1969

If I can find one in my area worth going to I'll consider it. The one I have seen was connected to the orthopedic doctor who did my previous surgery years ago and pretty much told me I'd never run again. My insurance is fairly decent, but requires my doctor to point me to a PT first in my network if I want it covered. I'll give my primary care physician a ring and see what she suggests rather than going back to the ortho guy. I may not be able to run long distance at the moment, and I do in fact have gait problems, but they are full of *kitten* to simply tell me that no improvement will help. I'd rather find one that will work with me to reach my goals rather than tell me what the ortho doctor wants them to tell me. I've spent the last 1.5 years building a very strong core to avoid re-injuring my back and it's given me some confidence to try things I would not have done in the past. I don't want to run a marathon mind you, but a 5k would be nice, and I'd also accept a single mile. I can always walk a 5k, and can do that now easily.

GaryRuns

I have to say, as I've gotten older, I have to be more proactive to avoid running injuries. For me that means not increasing my running more than 10% per week, yoga/stretching every day I run, and strength training for my legs. It really has helped me remain relatively injury free the past year.