posted
Okay, I started running very, very recently - very recently - and have noticed that I'm happier, more energetic, serene, and becoming a connesuier of sports bras. Also, what I eat during the day has a direct effect on how far I can run that evening. Dagnabbit, I knew the brownies for dinner was a bad idea.
I often thinko of pole-bo, and since aretee was back, I wanted to mention it.
My question is: why am I only sore on one side? Only leg feels sore afterward. Only one side gets the side ache. Only one side really seems to be showing the effects of this (fortunately, having started so recently and being so generally lazy, there's not much effect). Any idea why?
The thing is, it is NOT the side that I landed on after the flip off the bike at sixty miles an hour. That just seems weird to me - I'd think it was the side that is undoubtedly weaker because of the whole ouch-it-hurts-to-put-weight-there thing that would be more sore when I did start running with it.
I remember doing the advanced Tae-Bo workout once in college after not excercising for, oh, months before. I couldn't even move the next day.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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I switched saddles in my riding class recently, cause the other one I was riding in was hitting me right in the crotch. SO now the saddle that I'm riding in rubs the insides of my knees. Also not fun.
It probly doesn't help that the horse I'm riding has no stride length at all, which means all her movement is up and down, instead of FORWARD. ::sigh::
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I will share my exercise secret. Vioxx. I could be an invalid without it, or else have to limit myself to very easy workouts, with insanely gradual build up. I've heard Celebrex is even better, and I might switch. Then there's a brand new one I just got wind of, that you might want to look into.
There's an amount of soreness that feels sort of good and reminds you that you have worked out, then there's being half crippled, and nearly unable to move. Enjoy the first type, if you do enjoy it, but for the second type, let me recommend some good non-steroidal-anti-inflammatories.
I don't know why the other side is the one that hurts, but if you are favoring one side over the other at all, it can throw the whole balance off and cause who knows what to hurt. I've found that if I injure one ankle, the opposite leg or hip will often hurt, I think because I'm changing my stride somewhat to compensate.
But hey, running just hurts. It feels good, too, of course. Really good. Or else I wouldn't do it. But you're going to be sore some for sure.
Take days off to recover, take NSAIDs, run on different surfaces to be sure the particular surface you're on isn't a problem for you. Stretch fully before and especially after you run. This helps with shin splints and many other problems. Persistent pain in one place or another can often be addressed by improving your form. For instance, when my knees start to hurt, I pay more attention to picking my toes up and being sure to strike with the heel and so far that's always fixed that.
Cross train. Yoga is a fantastic thing for strength, balance, flexibility, and joint safety. Elliptical trainers are low impact. Same with inline skating (until you fall on your bum). Swimming gives you a great upper body workout for balance. Tennis or basketball can improve fast-twitch muscle response but are both hard on the knees.
Being athletic as an adult is all about managing injuries and pain. Good luck! Check out any of the running websites. There are tons of them on the web. They will give you all kinds of advice, good and bad, which you should take with a grain of salt, just like mine here, in fact. Different things work for different people.
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posted
I have just started doing some serious exercising. I'm up to twenty minutes going up and down my stairs, and my right calf was hurting more. Then I noticed that for some reason I was pushing off with my the ball of my feet rather than using my thigh to push up. When I get fatigued, I have to pay attention to it, but I don't have that problem if I do.
I incorporated some serious ab excercises this week that toned every part of my waist. I was some definate pain in my hips, inner thighs, and all my abdominals. Then guess what irregular visitor decides to hit the same day?
I like it because if all I'd done was weigh myself, I would have disappointed with the measely one pound I lost over the week. But the measurements showed I'd lost five pounds of fat and gained 4 pounds of muscle. I'd lost 1.5 inches off my hips alone.
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I used to get sore when I exercised, the I found the secret! Get asthma! Then, you can take steroids to help prevent it, AND they keep you from getting sore!
kat-i used to have the same thing happen to me, with gymnastics. I never could figure it out.
Posts: 3493 | Registered: Jul 2001
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Dangit Kat, your thread title should have some sort of warning. I'm eating dinner (at my desk, sad I know) and I have to read about sports bras and "dietary effects" Posts: 4116 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
Pole Bo is when you go running and run from telephone pole to telephone pole. It means all you have to do is get to the next pole.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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Since we're all sharing our exercise hurts, at Tae Kwon Do on Tuesday I got to do wall stretches again after a long long time. That's basically where you lean on a wall, and a partner supports your leg in kicking positions so that you can stretch it.
I was excited, I missed them, and I worked them HARD. I had my partner stretch them to the points I always used to be able to get at. Well, it'd been a long time since I'd done them, and though I was all right yesterday, today I just DIED. My legs were so painful that I didn't want to move or walk or do ANYTHING.
Fortunately my friend made me go to Tae Kwon Do again today, and I stretched again and now I feel a lot better.
Posts: 4816 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
Wait! Why does Pole-Bo make you think of aretee? It was Elizabeth that came up with the practice, and I was the one who came up with the term. You can read all about it here.
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I've been running recently too, and the first couple of times I got so incredibly dry (my mouth was so dry I couldn't even swallow) -- so the next time I went running I took along a water bottle and sipped while I was running. But then I got tremendous cramps in my abs while running -- I can't figure out if it was because of drinking the water while running, or only coincidence.
Pole-Bo! So that is what you call it (which is the way I run on the country roads). I have done this for years --- back when I was in cross country -- I would tell myself "just make it to the next pole"
Although you know, properly, they are "power poles" not telephone poles. Most telephone wires are underground now. Most poles now are used to carry electricity.
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Since I never can seem to have a steady, settled workout, (I get sick, I go out of town, it's wintertime, etc.) I'm always trying to train up, and my current level of training varies a lot. I love the pole-bo thing. I do something like that mentally when I'm running too. I think to myself that the first mile (lap, whatever unit you want to use) is half the effort (which it actually is), then after the second one I'm 3/4 done, after the third I'm 7/8 done, and so on. It's like Zeno's paradox or something. The later miles are much much easier than the first ones. Actually getting out there on the track and starting to run is about half the effort. Once you've accomplished that, the rest is not nearly so hard. It's all mental.
I always run on tracks or paths, since the car exhaust and the sound of cars zooming by is unpleasant to me, and since I've known of two people who were killed from being hit by cars while running on the street.
Anyway, I try to gauge my runs by level of intensity and effort, rather than distance or time. I find that works best. I try to do at least one run at maximum intensity and duration a week. Then trade off with easier ones where I just get thoroughly warmed up and loose. I've found that there's a breakthrough point for me somewhere between 2 and 3 miles, so I try to hit that threshold every time, because it seems to make a big difference in my progress. Alternatively, when I'm really out of shape, I've found that if I run until I can't anymore, then walk until I recover, then run again, repeating this sequence as long as possible, and it will be (for training purposes) as though I ran the whole distance. So there's no need to stop just because you give out.
What I mainly need all the time is fresh motivation. New gear (shoes or running clothes) can motivate you for a while, sometimes. Also a friend who is motivated with whom you can share what you did each day. Ideally, one who will inspire you by working harder than you. I need someone like that right now. (Anyone who is interested, email me.) Posts: 2843 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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I drink lots of fluids all the time, but not much right before I run. I will throw it up, for one thing. If I drink while running, my body just decides it's done for this workout. It's really always a bad idea for me to drink during a run. I wish they wouldn't put water at the halfway point of 5ks, cause it's always tempting to drink it, but if I do, my body thinks we're done and shuts down. So I try to take just one small sip to wet my throat, then dump the rest on my head where it does more good. Posts: 2843 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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posted
Kat, here's a distinct possibility as to why the side opposite your accident side hurts. When you had the accident, you likely had to adjust the way you did things like walk, run, go up stairs, etc. to avoid pain in the hurt areas. Your body does that fairly automatically. In some cases, your body will keep doing it, even after you no longer need it to. It "remembers" the pain and is avoiding it.
The second effect that happens is that the new way of using your body causes some parts to gain strength and others to atrophy. So when you run, the stronger side is used even more.
As far as fixing it, I'm not sure how to do that with running. Resistance exercises with individual weights for each side can help. For example, when I had a shoulder injury, I did all my upper body work with dumbells or machines with separate motion for each arm. They even have that for lat pulldowns now, which is nice.
Anyway, you may want to see an orthpedist to make sure I'm not overgeneralizing from my knee and shoulder trouble.
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*nods* Dag, that's sort of what I was afraid of. I guess I knew I needed to.
The water explanation for the side aches makes sense as well. I ran out of bottled water in my office this week, so I drink a lot more during running, and the side aches just barely appeared this week. Mystery solved!
Signed, Watson
--
Noemon: Really? Oh, I'm sorry. Dang. That piece of information was completely misfiled. Maybe it's time to defrag.
If you get severe drymouth while running, I recommend chewing gum (provided that you can already WALK and chew gum at the same time, or running and chewing gum could be disastrous) as it will activate your salivary flow.
I hate running. Hate it. However, I've found I don't hate it nearly as bad if I'm running in a park or on lake trails. But running is for making sure I have the fitness levels needed for the sports I love--so that I don't become winded, exhausted, or lose flexibility.
Racquetball keeps my fast-twitch muscles ready (the technical name for workouts for fast-twitch muscles are "pylometrics"...though I may have spelled it wrong). Fencing is just another sport that uses muscles in entirely different ways than my other sports, but if my fitness level wasn't up there, I'd have problems. I already have good flexibility, my muscles are trained enough already to be able to do a wall sit for a good length of time without much trouble, I don't get out of breath doing footwork and bladework. Snowboarding? I can go all day. Hiking? I tend to go Fast and Far. Doing over 10 miles in 4 hours with significant elevation gain is great fun, great views, and you actually burn upwards of 2000 calories.
And weight training is important for building muscle strength and definition, as well as boosting the metabolism as you use more muscle.
And I LOVE the feeling of a beat-up-post-workout-wakingupnextmorning-achey body.
hmm. apparently I have some sort of pathological need to beat the crap out of my body. But, it's all in good fun. Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
Well it may not be official "excercise" but I can reccommend painting a ceiling with an extention roller as a great abs workout. I had no idea I was using them at the time, but I feel them today!
Does anyone else's metabolism change as it gets warmer? My appetite has drastically decreased and I have more energy to do things in just the last week, since it has started warming up.
Last night, I worked for about 20 minutes with the dogs on obedience training. Came inside, ate dinner, then took them on an hour run. (I rode my bike because they have to stay at a specific trot speed to develop muscle for showing and I can't keep up running, and I don't have enough control while roller blading.) Then I painted the ceiling of the room formerly known as the Blue Room. By the end I was pretty beat, but I'd been productive!
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If you REALLY want an upper body workout, work at a barn for a few hours a day. My arms ache almost every day after sweeping and watering both of our barns.
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Yes, I knew some people who were animal husbandry majors at Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo. Man were they in shape! Throwing hay bales was a common past time apparently.
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Did I really make up "Cedonym"? I'd be incredibly pleased if that were the case, but I don't remember having done that. Anyone out there have an example of someone using the term before I did?
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
Actually, katharina, you are experiencing a very common problem that beginning road runners encounter. You've probably noticed that marathoners engaging in serious roadtraining tend to run farther from the edge and more toward the center of the road than seems necessary. That's because roads are crowned for water drainage. (Illustration around the middle of the page). And paved roads have parabolic crowns: ie the farther from the center of the road, the steeper the slope of the roadway.
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aspectre might be right, I've always avoided running on roads.
But I echo Dag's thoughts. After I blew up one of my knees it took a long time to "relearn" how to walk/run after recovering from the surgury. My injured knee was fine, but the healthy one really, really hurt. It took years to get both of them up to snuff.
Posts: 3243 | Registered: Apr 2002
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