Hamstring issue.

I haven’t been finding much time to post anything up here lately. Typically I’d write up a post during my commute, I’m guessing 80% of my commute time has been spent sleeping the last few weeks. I’ve definitely been physically tired lately. Motivation is still good tho’. That’s always a good thing.

I’ve been dealing with a really frustrating hamstring problem the last couple weeks. The massage helped it for less than a day. The worst thing about it is that it’s tight all the time. So my runs are awkward feeling, although not as awkward as walking. I’ve been back to my typical complaint of my foot not landing properly and all that. I wouldn’t call it a limp. It’s just awkward and wrong.

The other day I realized that there were times during the day where it was perfectly fine. Then like a switch, everything would get tight again. That was the clue I needed. I’ve been treating this thing as if it was inflammation or a muscular issue. That’s not the source of the problem. This is a nerve in my lower back being pinched. That causes my hamstring muscle to spasm. Hold that spasm long enough and of course the muscles will hurt.

So I went to the chiropractor today. It’s been awhile. I think this is only my 2^nd visit of the year. (that’s very few for me). On the walk over I was thinking that I should probably skip my run tonight and just swim. Well here it is a few hours after my adjustment and things are looking up. I’m walking normally again and now I can’t wait to run. I think because they’ve been so miserable the last couple weeks that I just want to feel that normal running stride again, just to know it’s there. I’ve got a brick tomorrow, so I’ll probably be smart and skip tonight’s run, it was the shortest run of the week, so not a big deal.

Sunday I’ll be going down to the Jersey Shore to watch Jim and his gang run the NJ Marathon. I’m not at all familiar with the area, so being a spectator will be an adventure. I’ve looked at the course map and realistically seeing them at 3 points on the course is probably as well as I’m going to do.

A follow up on my swimming: I had a few miserable swims. My coach was planning on using bands around my ankles to keep my feet from getting out of control at the next lesson. Well, I got to the next lesson and I had already fixed most of that problem. Actually a ton of stuff has improved and I'm in a good place... for now. Maybe it will stick around for awhile this time....maybe.