Welcome to Week Two, in which a mystery is solved and miracles happen. My advice to new runners now starts with this: Find someone knowledgeable to evaluate your form.
During last Saturday’s long run, I noticed a pain developing in my groin area, specifically the iliopsoas muscle. I’ve had inklings of some pain there before, but in the past I haven’t run long enough for it to get more than annoying. This time, as I entered my third mile, it was definitely what runners like to call “bad pain”: a sharp pain affecting my gait, and growing worse as the run progressed. I felt it every time I tried to bring my right leg forward for another step. Fortunately a good application of ice when I got home and the following night’s sleep took the pain away again, but I was worried about what would happen when I attempted the rest of the week’s runs — much less the 26.2 miles awaiting me in October!
My coach suggested the pain was from overstriding, which surprised me. I didn’t think I took huge steps forward, and I wasn’t trying that hard to be fast. But I started experimenting, taking shorter, more frequent steps, landing with the midfoot and pressing down directly into the pavement to gain forward momentum. This required me to bring my right leg forward earlier in the stride. The pain, as she predicted, went away! The image I learned to hold in my mind was one of my legs as pistons driving into the pavement, rather than gliding along it. (I wonder, in retrospect, if it was the treadmill that gave me that bad habit.)
The surprise came after just a mile of running with the new technique — muscle fatigue in new places! Apparently taking the stress off of my iliopsoas muscle gave my glutes and quads some additional work to do. Not a bad thing. I feel much stronger and surer, in fact. And I’m certainly going to need all that additional power to get through the marathon.
For speed training and to ensure that those additional leg muscles are getting sufficient attention, I’ve decided to take a weekly class at Nth Degree Fitness in Royal Oak instead of one of my short weekday runs. They offer a small studio-type workout, alternating between sets of exercises with free weights and short but intense intervals on the treadmill. I’m honestly not that great at pushing myself, so it helps to have their instructors setting my goals!