Hello! How are you? Today was a long run day for me so I got up nice and early to get ready. Getting ready for a long run is a longer process than getting ready for a usual day of work or school. It involves the bathroom, two different drinks, food, sunblock, making sure my phone has a good podcast or book, grabbing fuel for the run and updating instagram. It’s all part of my creative process.
This morning I was sipping iced coffee and Mango Strawberry Spark.
Vegas likes to sit and watch/judge me sometimes. This ensures that I am always self-conscious and paranoid that everything I do is awkward. Thanks cat.
I ran 20 miles. I’m hoping to run the Long Beach Marathon (full), but I don’t feel like I am fully ready (ha! full… fully ready). I already stepped down in distance when I went to the Suncadia race in Washington and I think a full would be good mental training for Revel City too!
This run was the longest I’ve done with this running watch!
I used to be a lot better about keeping up with my long runs. This is the bad part about not really using a specific training plan AND being a Type C personality aaaand kind of being a slacker.
But around mile something (I have no idea when now) I saw a girl with a shirt that said “Fight For It”. That really motivated me! I kept thinking that when it got tough – FIGHT FOR IT.
You have to fight for it in running. There are no shortcuts or tips or teammates you can depend on to get to the finish line. It’s just you out there on race day. You have to fight off the voices in your head saying “I’m so tired. I need to stop”… “I can’t do this”… “I want to quit”…
It was a good training run, but I had a random pain that I wanted to talk about…
Toward the end of my run I got a tight pain in my groin area. It was high enough on my thigh that it almost felt like it was in my ‘bathing suit area’. It took me a minute to really pay attention to it and assess what was going on. I am pretty sure it is pelvic and/or groin tightness and coming from my muscles (not a female issue). I stretched it when I got back and it’s fine now.
But that reminded me that a reader emailed a question on this recently. At the time I didn’t know exactly what she was talking about. But now I think I get it.
Hey Monica!!! I just ran my first race (10 miles!) last Friday. I have fitted shoes from a running store and am in decent health. I’m 27 and haven’t had any issues… I use a foam roller and work on getting enough carbs and protein in my diet.
I’m starting to train for a half marathon (it’s my first week) and I’ve noticed I have pelvic pain often during or after running.. almost like a soreness into the next day. I’ve read online that this can be pretty common, but I’m looking to see what I can be doing to make it better or go away… I’m running 3x a week, 2 days light, 1 day long. I definitely don’t want to give up running, especially since it’s been so crucial in my personal and professional life lately helping me stay focused and to clear my head.
Do you have any suggestions of what I could be doing differently? I run on roads, I’m hoping it’s something simple I can do like a stretching routine or vitamin. I would be devastated if this stopped me from running.
I think this is probably a muscle tightness or imbalance issue and can be helped with stretching, strengthening that area and massage. It’s a hard area to get to so going to a sports massage specialist, physical therapist or active release specialist is probably needed.
Here are some resources on pelvic pain in runners I found useful:
Sport Injury on Female Runner Pelvic Pain
Treating Hip Misalignment via Active
Osteitis pubis – definition of inflammation of the public bone causing pain and tightness.
If you suspect it’s from tightness I would suggest doing a hip opening yoga series regularly as part of your running program.
Yoga with Adriene Hip Openers is a good option
*P.S.- The Revel City Half / Full Marathon Race is only 54 days away! If you are interested sign up before prices go up. And it will commit you to a race so you are training and focused! You get $5 off when you sign up with that link (on Team RER) and another $5 discount when you like their FB page.*
I ran 12 today. My glutes are sore but the groin is ok.
I used to have major groin issues from dancing. My IT bands were really tight as well as my iliopsoas. Both are hard to get to and stretch. I used a tennis ball a lot but it hurts like all heck.
Also make sure your hamstring and quad muscles are balanced.
Omega 3 supplements could help maybe but that’s just my random blathering.
Yes to the pelvic/groin pain! I finally saw an orthopedic surgeon because the pain became so annoying…it basically presents as a burning sensation in the groin when I run over about 10-12 miles, and sticks around afterwards usually until the next day. I have described the achiness afterwards as feeling like I’ve been kicked in the crotch with a steel-toed boot ( though thankfully this has never happened to me for real!). Anyhow, my diagnosis was “arthritic/degenerative changes to the pubic symphysis” which probably started as a result of my two pregnancies and has been exacerbated by the repetitive stress of distance running. For now, I’m still running marathons with the help of ice and ibuprofen, but I know if I want to continue, I’ll have to really get more aggressive about strengthening the surrounding muscles…