Hamstring Strain from Running

Uffda! This summer is going by way too fast and fitting in blog posts has been tricky, but I definitely need to get something out there about the injuries I’ve been having because I know I’ve mentioned it sporadically but haven’t explained what has been going on. This has been the case mostly because the pain will migrate on each run and from one run to the next. Sometimes I will have pain on my hip (bursitis), sometimes it will be in my glute, and most recently my hamstring has bothered me the most–especially with anything fast!

I’ve had a lot of inconsistent training over the last 9 months. I hate it. Absolutely hate it! The only thing that makes me feel better is that it hasn’t been because I haven’t wanted to train, have been lazy, or I came up with excuses–everything has been out of my control.

This hamstring strain injury really started last July 2017 after the Her Tern Half Marathon that I ran with my sister. I referenced it first in this post, and like I said there, I did a poor job of recovering. After the race, we went on a hike, and I carried Cullen in the backpack on the way up the mountain, and the rest of the week, I spent sleeping on the ground in a tent. I know I did not get good quality sleep, and my diet wasn’t what it usually is.

I had some ART (active release technique) done on it last summer, and it pretty much worked itself out after a couple of weeks. However, then I ran the Skinny Raven Half Marathon in August and reinjured it a little there as well. Everything felt good once the Twin Cities Marathon came around in October, and it didn’t bother me afterwards, but it took me 3 months to recover and feel better after that race due to just feeling sluggish for many, many weeks.

I usually plan on a month-long recovery, but I was really struggling in October, November, and December 2017. I didn’t help that it was winter when I started to jump back into training, and as you know, I despise winter running, and it takes even more motivation to get out there and run. During these months I tried to run a lot, tried to do faster stuff on the treadmill, but most days I struggled to feel good.

Then, finally in January I started to hit my stride again, and in February I put in a few weeks at 50/60 miles. However, at the end of February, we got dumped on with snow, and I was done plodding through the snow, so I had a couple lower-mileage weeks. In March, we went to Hawaii, which was so nice to have a break from the snow and cold weather. I put in a 40 mile week in Hawaii, and when we got back to Alaska, things were starting to melt and show signs of spring. I did a few track workouts and faster workouts on the treadmill, and I had a couple more 50 mile weeks at the beginning of April, so things were starting to look up. However, then when I went to race the Alaska Heart Run 5K in the middle of April, I injured my hamstring running fast. I had done several track workouts before this race including 200s, 400s, and a 5 x 1000 meter workout, as well as some tempo miles, but apparently my hamstring wasn’t okay with it because the following Wednesday I did a 6 x 800 meters with an athlete, and everything came crashing down after that.

My hamstring bothered me, my glute was incredibly tight, and after a while I developed bursitis on my hip. I saw a physical therapist, had some dry needling done, he gave me some exercises to do, and I rehabbed as best I could at home. I was feeling really good before the Twilight 12k but then after racing the 12K, my hamstring was even more upset.

This spring, I first saw a physical therapist (like I mentioned), and for the past couple months I was seeing a chiropractor who also does ART, which has helped, but it was taking a while to get better, so I decided to go and see a different physical therapist. I have seen her twice this week, and already I feel like I am making more progress than I have in the past month! During our first appointment, she took a look at my running gait to see where the broken link was. She mentioned I have a significant hip drop on my right side (which I knew), and with that has come all the injuries on my right side. Usually hip drop is a sign of weak glutes, but she mentioned that the muscles on my side–above my glute–are to blame for the hip drop. She gave me an exercise to do to teach that muscle to engage properly, a couple stretching exercises, and this last time she did some dry needling on everything. I sure hope she is onto something because I would love to get the root of the problem figured out and fixed for good!

My biggest piece of advice through this injury and all the other injuries I’ve had is to keep seeking help. There is someone out there that can help you–it is just a matter of finding the right person with the magic ticket. If you aren’t making progress, or the diagnosis doesn’t make sense, go see someone else. My 3 biggest injuries (low iron, torn hip labrum, and now this hamstring strain) have all resulted in seeing multiple people and professionals. Keep asking running friends for advice and who they see, listen to your gut, and don’t settle!

I hate periods of injury, but as with every other injury I’ve had, I’ll keep lacing up my shoes and trying to get better.