Hip Update - One Week Later

Today marks one week since my last run. I've been resting in the hope that my hip will allow me to start running again this week. I visited with my running club yesterday, partly to pick up my new shirt, and partly to talk to Coach about what the issue may be.

First off, this year's shirt is pretty cool. Now that Coach Sumner is no longer involved in the OC Marathon, he can go back to using New Balance equipment (instead of Avia):

Much nicer than the silly white one with the blue block letters that we wore last year. Hopefully this one will wear a little longer too. My shirt from last year looks pretty ragged with snags all over the place.

Oh yeah - the hip. I spoke to several folks yesterday. We discussed my symptoms:

• I can run fine with little discomfort and no pain


• Pain starts *after* my run is complete and I've had a chance to rest for a bit


• Pain is worst when trying to lift my leg (like lifting my knee toward my body)


• There is no clicking or catching sensation in my hip when running


• The pain seems to be in the groin and radiates into the upper thigh

The consensus seems to be either a strained groin (hip abductors, groin muscle, etc.) or a strained hip flexor. No one thinks that I have a labrum tear because there is no catching or clicking in the hip. Whew. Now for the bad news....

If I have a groin pull, I need to scale down the miles for the time being. No speed work, no hills. Definitely no marathon distances. It's this injury that often times is the death of a professional sports career. The only recovery is rest and strengthening/stretching , and even with that it could be a year or so until it is completely recovered. Coach thinks this is my problem. And, since he has over 30 years on the business and has seen it all, I certainly respect his opinion.

Beginning this week, I will scale back my miles and put the hard workouts to rest. I think the first thing I will do is an easy 2 to 3 miles on Monday with a rest on Tuesday. I'll see how I feel on Tuesday and take it from there.