My hamstring took me on a frustrating roller coaster ride this week, from feeling fantastic on Sunday to feeling f*cked on Wednesday. I dialed everything way back and fought hard to retain a shred of hope.
A Frustrating Start To February
After my hamstring flared up, I bounced from committing to doing (almost) nothing until it stopped aching, to accepting pain as a fact of life and just running anyway—don’t worry that didn’t last long. I am adjusting to my current reality, with cycling being the activity that gets my heart rate up rather than running. Between keeping my pace easy and my intervals short, I barely break a sweat on the tread.
Before I get to February, I have to give myself a pat on the back for completing all the workouts in the Jacked January challenge.
The upside down snowmen mark classes I swapped out to accommodate my hamstring—I chose the same type of class with the same instructor to keep it legitimate.
I also rolled through my 2500th Peloton strength class without realizing it!
I think the next badge is 3000?
At some point they run out.
Sunday: I did Rebecca’s core and hip mobility classes before church, and got home just in time to change clothes and hop on my bike for Hannah F’s live ride. I ended the day with my 700th strength class—my favorite one with CDE.
Monday: After walking Scooby and doing a core and upper body workout at home, I drove to my office for 2.5 miles of 2:1 run/walk intervals. It felt OK, but in retrospect this is the “run” I shouldn’t have done (sorry, folks, sometimes you do regret a workout). In all honesty, my hamstring felt “puffy” before I headed out and probably needed more recovery from Sunday’s ride.
The Kennedy Center
Tuesday: I did my strength workout at home, and then took Robin’s P!nk ride at my office gym. I had pre-screened Logan’s class and modified/swapped out the moves my hamstring doesn’t like.
Wednesday: I ended January with a whimper. I didn’t think I pushed myself in Robin’s ride on Tuesday, but maybe it was too much on top of Monday’s run.
Thursday: My hamstring was still cranky, so I did an upper body stack and then hopped on my elliptical for a 20 min “run”. Trying to find the bright side, I am getting to take the shorter tread classes I never took before ….
That photo is from one of my first races ever.
Friday: Another easy day, even avoiding weights. I really love Olivia’s bodyweight strength classes even though there aren’t that many. I needed a mood boost so I decided to brave a class with Kendall for her pop punk playlist. Doing it on my IC4 bike makes it easier to modify since the resistance numbers are different anyway.
Saturday: My hamstring was pretty quiet on my walk with Scooby, so I let myself take the walk + run class I originally was going to take on Wednesday. I had pre-screened the plan and knew it maxed out at 2:2 intervals. My hamstring seemed to tolerate it well during the run—I’ll let you know if it flared up later.
As frustrating as February started out this year, at least I’m not starting it with covid like I did last year!
A huge thank you to Deborah and Kim for hosting the Weekly Run Down link up.
Is your February off to a better start than mine?
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Ugh. I hate to read that your hamstring is still bothering you.
I get what you’re feeling. Running makes you happy and you wonder if pain is just going to always be there. So you decide to tolerate it.
When I got my neuroma and stopped running, got all the fixes and it still hurt, I decided to just run with pain. Because was then there and tolerable. It eventually went away ignoring it.
But I hope yours does heal and it’s part of your past.
Congrats on your workouts.
Thanks, Darlene, that’s exactly the thought process!
I’m so sorry your hamstring continues to frustrate you. It’s a tough injury for sure. Congrats on a successful Jacked January and completing 2500 strength workouts. Wow!
It’s frustrating for sure, but there’s still a glimmer of hope. 😉
Ugh! That is so, so frustrating. That upper hamstring area can be so stubborn. I wish I had amazing advice that would fix the whole problem. The only thing I can say is, remember that you have a 100% success rate in recovering from injuries. You WILL recover from this one as well!
Nice job on keeping up the fitness- it’s lucky we have options, right? Good luck with it this week.
Thanks, Jenny, sometime I wonder!
I am so sorry about your hamstring. It seems like you have tried so many things and it is still having trouble. I know that is so frustrating. That’s awesome that you hit all of your workouts for January though! You have completed a ton of strength classes!! I really enjoy the walk/ run classes on Peloton and like including them in my week! Keeps me from pushing too hard it seems. I always seem to have issues with my glutes and left quad!
Hoping your upcoming week is less frustrating!
Bummer on the continued hamstring distress. You are doing a good job being mindful of it, though, and modifying your workouts as such. Hang in there… hopefully things will mellow out & get back to (somewhat) normal.
Oh my, this hamstring is worse than my Lady Achilles was! I’m so sorry, Coco. It must be so frustrating.
Can you do strengthening exercises like glute bridges or does that aggravate the hamstring even more?
How about if you take the rest of February off from running to give the hamstring a rest? I know that’s the last thing you want to hear, but perhaps a complete rest is the only thing that will help.
I’m doing the easiest of my PT exercises, including bridges.
I made it 4 days without running ….
I am sorry to hear that your hamstring is still bothering you. I really had to lay off lower body strength and running and really anything hamstring related for a few weeks to let mine heal. As hard as that is to do, sometimes we just have to take more time to let our bodies heal
I echo what everyone else is saying–I know how badly you want to run but…maybe you really need to lay off anything that involves the hamstring for a while? Hang in there Coco, better days are ahead!
Ugh I’m so sorry about the hamstring. I feel you – I have been having issues with my hip adductor and made the mistake of doing 5 miles on it Saturday after taking a week off. I’m paying today and definitely need (at least) another week off if it. When will it end?! I’m dying to get back outside and run too.
Gees. So frustrating! I am sorry to read this and am hopeful you can cure this hamstring issue once and for all. 🙁
I hope February continues to improve. It’s so hard being injured and to not see much progress.
Keep up with the patience, and good things will come for sure.