My left leg felt sorer and stiffer early this morning, but as I got into the day my hamstring/groin while still a bit stiff feels a bit better. It’s more like the pain and stiffness, while milder, is now more spread out along the upper hamstring. Does that mean the compression shorts are working? I’d imagine the support that’s eliminated painful movement certainly has.
I now have the pattern where everything is sorer and stiffer first thing in the morning, but as the day progresses it feels better. Not healed, obviously, but better. I can move more comfortably.
Yesterday after work I strength trained my back with rapid-fire sets of lat pulldowns and seated rows, then chased with a set of hanging leg raises. It didn’t feel too particularly different at the time, but on the hanging leg raises the first one produced a small back-adjustment-like crack near my tailbone. Did a disc right itself back into place? Could that have made a difference? I don’t know yet, but I do feel some improvement overall.
I then ran off 43 minutes on the elliptical, having got on at first thinking I’d only do 20 and call it good. But I felt reasonably good enough to do a full workout and felt decent afterward.
I have to run an errand during lunch, meaning I’m going to walk quite a bit less today since I won’t have a ~1.5 mile lunch walk. Let’s see if the extra rest helps day over day. Obviously, being out for lunch, I can get something different to eat as well.
I don’t want to draw any conclusions yet on how I’ll feel next week. I’ve had illnesses, injuries, issues where it hurts for 3-5 days, then subsequently progresses rapidly and within a couple more days feels suitably better. I’ve also had issues where it appears to be stable or improving, then degrades, aggravates, worsens out of nowhere and now I’ve got to take other remedial action.
One thing I know I want to improve is fluidity in my range of motion while running. My steps have gotten a bit too stiff and my affected muscles likely gave out over time from constant braking and other support that shouldn’t be necessary.
I’ve been leg-swinging every day at the gym and wherever convenient, and whenever I remember and can I’ve done the static kneeling ilipsoas stretch. I don’t yet feel I can drive my front leg with the hamstring/groin still recovering, and will probably only feel comfortable trying to run when I can. The dynamic and static stretches are the best I can do for now to help facilitate the improved range of motion.
That’s all for now.