I haven't been running due to an injury. More humbling than the injury is the exercises my PT has me doing. I thought of myself as having pretty strong legs. I could, and did, run a half marathon every week. I hiked up a mountain in 0° F through two feet of unpacked snow, and while slow, I still crushed it. But put a rubber band around my ankles, have me squat, and then take small side steps and I'm a puddle of goo in fifteen feet. And that's basically the issue that caused my injury: the muscles that weren't really strong were really weak. I can still feel the strain in my hamstring, so I'm not going to try running until my follow-up appointment next week. No sense in pushing it and exacerbating an issue. I'm in this for the long haul. To that end, I'll have my first DNS on Saturday. My October full marathon is probably also out. It's disappointing but necessary. I'm able to walk and hike, and I've been doing more Ice Age Trail segments. I'm up to 361 miles complete of the 1140 mile trail.
It's very true! And I'm learning about better maintaining the ones I knew I had. My flexibility is too low, too. The strong muscles are also too tight.
It sucks for now, but as you continue to rehab you will be stronger and better than ever. The next races and training regiment will be that much better.
I agree. In a way I'm optimistic that I can come out of this with more satisfying results. It'll take some rebuilding and adoption of new workouts, but if I want to run 120 miles every month, that's what it'll take. Remember the conversation we had a couple months back about how everyone posts amazing summit views but nobody posts the super sketchy ledge or swampy trail, and viewers can be lulled into thinking it's safe and easy? I think I fell into that trap with running. I did a few different workouts but didn't do everything I should. Running 15 miles makes for a nice social media post (or even just a private data point). The same isn't true of groaning over a rubber band or stretching with a strap. It's boring, so people don't really talk about it and in the same way, I never sought it out. I'm doing four rubber band things, three stretches with a strap, calf stretches, and foam rolling. My legs are way too tight. I'll write it out as a separate post if you or anyone else would find it useful.
I posted a description of what I do here: Let me know what isn't clear! I had the advantage of a professional demonstrating, so I'm sure my descriptions could be improved.