Moving forward...

Moving forward...or at least trying my hardest.

Thursday I did the "run for the hungry 10K"...and was wondering how my poor hip flexor may fare as it has been a bit cranky as of late. I stretched it, used cold and hot on it and stretched it some more but come Friday it was still unhappy. Since this is such a sudden onset of pain with no increase in training I have been a bit baffled. So on Friday I called a place to see if I could get a sports massage and maybe further determine the cause of what is going on.

I meet the woman who will be giving me a massage and tell her my tale of woe...she sorta half laughs at me and then says to me sort of airily: "So...tell me about what else is going on in your life. Have you had any life changes lately??".

Err...me...life changes...nooooo...none here. New Job, New City, New type of living situation, New decade in life...noooo...me...no life changes here....nothing major at all. ahem

She replies: "I don't think your hip pain has anything to do with your training."

This is me in my head: whatchatalkingabout Willis?

She goes on: "While life changes can be good...sometimes while our head is ok with a new change our body fights the new change"

Me (in my head): What lady?

She continues: " And when you fight the new change, most of the time you will hold it in your hips"

Me: Errr?

Her: "So really what is going on is that your body is not embracing and moving forward with your life. It doesn't mean that what is going on isn't something positive, it is just that change sometimes causes us to react in different ways and this is one way your body is reacting. Many times a person's body will fight a new change, because it is new and our way of 'protecting' ourselves. "

OK...so she got a little too philosophical for me about how I am not 'moving forward intact'...and then tried to say that most hip injuries have little to do with training (i'd like to run that one by a PT first) but I found her take on things very different and sometimes I find I need a different perspective and see things in a different light.Her comments were a bit too airy fairy at times, but she did have some good points on some things.

Either way you slice it, I think I'm going to stop running this week and instead do a lot of yoga, try out some pilates reformer, give biking/spinning a chance and swim a bit and see what happens. I will probably start to investigate some more 'western' takes on what may be causing this problem (most likely IT bands that have gone crazy once again) and see if I can't sort myself out.

Or maybe in the meantime I will be able to convince my body to connect back with my brain...whatever that means.