Feeling Torn

For the past 2 months or so, I've been running on Saturday mornings with 2 other people from my Karate school. At 7 am we head out for a perfect 4-mile loop, ending up at the coffee shop a block from the school. It's a great way to kick off Saturdays, and good incentive to get some out-of-the-classroom exercise.

The course is perfect, being flat crushed gravel for the first 2 miles, then rolling hills the last 2 miles. You get a nice warm-up while its flat, and just about the time you've caught your second wind you hit the hills.

2 weeks ago we ran the course backwards, hitting the hills first. Not withstanding the fact that I was still recovering from a nasty cold, it was a much tougher run, and all 3 of us needed to catch our breath at the halfway point. For the second half, we pretty much went from fast walking to occasional 50-yard sprints.

I hit one particular sprint pretty hard, and felt some funny muscle thing in my quads, like a group of muscle fiber I don't usually engage that way. Nothing painful, just new muscles being put to use. I was still sore after a week.

Friday while my daughter was sparring I decided to use the time to work on the Summer Goals program, which includes running our form 150 times outside of regular class between now and the end of August. I went through my Bo (staff) form and everything was fine until the last move, which involves a strike while going down on 1 knee.

I made it about 1/3 of the way to the floor when my right thigh lit up like it was on fire. Ouch!
G-Shaft commented from under her sparring helmet, "Knee problems?" I replied that it was my thighs, not my knees. For the remainder of the time, I simply avoided motions that aggravated my thighs.

Since that day, I researched the problem and concluded that I've got a level 1 quadricep strain. Since I have a week full of meetings keeping me away from Karate anyway, I'm resting and stretching, and will pick up a pair of compression wraps. Walking and gentle running don't hurt, I can bend my knees fully, but quad stretches are awfully tight at the moment.

Sudden explosive movement is what caused the problem, and what would aggravate it further; therefore I'll just run (gently) and attend core classes next week. No kickboxing aerobics, no sparring (except as a spectator.)

So to those of you who jog or run and are considering mixing in some sprints, take it easy! I went all-out, and my thighs are paying for that decision.