Pains and Gains!

I was to run six miles today, but I just did four.

One of the surest things when training to run the marathon (and especially if you have not run much before) is that you will get all kinds of pains. There could be one of two things - either the weakest muscle/tendon along the set of muscles hammered during the run would start paining or the joints pain.

Joints, especially knee pain can be for a lot of reasons - one, you may not be using the right pair of shoes/socks. Two, you may not be tying the shoe laces tight enough to prevent wobbling of your feet. Three, you are not using enough of your butt muscles ie. you are not landing flat on your feet on the ground and the lift-off may not get to use the butt muscles properly. Four, the quad muscles - on either side of your vertical muscles (hamstrings?) may not be strong enough - to balance the pull from the main set of muscles used in running.

Well.. there could be more... but this is what I got to know from the coaches today. I started having shooting pains in the knee and after a mile, when I took a water-stop, it just started to be a constant pain around the joints and I had to stop running after 3 miles. I walked back a mile and consulted the coaches. For me, two and four seem the probable causes of pain.

And if you are asking what the gain is - I am working and strengthening some muscles in my body that I never would have cared about otherwise. I just need to tie my shoe laces properly and start exercising the lateral quad muscles by cycling for 30 mins on the days when I do not run.