Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Pain in the Butt and Boilermaker CLOSED!

After the half marathon, my left leg was a mess.  I could feel the knots in the calf, hamstring, quad and glutes.  The worst part was that my butt actually started to ache and I couldn't cross my legs without pain.  So I decided I needed to take care of this before it turned into a full blown injury.

I turned to yoga first and found some great poses that helped to open my hips and stretch my piriformis.

1. Pigeon pose - This one works wonders! Just doing this for a few minutes a day helped my leg to feel much better.  I usually started in downward dog and then lift one leg and swing it trough my arms to start this pose.

2. Lying piriformis stretch - Not only do I do this one in my yoga class but also at home because it is so easy to do while watching television. There are many variations, but I found this one worked the best for me.




3. Foam roller - I also turned to my foam roller to help work out all the knots I felt in my pirformis muscles, IT band and hamstring.  Since it was my left leg that needed the love, I put most of my weight onto my left butt check on the foam roller and rolled back and forth slowly.  I also placed my leg similar to the picture to get deeper into the muscle.



4. Piriformis chair stretch - Since I was having pain at work, I  found a way that I could stretch without getting weird looks from my co-workers.  All you have to do is cross one leg over the other with your ankle resting on the knee of the opposite leg.  This helped to open my hips and stretch my legs.



****

I found out some unfortunate news this morning - Registration to the BOILERMAKER 15k is CLOSED!  I have run this race for the last 6 years and although I have a wedding on the Friday before, I was still planning on running it!  I can't believe that 13,000 people already signed up to run it!  This totally stinks! I guess that is what I get for procrastinating.

Have a great Tuesday!

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

i wish i could just do yoga in the office.
all those stretches look soooo good to me. my quads are on fire afer my half!

justme said...

i love my foam roller and i need to be doing pigeon pose everyday.....

No Longer Using said...

J! Email the race director ASAP!! they love repeat runners and I bet if you tell the person that you have run this race for 6 years and it is one of your favorites and you were wondering if he could let you know if a spot opens up--- he might have one for you!!!!!!!!!! never hurts to ask, right?????? and it's more of a "local" race than a national race, right?

misszippy said...

Those are all great tricks for the butt pain! And I hate how fast races close these days!!

copy7t said...

The pigeon pose and the foam roller are my two great discoveries of the last few months. I credit them both with helping me get past my latest batch of ITBS.

Molly said...

I'm sorry you didn't get to register for the Boilermaker : ( I couldn't believe how fast it filled up!

Nicole said...

Glad you are working our leg pains out. Sorry the race closed. What a bummer.:(

Anonymous said...

I feel your pain! Let's stretch, ice, roll and stretch some more!

Anonymous said...

Ack- wish you made it in, I was looking forward to meeting you!

I was following their FB updates and they predicited a May 1 close out.

Jen @ Run for Anna said...

Thank you for all the stretching examples, as this is a problem area for me.

Amy said...

Pidgeon pose is AMAZING! I could just sit like a pidgeon for hours.

That's too bad about your race :(

Kim said...

How funny you posted that second pose! I was just doing that pose last night and telling a friend about it today. Are you feeling 100% better?

And what a bummer that your race sold out. That totally stinks. Do they have a waiting list?

Anonymous said...

Sorry about the Boilermaker! That's rough. I love half pigeon pose though.

Lisa from Lisa's Yarns said...

Oh that is a bummer about the Boilermaker being closed. :(

I love the laying piriformis stretch, that is def a favorite of mine. and then foam roller for my quads!

Christine said...

I love those stretches!! They work great for me. What a bummer about the race, I hope you will find another fun one :)

Lisa said...

I don't have a foam roller, but I use it every time I go to the gym. Thank goodness for it! Hope you're feeling a bit looser now!

Sorry to hear about the Boilermaker. I've heard it's a great race. They're filling up fast this year!

Allison said...

It seems like every well known race is selling out really fast this year. I'm sorry you didn't get into Boilermaker. Do they have any kind of transfer program?

Marlene said...

Oh no! That's too bad about Boilermaker!! It's crazy how fast races are selling out these days.

d.a.r. said...

I really really need to be better about stretching!! I am SO sore and really don't want to start inviting an injury.

Sarajane Herbert said...

Love, pigeon. Gotta be my favorite pose.