Two things learned tonight. First, I have a strained quad muscle and should have rested another couple of days. Second, I am getting stronger even with a bum leg. My leg felt fine this morning and seeing all these posts about people doing awesome runs has made it hard to sit it out the last couple of days. So when I woke up and everything was good I figured I needed to get at it again. I originally planned on doing something like 5 miles. Turns out I should have planned on doing 3. At the 2.5 mile mark I didn't want to turn around so I just kept pushing. The leg felt fine so I didn't think anything of it. At the 3.5 mile mark the leg was sore and I was now an extra mile away from where I started. It was slow coming back. When I got back I looked up the symptoms to my pain. A couple sports medicine web sites all say the same thing: strained quad. Turns out you should follow standard protocol to treat this, i.e. RICE, but you should also come back very slowly to make sure it isn't still hurt. I should have looked it up before attempting to run 7 miles today. On the plus side, this run was up Farmington Canyon right in the heat of the day. I know that doesn't sound like a plus, but the route as well as the conditions made me realize something: I am getting stronger. 6 month ago I tried to run this and it was everything I had just to get to the firebreak road from the pond. Today that section of the run didn't seem bad at all. Not once did I consider stopping, even in the 80 degree heat. In fact, the only real slow part of this run was the last 1/4 mile of black top before it turns to dirt. I think that is the steepest part of that whole road. Once I hit dirt the grade seemed to decrease a bit and the running was a touch easier. I think I'm going to run all the way to francis peak when my leg heals, which is something I hadn't thought I could accomplish. The breeze down the canyon was nice too, helped with the temperature. However, even before I got high enough for the breeze to kick in the heat didn't seem that daunting. I did drink 3 liters of water this morning before going so maybe that's why. At any rate, I'm now out again for 72 hours - the website recommended amount of time to rest. And following that I guess I will be running flat and short for a week or so to make sure there is no injury. Bummer. Better than not running I guess. | 