What are your aches and niggles

As a new runner I dont know what to expect niggles wise. I am currently running C25k and on Wk3. My knees ache, especially at the start on the inside of the knee where the cartlidge is.

My question is what do other people have as niggles and do they continue to run or stop or what? My wife says if running was easy everyone would run everywhere, but they dont they get the car or bus or train. She says I need to run through it.

To confirm once the run is over I dont feel the pain/ache hardly at all.

So what are your niggles and what do you do to help yourself?

JJ

I'm impressed by your awareness of the possibilities of injuries. 

As a long time runner myself, I tend to the side of caution. If in doubt don't go out.

But that's easy for me since if i get a niggle I know more or less what it is, how I got it and how to sort it out.

New runners; posting on site, quite often get an injury and are genuinely puzzled by the pain and disablement. At which stage I realise that they have never been injured running before. Its something beyond their experience.

Its why we have coaches. To avoid the mistakes that lead to injuries. 

But that doesn't stop everyone. They'll keep going despite injuries because they are determined and very ambitious. The injury will stop them eventually. Sometimes permanently.

Like most other runners I suffer from tightness in my glutes, hamstrings and calf muscles.  I have a regular session with an osteopath every 4-6 weeks to keep on top of everything and is more a prevention thing to catch niggles before they develop.

I did have a problem with my ITB which I tried to run off about a year ago but it got the better of me and I was off running for 2-3 weeks, I now go to the same osteopath every time who treated me back then.

John, a bit more info -

are you overweight? 

how is the rest of your body feeling with the increase in exercise?

have you ever injured that knee before?

Mostly cartilage injuries don't just clear up on their own, and running on it can make it worse.  Alternatively, it could just be that your leg muscles are generally weak and you are stressing your knees as a consequence.  You may need to do some specific leg-strengthening work in parallel with your running.

You need to be aware (if you already are feel free to ignore me) that your muscles will adapt much faster than your tendons, ligaments and bones.  This is why it's important not to scale up distance / pace too quickly - give your body time to make the adaptations.  I had to learn this the hard way after ignoring pain 

If it is just a 'niggle' a bit of ice a couple of times a day can help quite a lot.

Hi Louise, some good points.

I am overweight being 13st 12lbs and only being 5 foot 5. Some would say i am obese lol.

I have had a cartilage operation on my right knee when I was about 20 years old (some 23 years ago), my left knee i hurt around June last year. The niggle is definately from the inner cartilage area.

My leg muscles will be weak after twenty years of limit exercise.

Maybe some knee supports and not rushing will be the ticket.

Thanks for the advice, you make sense to me, I assume you are in the medical, phsyio etc profession or is it info you have simply picked up as you have gone along?

As for the rest of my body it feels great no problems at all, the shins are now ok from initial runs but my insteps can ache a little when running but that is improving also.

John not in the medical profession, just a veteran of injuries  and a compulsion to research whatever medics plan to do to me.  I wish older me could go through a time warp and tell younger me not to be an idiot!

Good luck with your programme

now your showing off colin hehehe this is suppose to be the beginners section not the Olympic section

my instep on my right foot aches  - but on the left foot

i am not sure if this down to being new to running and its getting used to the pressure of running or if i injured on a longer run and not let it recover and should let it rest

its not painful to walk on but i am aware it aches, then it aches more after a run then a rest day it improves 

i got new shoes today  - all fitted and gait assessed etc, so maybe this will help

As someone who has been cycling for 25 years or so, I started trail running a few months ago due to the lack of decent mountain biking where I live, and the ease of being able to run from my fornt door at the drop of a hat. 

The most consistent "niggle" I've had has been with my calf muscles, but I expected that as running uses these muscles in a different way to cycling. It was led to some down time, but most of the time I manage to push through it and with the exception of the time I did actually strain my left calf, they rarely give me trouble away from running.

I currently have a slightly sprained ankle, picked up while running in the snow and ice last week. This one I am not sure about as it's not an injury I have really had before. I tried running yesterday but got 500m before the pain suggested I need more time. It's annoying as I wanted to try out my new Innov8 Roclite 295s