When we practice being an athlete, now and then we begin to feel pain. Sometimes it is difficult knowing whether you have a discomfort or injury.There is a difference. Discomfort occurs when you go up a long hill. Injury is when there is trauma to tissue or bone.

Symmetrical soreness, i.e. both quads talking to you, is a sign you did too much and the body was not quite ready for what you asked it to do. This happens when we do something new and the next day our body tells us that it is time to back off for a while.
Give it a few days of rest, complete layoff or easier runs or walks, and everything normally becomes fine.

When you have that one ankle, hip, knee, and etc. complaining, it may be time to be more concerned or seek medical advice. If just one side of your body (asymmetrical) has soreness, pay attention. This may be a sign that an injury of a more serious nature has occurred.

If you are hurting, be cautious. Do not try to run through these injuries. Ignoring a problem is not the best course of action. Run or walk under them instead. By going under an injury I mean doing something that does not aggravate the problem. If 20 minutes is too long, go only 10. If hills make it sore, stay on level ground. If speed seems to cause a problem, slow down or walk. Whatever, find out what you can do that does not cause additional pain. It may be riding a bicycle, or being in a pool. These are some ways to reduce the stress.

It is much preferred to be under trained, but feeling good, rather than having gotten in every recommended workout but having the concern that your next step will be the last one for a while because of fear of injury.

One might classify things into four stages of injury. This was published a number of years ago in Runner’s World magazine. Keep in mind that asymmetrical soreness is of more concern that symmetrical pain. One is possibly an actual injury and the other is likely soreness resulting from overuse.

Stage 1 The soreness diminishes or disappears as the workout continues.
Treatment: Make sure that you warm up well.

Stage 2 The soreness remains the same or gets worse as the run continues.
Treatment: Run under, not through the pain. Find out what seems to aggravate the situation and avoid that. Examples, a five-mile run hurts but three miles is OK. It hurts going up hills but is OK on the level. It hurts when doing speed work but is OK when you run slower.

Stage 3 You favor the injury. Not! If you lean to the left to take stress off of the sore right knee, guess what? Your left ankle or left hip will begin talking to you soon enough.
Treatment: Stick with an activity that does not cause favoring. Examples are walking, pool workouts, or cycling.

Stage 4 The tissue is ruptured. You cannot function. You will know this.
Treatment: Surgery or something else that is rather dramatic.

If something is bothering you, seek to downgrade it to a lower level. Use common sense. It is easy to train hard. It is hard to train smart.

If you have something that lingers, think of the acronym RICE.
• R Rest, or cutting back.
• I Ice, cold treatments can be very helpful. We have an outstanding product called a Wet
• Ice Pack at the store. It provides relief, holds ice, is convenient, and is extremely effective.
• C Compression, a wrap, especially after the injury first happens, can reduce the down time.
• E Elevation, this can be helpful also.

Aspiring or ibuprofen can be helpful if you do not have any adverse reactions to them. I remember a doctor telling me that he recommended 2 200 mg tablets 3 times per day for a week. You need to take a pretty good dosage, but a week is long enough. You don’t want to become addicted or too dependent on the stuff.