Tuesday I had a follow-up appointment with the sports doc about my hip injury.

He asked how I did in the 10k and if I was happy with my time (yes!). He also asked if I was hurting afterwards (yes!). He was glad that I had taken the four weeks off and asked about my latest running. I told him that it was going optimistically well, and sometimes my hip would hurt when I first start running but would go away. He said that was a good thing, and it just meant I was tight, not injured. He asked if I had gotten new shoes (he wasn’t crazy about me going all minimalist from the start) and how I felt in those. Then he ran through a few leg movements and checked my leg length. He said it sounded like I was doing good, that my hip flexors still seemed a little tight, and he sent in the nurse to go through some exercises with me.

The first one she showed me is a hip flexor stretch that I can add to the other ones I (should) do. She said to do it on a daily basis and on days when I run, do it after I run. She said to add to the stretch, I can raise one arm (on the opposite side of the bended leg) and twist at the waist.

Next she showed me a strengthening exercise for the gluteus medius, which she said can get weak when you sit at a desk all day. It works to stabilize the hips, so it’s important to keep it strong when you run. She said to do this every other day for 90 seconds at a time.

I also asked the doctor when I could expect to have my endurance back since I took four weeks off. He said that I was in pretty good shape, so I should probably be back to where I was within a month. That’s good news, since my main goal for the Fremont 5k is for it to be the first 5k I run without walking!