better?

My coach called me last night and had a few ideas to try, so he asked me to walk 6K this morning. He suggested leaning forward from my ankles about 3-5 degrees (not forward from the waist though!) which should take a little stress off the hips.

Well, I left my Garmin at work this morning (went in early before walking/gym) and didn't realize it until I was at the gym. ARRRGH! So I just went by time. I only walked approximately 18 minutes, because I could feel my hip starting to tighten up a little bit and didn't want to risk anything. I just checked the distance on the map, and I did about 2 miles (3.2 km), so I guess it was closer to 20 min (but all I had was my analog watch so I really don't know exactly!) Even though it hurt a bit, it definitely did not hurt as much as yesterday, and I felt that what he told me to do did help. I think I could have done the whole 6K with relatively little pain, but I am a bit of a nervous Nellie right now and definitely afraid to do anything that might stress it more.

I walked on the sidewalk outside the gym. It's relatively flat but has a gentle uphill one way and a gentle downhill the other. One thing I noticed is that the uphill definitely hurt more than the downhill. I was almost pain-free going downhill. A clue, for what it's worth, I suppose.

***

Then I went inside and did 20 min on the elliptical and finished with a 2-min run on the treadmill at a 9:15/mile pace, nice and easy. Running actually hurts much less than racewalking, though it does hurt a little bit.

I finished up with core exercises with Lisa on the exercise ball, and some serious stretching.