Holy Semimembranosus Sartorius Gracilis!!!!

You are probably thinking, WTF kind of language is Jon blabbering on about now?

Leg muscles!

A little secret, the "I" word has leaked out, yet again.....injury, how I hate thee!

Bummer.....

And its totally ALL my fault. Swallowing my pride here. Eating a slice of humble pie. Checking my ego at the door. So here goes.

See, even though two weeks out from your first Ironman you think you are fully recovered, guess what? YOU ARE NOT!!!!

Your legs might feel totally fine and you belt out a 9.22 miler @ an 8:08 pace, your fastest run like this in months, but guess what? THEY AREN'T!!!!!

And what happens? You go crawling back to your PT, head hung in shame with the PT shaking her head. You can hear her thoughts, "WTF did this dumbass do now? I just saw him last week and should not be seeing him until November!" (true story!)

Well that nine miler last Saturday did some damage. I ran too hard. I wasn't ready yet! I didn't listen to my coach. He prescribed 75 minutes EASY. Yes. EASY! Why can't I listen? I don't know HOW my ego fit through my front door after that run. *stupid* *stupid*

I ran Monday easy, Tuesday at the track fast, and Wednesday morning for only 26 minutes. I had to stop during the run because it hurt too much. Punishment enough? I don't think so. After a stretch and foam roll, the knee was fine after Monday and Tuesday's runs. Wednesday morning's run pushed me over the edge.

Long story short, the interior of my knee hurts while running. There are three muscles (and probably more)  that attach there, the Semimembranosus (a hamstring muscle):

rear view - (source)

The Sartorius (connects from your hip down, wraps around the quads and connects to your interior knee):

front view - (source)

And finally the Gracilis (helps with the adductors and is the inside most muscle of the upper leg).

rear view - (source)

Basically these muscles allow you to cross your leg. How did I strain them so much that they are yanking on their connection points in the interior of the knee? Who knows. Probably at Lake Placid! Or I have a muscle imbalance. Regardless, they need to be stretched out (which isn't so easy for these muscles)  and strengthened, so a lot of hip flexor and adductor stretches will be done.

But most importantly, I have a WONDERFUL PT who has gotten me through every injury I have sustained, so much so that I successfully trained and raced through a much more painful knee injury 18 months ago.

Soooooooo, now I have homework. I have two new stretches: Hip Flexor and Adductor.

this is not me! - (source)

still not me - (source)

I also have three strengthening exercises via the resistance band.

• Hip Adduction
• Seated Hip Flexion 
• Hip Extension

Huge thank you to SportsInjuryClinic.net for the images and video of the stretches, muscles, strengthening exercises, and knowledge.

Btw, I find all of this fascinating! So cool to learn how each muscle is connected and what they do. Makes me wanna learn anatomy finally.

At least step #1 is over with: Admit that you are injured.

I just wrote up my goals post leading up the NYC Marathon. An injured ankle and back spasm knocked me out of that race last year. I have a score to settle with the Marathon. Sorry Injury, but I am fighting back! BRING IT!!!