Sorry to hear about it JD. I'm just recovering now from my sprained ankle and after 1 month off I've been approved to start running again.

A few words about a quad injury that I've learned from experience. When I was in high school I ran track and during a 200m race I pulled a muscle in my quad. It was a deep burning sensation that prevented me from finishing the race and limited the amount of running I could do for several weeks. There are two really nasty things that came from that injury.

1. The quad is a massive muscle and because of that it can take a fair amount of time to heal.

2. I don't know what I did wrong in my recovery (I followed the basic RICE formula for recovery) but I still have scar tissue and a visible dent in my quad when I flex it 7 years after the injury. I'm pain free but when I run up stairs or get the leg at certain angles I still feel that slight sensation again.

What kind of pain does it feel like? Is it sharp or burning? Has the pain gotten worse since you've cut back and eventually stopped running? Last did you get it while running hills or at high near sprint pace?

I ask these because depending on the extent and severity maybe a trip to the Doctor's office might be in order. Of course that is easy for a military member like myself to say.

One thing you could try to do while your leg is injured if it doesn't cause pain is walking pace workouts using incline and your HRM to keep some time and miles on your legs while recovering, of course I'd clear that with Dr. Pam first.

Good luck on the recovery and I bet you never thought you would be so disappointed in NOT being able to run. Talk about real progress towards life changes.

It's good to hear you at least got your HR up during the bike race and hopefully a bit more of that will prevent loosing all your aerobic base you had. I know for me it has been very frustrating getting back into running because after 4 weeks off I'd lost almost everything I'd worked up too. I hope this doesn't happen to you but it might limit the planned marathon and bike race. One may have to go.

I hope the Doctor appointment went well today, be sure to give us an update and I hope it is encouraging in at least knowing exactly what you are working through and how long a recovery process you will have.