How to Cure a Pain in the Butt

A literal pain, not your chatty neighbor or annoying co-worker :)

I was SO excited to get my new running shoes and get back to my Couck to 5k program this weekend. One of my 28 in 28 goals is to run a 5k in under 30 minutes, and I'm planning on that being the Race for the Cure in November. I have plenty of time but having to stop the 5k program definitely wasn't part of my plan. Not only do I need to build back up to running 3.1 miles without stopping, I need to work considerably on my speed, which is typically more in the 'jog' category than 'run.'

Saturday the husband and I set out on one of our long walks to break in my new kicks. For the past year or two, I've occasionally had this weird pain in my...butt...while walking and sometimes running. Mostly walking though. It is usually only on the right side, which is coincidentally the same side I've been having hip pain that caused me to stop running this time around. Saturday, the pain was on BOTH sides and it even continued off and on for the rest of the afternoon after we got back and I was walking around the house.

Of course I hopped on Google and tried to figure out what was going on. From what I've read, I think my piriformis is what is causing my pain in the butt (I'm showing as much restraint as possible with the butt jokes...). I don't have piriformis syndrome which I guess is when the piriformis muscle, a pretty small muscle to cause so many issues, puts pressure on your sciatic nerve and causes pain down your leg. My pain is really more like a deep muscle cramp and it's only in one spot.

The good news is, I don't think it's a major side-lining kind of thing. And, since I'm also pretty sure that my hip pain is a hip flexor issue, those two things are most likely related and all I need to do is take it easy and add some more hip stretches to my yoga routine. It just so happens that some of my favorite yoga poses are perfect for hip flexor and piriformis issues:

Pigeon Pose (Source)

Half Fish Pose (Source)

Happy Baby Pose (Source)

Saturday and Sunday I did a lot of walking and stretching and then went on my first run in at least a month yesterday. I could still feel stiffness in my hip/butt, but no cramping! When I stopped Couch to 5k a few weeks ago, I had just finished week 4. I decided to re-start on week 3 to ease back into it and the run felt really good. I came home and immediately stretched. I'm a little sore this morning, but nothing like the pain I was having before. Pain in the butt cured :)

Last night I also wanted to make an easy dinner, so we opted for pasta with meat sauce (just seasoned half a package of ground turkey and tossed it into Trader Joe's marinara - which is the BEST). Pasta can be pretty boring, I wrote a while back about a few ways we make pasta more interesting but another way is to buy fun shaped pasta. Not like Sponge Bob fun shaped pasta, although they do make that, this is what we tried this time:

How cute is that?

Also on the agenda last night, diving into a new book!

I'm trying to squeeze in some fun reading before I start grad school in the fall. I haven't read The Hunger Games yet, I'm waiting for my mom & sister to finish those and send them to me, so in the mean time I'd heard good things about the Divergent series. I was looking for something easy but interesting, and so far this is both. I devoured 6 or so chapters last night!

I hope you're having a great week!

If you do yoga, what is your favorite yoga pose?


Are you reading anything interesting right now?