so about a week or two ago my ankles and the sides of my feet starting hurting while I am doing my cardio (treadmill). This isn't new for me it has happened in the past while jogging, but I got new shoes at the start of my challenge and all was fine until recently. It sort of feels like when you start running and your ankles and joints are really cold and tight and you need to warm up a bit first. But even when I am warm it still hurts! It does hurt less the longer I run, but its pretty bad the first 10 min or so. Anyway, do you think its just from the impact or my shoes or from lifting and carrying heavy weight around the gym?? Would inserts in my shoes help?? Anyone ever experience this??
Thanks for any feedback you have!! I am soooo close to the finish line that I worry all the time about an injury!
Not sure I can pinpoint the exact cause of your joint discomfort, but it could be the impact from extra weight. I did not start treadmill until weight was down and my legs were strenthened, after about 6 - 8 months. I did the Elliptical, it was a lot gentler on the joints. Also, I built into my cardio routine a warmup on the weight machines to get the leg muscles prepared. With very low weight loadings, I do 10 reps on the leg extension, seated leg curl, and calf extension machines. This seems to help the muscles stretch and joints get ready even more than the standard stretches. Good luck!
Jacium
Running is bad on your body in the end. Use low impact machines.
Travis,
I think you have a good point, but I would phrase it a little differently as "running can be bad for your body in the end". There are millions of people who can run with little or no bad effects. I think the difference is the types of surfaces being run on, and the force of the impact, which is directly related to the body weight, On the other hand, early humans spent much of their time running from predators, or trying to catch their meals, and it is a 100% natural activity. IMHO it is the highest form of cardio, and if I had my preference I would run outside on grass fields (but that's not an option for me in February!)