Beginning on September 30 and continuing through November 4--the day before the marathon--I diligently devoted at least five minutes per day to my rehabilitation routine. I focused on hip bridges, as well as clamshells and leg raises to strengthen my glute muscles. I religiously stretched my piriformis and rolled out my IT band. I also scaled back running workouts and took more rest days until I was feeling better.
In practice, the hip bridge is a monster of a move, working your entire core, including the gluteus and abdominal muscles that help stabilize the surrounding muscles (read: hamstring) and the spine. It also provides a great hamstring stretch that you can feel running the length of the back of your upper thigh while you're in the elevated position.
Related: 8 Essential Strength Moves for Beginning Runners
By mid-October, the tightness in my right leg was gone and I was able to resume training as normal. In the past, this would have been the point when I'd revert to bad habits and let the "little extras" like strength training and stretching slide. But not this time. I was hell-bent on making it to the starting line of the marathon and I knew I had to maintain my routine. So, I built a few extra minutes into my daily schedule for foam rolling, stretches and glute exercises--especially the hip bridges. I also began adding in body weight exercises like squats and lunges to build overall leg strength.
By early November, I had logged a solid month of stretching and strengthening and was feeling pretty good, but we all know that race day can be full of surprises. As the morning of the marathon dawned, I woke up with a knot in my stomach made of equal parts excitement and dread. Did I do enough? Would I be able to finish?
I started at a conservative pace and to my surprise and relief I didn't feel any tightness or pain in my right leg as I progressed. All told, the race was a magical one and I finished strong, eking out a two-second negative split.
Now that the race is behind me, hip bridges are still part of my post-run routine. I used to wait until I was tight or injured put this move into practice, but thanks to my marathon training scare, I've learned the value of prehab.
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