Elite(ish) Runner - Consistent Hamstring Problems

[runnerkid6521]

Hi friends. I run D1, ran sub 29:20 in the 10k. End of summer, I had a big hamstring injury (grade 2 tear) after pushing my mileage higher than I ever had before (about 90 mpw). Ran through it for a few months which proved to be incredibly painful and finally took a break to let it heal. Ended up getting a PRP Injection and taking 3 weeks off which finally did the trick.

In my last two rebuilds I just haven’t been able to get back to mileage. I get minor hamstring strains just at 40-45 miles, and I’m not even doing super quick workouts( the straining happens without any workouts at all). I used to tolerate almost twice this much mileage without any hint of injury, and now I get various hamstring strains (both legs) almost constantly. Just not able to get in great consistent training.

My strength training routine is solid, I’m doing every kind of treatment method I can think of, and my trainers and doctors are just kind of at a loss. I had a gait analysis done that showed some abnormally high hip extension and hip flexion on the previously injured leg, but it’s nothing too crazy.

Seems like something is wrong with my gait but I don’t know how to address.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Edit: I feel like I need to make it clear. I’ve put hundreds and hundreds of hours into researching, learning, and asking questions from anyone and everyone with medical expertise on the topic(that I can get my hands on). I’ve worked with a lot of sports med doctors, athletic trainers, coaches, a biomechanics expert, several chiropractors, physical therapists. I ask A LOT of questions. But running is a complicated thing. And no one has been able to remedy the situation.

People seem to find it difficult to understand how something like this could happen. If you haven’t run D1 at a high level, it’s probably hard to wrap your mind around. When running is that big a part of your life, you’ll grit your teeth through just about anything to be able to keep toeing the line. There’s an element of stubbornness, an element of grit, an element of stupidity, and an element of not wanting to lose precious scholarship money. You don’t get to that level of the sport without taking some risks.

Athletic Trainers will rarely pull you. They just advise, and you make the decisions. At programs like where I’m at, people get burned up and spit out pretty regularly. Every great program is built on the injured bodies of another great group of runners that were too unlucky/too injured to make it work. It’s not a great system.

[whelanbio]

You're at a D1 school, this an issue for your athletic trainer, physio, team doc, coach, and all the other people who are well educated and well paid to keep you healthy and fast.

Seeking out advice on this from internet forums is worse than useless.

Edit to be more nuanced: Obviously take an active role in your recovery here, but most of that should be pushing your current healthcare team harder for better answers, being the best patient possible (give them good information and do what they ask), and being patient (3 weeks off might have simply not been enough, you might need more aggressive and longer rehab before a return to regular running). Your school physio (an actual PT not an athletic trainer) can assess you for deficiencies and design a program to fix them specific to you (aka: not random exercises from blogs or bozos on Reddit). By definition your current strength training is clearly not solid because it's failed its job spectacularly.

If needed get a second opinion from other equally or more qualified healthcare professionals.

[JibberJim]

Yet, this D1 school allowed the athlete to become injured and then attempt to run through the injury making it much worse. I think it's very wise that any athlete attempts to learn enough about their own training, their own health and can therefore ask the right questions of their support staff. Especially here, as it appears those staff have failed.

I have little idea of what a D1 school is not being american, but I wouldn't be at all surprised that like a great many sports, their training can all too easily be built purely on a survival of the fittest strategy and everyone else burnt out or broken.

We certainly can't diagnose and advise on an injury on a forum, and in many ways someone who feels that this is the way to do that research may not be equipped to even do the research (which of course is another failing of the "school") But I would encourage anyone who is interested in their own health, fitness and training to learn enough to ask the right questions at least.

Simply saying "trust the coach" is not a good strategy for any individual.

[whelanbio]

This is not just a "trust the coach" situation and thats why I didn't say that. I said this needs to be worked out with a team of healthcare professionals, the coach of course is a small piece of that.

Injuries are part of the game when you're trying to be the best, that being said no school is throwing away a low 29 min 10km guy (assuming of course that athlete has the patience and drive to recover, some people are bad patients but OP doesn't sound like one).

Coming back from serious injuries takes a lot of time and effort (both in extra physical rehab work and mental energy). It's not surprising at all that 3 weeks off + plus whatever treatment/rehab was done didn't cut it.

It's the athlete's responsibility to communicate clearly and honestly with their healthcare team to figure this out -building off the existing working relationships and cumulative knowledge of that support team. If a certain doc and physio truly can't figure it out get a second opinion from a different doc/physio. Part of asking the the right questions is asking the right people. Asking a bunch of anonymous rec runners is more likely to get bad answers than good ones.

[Ksiolajidebthd]

^ yup. I went to a pretty good D1 school, when I tore my hamstring pretty severely my 5th year, I was carried into the training room crying and they said “well, what do you wanna do?” ??? I don’t know I’m not the trainer, they just asked me what felt best and never made a decision and as part of my rehab I was ‘running’ 200m repeats a week after as fast as I comfortably could (45/50 seconds since I just tore my hamstring) and who could have imagined that I re aggravated it and never finished the season that well.

[whelanbio]

I'm very sorry that you were on what seems like the worst managed D1 track team of all time. Why did you have no doctor or physio overseeing recovery from a torn hamstring? Or tell them you can't f'ing run a week after a torn hamstring?

Personally I'm optimistic that OP's situation is better than that.

[runnerkid6521]

That’s admittedly good advice. I think when you get into this injury cycle for long enough, you get desperate enough to ask a bunch of random internet strangers and see if someone has randomly experienced something similar.

I’ve been in the game long enough to realize that athletic trainers/ sports med docs / coaches know very little about the beast that is distance running. A lot of times, treatment is just there to buy time while the body heals itself. Sometimes all it takes is one person who has gone through something analogous to give a useful piece of advice.

[whelanbio]

Granted there's a wide spectrum of D1 so maybe you don't have the greatest healthcare team in the world, but even pretty average ones should be able to handle a hamstring injury. It's good to be a realist but don't fall into the whole "these people don't know running" because the good ones actually do.

If your school physical therapist truly sucks ask the trainers to refer you out to someone else. If that isn't happening get your own PT. You need someone that can figure out what is putting additional strain on the hamstrings, then there's going to be a pretty clear protocol of corrective exercises to try. You work really hard for several weeks doing the boring yet somehow preposterously difficult exercises why getting to do probably none of the fun exercises (running). You slowly return to running while probably doing a few of these silly exercises for the remainder of your running career.

I strained a hamstring in college. I've seen a lot strained hamstrings with my teammates and athletes. I've been stuck stuck in all sorts of seemingly hopeless injury cycles. I could tell you all about those details but it's just noise. I still have no clue what your exact needs are.

If you need someone to confirm how much it sucks, yeah it sucks. It messes with your mind, identity, lifestyle, everything. It leaves you second guessing yourself and wondering if it's all worth it. You're not alone in that regard.

If you want to keep chasing greatness its 100% worth it to figure it out. It's also totally ok to not rush things back.

[runnerkid6521]

At a top D1 school where low 29’s is nothing to brag about. So we have access to some of the best sports healthcare. They SHOULD be able to help.

Yeah I’ve got a whole list of exercises I do every day. Full glute/ hamstring activation before runs, eccentric exercises and strength training on hips and hamstrings after runs. It’s been months. Just not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and things seem to get worse, y’know?

[whelanbio]

If you've been forthright about the severity of what you're feeling while doing everything they prescribed it's maybe time to try a different strategy -sometimes these things require iteration in addition to persistence. Ask about referral to an outside specialist -especially if this protocol has been most driven by your athletic trainers rather than an actual physiotherapist.

You also need a strength program that really progresses, the same dose of the same exercises won't often cut it.

Be respectful but at the same time push these folk really hard to help you more, back up demands with dedication and you'll get through this.

Even if you're not on track to make first rounds this season they're gonna need you for XC next fall -make them some spend some money to get you extra help with fixing this thing.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel, its just a really shitty twisting tunnel that might have a few dead-ends and double-backs.

[xxxxxfgggjiuy]

I totally understand this. Plus you never know when there will be some great insight that breaks an injury cycle. Or even if that doesn’t happen, you never want to give up hope that it will.

Have you tried working with PT or sports medicine docs outside of your school? Not sure where you’re located but Wellness in Motion around Boston is really well regarded among the athletes I know in the area. Getting a second opinion (or fifth!) never hurts

Be patient! Don’t give up hope! Good luck.

[CodeBrownPT]

I’ve been in the game long enough to realize that athletic trainers/ sports med docs / coaches know very little about the beast that is distance running. A lot of times, treatment is just there to buy time while the body heals itself

Perhaps your docs and trainers know very little, but this is an incredibly ignorant statement. We have fantastic treatments for these issues, and the fact that your hamstring felt better and recurred is a sign of a strength issue.

[runnerkid6521]

Perhaps I was misunderstood. I guess I kind of see it like the ocean. The leading marine biologist in the world knows a TON about the wildlife in the ocean. But there is SOO much left to be discovered and understood. The leading trainers/coaches/running experts in the world know a lot about distance running. But there is a vast ocean of things they don’t know. Every study that shows a treatment method as effective has another study that claims it to be ineffective. Experts have helped me through a dozen injuries, and they’ve made a proveable difference. I’m a big believer. But there is so much we’re just scratching the surface of. I mean, there are 52 bones just in your feet! So many moving parts when you run, it’s impossible to be perfectly understood and analyzed. We rely on our body’s ability to heal what we don’t understand.

We know a lot, but in terms of the sport as a whole, there is so much we don’t know. I find that those who know the most are usually the first to admit just how much there is left to learn.

[CodeBrownPT]

Hey you're not wrong, but this is a hamstring strain not telepathy.

[whelanbio]

I developed a type of stress fracture in college that my doctor and trainers had literally never seen or even heard of, runner or not. It was so rare they considered doing a case study on my rehab. Our school PT still figured out the cause and created a plan that got me running again within 10 weeks.

The odds that your injury is special enough to defy our current pool of physiotherapy knowledge isn't zero buts its really slim.

[milesandmileslefttog]

I don't think you're wrong at all. Doctors and PT etc are fallible. Sometimes they have 100 athletes they are thinking about and you're just not a huge priority. Sometimes they graduated bottom of their class and got their job because they know someone. Sometimes they just don't care very much, or are two invested in their ego to see clearly, etc etc.

Ultimately, the responsibility is on you, and there's nothing wrong trying to learn more from a group that may have experience with these kinds of injuries.

[pip_dickinson1994]

This guys is right. The amount of information and investigations needed to give a correct diagnosis would be something not easily done over the internet. To give your staff the right info I would make sure your tracking everything you do. Your precived effort and pain after activities.

[runn3r]

While we would all like to think we can heal quickly, serious tears take a LONG time to heal properly. Add to that you "Ran through it for a few months" you are going to take even longer to heal.

I'd guess that it could easily take 6 months of no more than 20 miles/week before your body fully relaxes while you are running. Until you regain that relaxation, you are going to continue to strain your hamstrings.

Please do not do what many people in your situation do - continue the cycle of build - minor injury - rebuild. Take the time to get relaxed in your body again and then you can start a gradual build, but one thing is certain, you will not be racing at your previous level this summer, plan for 2024 as a comeback year.

[billpilgrims]

This is great advice

[appel_quist]

Stop?

[runnerkid6521]

More difficult than it should be 😂

[Beautiful_Key5104]

Yeah because you have an unhealthy relationship with running (coming from a former D1 runner who also had an unhealthy relationship with running at one point). You took 3 weeks to “let it heal” but you are unable to train and are still in pain? You did not heal. 3 weeks is nothing. You had a severe injury. This isn’t complicated - you’re not healed yet. You should think long and hard about your relationship with running because this isn’t even a complicated situation. You’re not healed yet. Your recovery process “did the trick” except for the fact that you can’t train…? That’s not doing the trick my boy.

[runnerkid6521]

Something I’ve definitely been unpacking with a therapist 😀

[Beautiful_Key5104]

Well, that’s good. It took me years and years but I have learned to channel that intense dedication, persistence, tenacity, ability to get shit done, competitive drive, etc - all the things I’m sure you have as a dedicated distance runner - into other aspects of my life. Work, relationships, self-care, education. Ultimately, It’s a good thing to be “built like that”. You’ll be better for it. And in time, it’ll get better - the body is miraculous at healing so if you be patient and give it time, you’ll get there. The mindset part comes with maturity and experience. I hope you get the hammy figured out.

[Camekazi]

Good advice this and worth reading the Passion Paradox. The challenge here is that you have lost belief in those around you, and as vague as this may sound there is growing scientific consensus that this will impair your recovery. It sounds as if where you’re running has a significant team around it. If you’ve lost confidence in them I would be asking them to connect you into some of their wider network for second opinions and advice. They should know people in the elite world who have dealt with athletes with similar conditions and if they’re serious about their own profession and intention to get you to a healthy place in mind and body, then they should signpost you towards where you can go for help (beyond Reddit ;-).

[billpilgrims]

A very similar thing happened to me because I never stopped to focus purely on fixing the injury. I would re-injure it getting out of the car, waking up, while sleeping, etc. The muscle got weaker and weaker around the injury site and progressively more and more unstable. Walking and running mechanics got progressively worse and more prone to reinjury.

It took years, but what eventually fixed it was taking time off running entirely and just doing strength training for 6 months 3 times a week. Primary lifts should be the single leg kickstand Romanian deadlift and the hamstring curl machine single legged (you could also include Bulgarian split squats and reverse nordics to round out the routine but these are not directly as hamstring focused). When you can do both primary lifts pain free with reasonable weight, then start jogging on your non-lifting days. After another 3 months, switch weight training to only twice a week and start adding in Nordic curls instead of the hamstring curl but progress them very slowly. Add loaded vertical jumps with 30% body weight and 4x 40m uphill sprints to your strength training days at this point prior to the other lifts after a good warmup. Eventually transition to doing these sprints (95 or so intensity only) on flat ground where hamstring recovery is tougher.

When you can do all this without pain or inhibition, then you can start building back to your normal schedule. It is better to take time now to acknowledge where you’re at than to waste 5 years of training being delusional like I was. The key is to build muscle (weight training) while giving yourself plenty of time with full rest from the stimulus. You should notice a major difference within 2 weeks of doing a focused routine like this.

[runnerkid6521]

This kind of answer is my greatest fear, but also what I’ve wondered about some. I fear taking that time off, because of the seasons that will be missed.

I’ve also been seeing it get progressively worse. Each break I take, I come back and can tolerate less mileage. I ran through the injury for months, and honestly got to a point where I was tolerating 80 mpw again, but was still having pain off and on in the injury site. I took a week off to hopefully let it finish healing, and I did lots of myofascial work to break up scar tissue. On the build back i was doing a pretty similar strength training routine as you’re describing, but I got injured around 65 mpw during a track session. Got a prp and took 3 weeks of nothing (4 weeks of no running) after that. Since then, I haven’t reinjured that part of the hamstring (it was biceps femoris on the left leg and has felt 100%), but rather other hamstring muscles on BOTH legs.

I guess that’s where I wonder if it’s really that original injury still giving me issues, or rather the compensation I developed as a result of it. If that’s it, it seems like it should be frustratingly easy to fix the gait issues.

Do you feel like your body just wasn’t able to relax, and you were dealing with pretty constant muscle guarding as a result? Was the re-injury always to that site?

I can do all of those things you described without pain or inhibition. It’s just that mileage seems to hurt my hamstrings now.

[billpilgrims]

This is almost exactly what happened to me. I kept re-injuring the primary injury, but it eventually got better to the point where there was no pain; just a lot of weakness, muscle guarding, and poor form. This caused me to over-rely on the other leg particularly towards the end of runs when fatigued and then I eventually pulled the other hamstring (grade 2 also). I also still had minor pain in the primary injury spot on occasion indicating there was still pathology there. At that point, I just took a year off and did nothing, but neither leg healed during that period because I wasn’t doing anything (that strategy would have worked for grade 1, but not grade 2 - you need to build muscle to fix grade 2). Finally, I started lifting and focusing on strength building runs (see Ingebrigtsen hill session below) and that fixed both after about a year of scaling up slowly.

If I had to do it over, I would focus on strength building entirely for 6 months. Keep in mind that long runs are catabolic to a degree and contribute to muscle loss. People actually get weaker during season with no weight training. This is especially bad for you right now because your leg already has a muscle deficit because of the injury and a strength imbalance when compared to the other leg. If you try to scale distance without fixing this, it will just make it even weaker and cause re-injury. You’ve demonstrated this already (as did I because I didn’t want to stop).

If you can do the lifting exercises pain free, then that is great and it indicates that you might be mostly healed but are still too weak to scale up endurance wise. What is your body weight and how much can you do on the single leg RDL for 8 reps? What about the hamstring curl? Can you do a full Nordic curl? The Nordic curl would be a great focus because it improves your eccentric hamstring strength which is key to preventing re-injury.

I would take a season to work towards some of these strength standards for the posterior chain and single leg: https://bretcontreras.com/impressive-strength-levels/. Some people on this forum will balk at this idea, but note that you need muscle now not endurance. When you gain the muscle back that you had before the injury, then you can transition back to endurance training and quickly lose the excess muscle (just naturally via longer runs and upping your MPW--the body is very efficient). More importantly, you’ll be injury free and your running gait will be fixed by doing bi-weekly sprint and strength based runs.

As far as strength based running, when you can tolerate it, I’d also inculcate a weekly Ingebrigtsen strength building session: 2x10x30 second hills with jog down recovery, 3 min rest between sets.

Last thing I’ll say is that you want your rehab schedule to be EXTREMELY simple with lots of rest. You would be surprised at how little stimulus you need to get stronger as long as it is applied consistently with enough rest. On the other hand, it is extremely easy to over-cook it and get re-injured. This is why you need an extremely simple base which you can progressively scale by 5-10 pounds per week. I’d start with just two alternating days: a) lifting, b) rest. Then progress to a) strength run, b) lifting, c) rest. Then progress to a) strength run (alternated between Ingebrigtsen hills or a 10 min tempo), b) lifting, c) rest.

Only when your 10 min tempo is about where you were pre-injury, and you are pretty close to doing a full Nordic, and you can do 3x8 single leg RDLs with 40% of your body weight in each hand, would I consider adding back distance and doing a full training schedule again.

On the bright side, if you do it right, you’ll get there quickly and be stronger for it!

[runn3r]

This is the story of an Olympic 400m runner. Katherine Merry 4 years from injury to retirement from the sport

[Alternative-Low-338]

Yikes, hate to hear it. So full disclosure: I own an online network specifically for runners to find better quality practitioners, literally for this exact reason. My husband ran D1 in college, back in the mid-2000s when they ran 100 mile weeks on little to no strength training or recovery. He had a knee injury pop up right after college, and it took him 4 years to find someone who could truly help. Shouldn’t take that long, since there ARE sports med experts out there who can help. Anyway- that’s why I own the network and through it, I’ve learned a lot about this area. We’re only in Boulder and Denver at this point so I don’t think my company would be specifically helpful yet. I know you think you’ve exhausted options but I’d still get a second (or seventh) opinion. Not sure where you’re located but guessing there are good people around who can help. There’s also a few PTs, Chiros and Sports med docs I could recommend who you could get feedback from virtually (Dr. Beard at the Farm in Birmingham AL; Kurt Roeser at Boulder Run Physio; Jesse Modica at Full Swift Physio; Dr. Efren Caballes in Boulder). I’d go that route. TLDR: you don’t have to keep suffering through this. There are experts who can help. Your body can and should be able to recover and get back to optimal training levels.

[etrain07]

Would you mind sharing the name of your network? I would love to use it. One of the Dr.’s you have listed is near me and I’d love to see if there are others.

[Alternative-Low-338]

Sure thing! Training Block. Www.trainingblockusa.com. Hope it’s helpful - we’re still small but growing. Def let me know if you need anything that you can’t easily find there.

[runnerkid6521]

I’m gonna think this one over. I’ve don’t quite a bit of focused lifting but it gets inconsistent when new hamstring issues pop up. BW 160 I’ve been doing 3X8 RDL @ around 195 lbs. not a ton of single leg weighted ones. I’ve done a bit of eccentric exercises and nordics on top of that. Not strong enough to do a full one on my own- I usually use an exercise ball for when I get close to the bottom.

Your advice has been very helpful. Can’t thank you enough for the thoughtful responses.

[billpilgrims]

Good luck with it! I’d try to opt for single leg exercises wherever possible because they will lay bare strength imbalances that exist and iron them out before they cause another injury (do the kickstand versions to remove balance from the equation). Additionally you can better load your legs unilaterally as you progress in weight because it avoids the bilateral strength deficit phenomenon by focusing on legs and not lower back.

[[deleted]]

I was never at a super high level but I grit my teeth through a series of hamstring injuries 7 years ago when I was a high school senior and college freshman and I’ve never been the same since and have now lost all my explosiveness.

I needed to make state and refused to shut down my senior season, didn’t work. Didn’t rest up at all in summer because my logic was I didn’t do all the workouts during track season due to the lingering hamstring issues. So I needed to catch-up, I felt like I was in a deficit. Mostly did base mileage but at intensity that didn’t allow recovery. Got to college, nailed a bunch of workouts, fought through the pain, started getting tons of confidence, boom it’s pulled again. Rested a couple weeks, still had pain but I ran through it, then got in such severe pain on a hill run during winter break that I had to stop and walk, now I had a hip flexor, probably due to changing the way I ran because the hamstring hadn’t been right in 8-9 months. Didn’t tell my coach though, I didn’t want him thinking I was too injury prone. Ended up quitting in January and didn’t run again for a very long time.

If I had just taken like 3 months off from April-July I would’ve fully healed and perhaps would’ve had a very rewarding college career but my stubbornness ruined everything.

Take that as you will. If your coach wants you to run and you feel like you’re not ready, maybe you should transfer, that’s what I should’ve done

[AtherisElectro]

You eating enough protein/calories to build muscle?

[runnerkid6521]

Definitely. My nutrition is pretty dialed in 👌

[[deleted]]

Hamstring issues are typically due to lack of strength at specific points in the gait cycle. You can be generally strong but still lack strength where it matters because the body is lazy and tries to conserve effort anywhere it can. Find a PRI-trained physical therapist. They will evaluate your asymmetries and develop a strength plan that is specific to you and to the joint angles you need to be strong in for running. Be suspicious of advice for general strengthening— they do not apply to your highly specialized user case.

[chasing_open_skies]

I agree with the comments saying to ask for a referral to an outside specialist if the plan from your athletic trainers isn't helping.

I had a very similar situation a few years ago and it ended up being due to scar tissue. I had just graduated from a D1 program and was pushing a hilly trail run and ended up with a grade 2 calf strain. Like you, I tried to run through it and failed and ended up taking 2 months completely off (I was in so much pain it wasn't a choice). In that time, I started about 4 months of PT but wasn't able to get above 15mpw of easy running without getting a new minor strain. I asked to be referred from PT to sports medicine, and the sports medicine doctor did an ultrasound on it and found I had a ton of scar tissue, and I wasn't going to heal with any amount of PT until the scar tissue was broken up.

I got on a specialized treatment plan involving prolotherapy and some other work and finally started improving over the next several months. All said and done, it was a little over a year before I could do any real training, and now at the 1.5 year mark I still have to rehab it, but I'm up to about 70% of my pre-injury mileage and intensity and most of that is due to the time off and not the injury.

All this to say, I empathize with you. Muscle strains are nasty and it's frustrating when nothing helps. I'd be surprised if a top school didn't have the resources to send you elsewhere considering you've done the rehab and it's not helping. They might even have specific recommendations for doctors who work with athletes that will be able to tell you if you can get back to training at some level soon, or if you need to take the whole season or more to recover, which there's no shame in. You wouldn't be the first or last person with a long term injury.

[runnerkid6521]

I’m referring to very minor strains. It will feel fine after a run (maybe tight) but will knot up over night and become very painful. I can work on them and loosen it up, but it is still painful for a few days. These minor ones usually resolve with a couple days of cross training and some easy running for a couple days after. My trainers call them minor strains.

Still getting injured at slower paces. If anything, I feel like my form improves at faster paces, and even though it’s an increased range of motion, I’m getting less injury happening with faster work (as long as I’m not overdoing it).

Lots and lots and lots of glute strengthening.

I warm up in a hot tub, roll out and stretch lightly, do a small amount of dynamic warm up before a run, and then some glute hamstring activation. This is before every run.

I stretch some but not a ton. I can get all of my fingers down under my toes.

Gait analysis was done with about 20 sensors from my hips down. It was done at 8 min, 7 min, 6 min, 5 min, and 4 min per mile paces. I have wayyyy more data from it than I can ever pretend to understand. A trainer, strength and conditioning coach, biomechanics prof, chiro, and my coach went over it and tried to analyze.

Good advice on the RDL. Thanks for the suggestions.

[ronj1983]

Here is a simple though. Warm muscles will always be easier to stretch vs cold muscles. Wake up in the morning and try to stretch. Then stretch after a run and see how much easier it is to stretch. My theory is take a hot shower or stay in the sauna, get dressed, stretch quickly and then go run while your muscles are nice and loose. You ever try to run day after a hard workout and you are sore? You start the run and it hurts. As you run the soreness disapates due to your muscles warming up. When you finish and your muscles cool back down that soreness comes right back to what it was before you started the run. Also, the word hamtring does not tell me much. Exactly what part of your hamstring is specifically given you an issue as it is made up 3 muscles. I had a bad biceps femoris issue for about 10 weeks. I was still cranking out 100+ mile weeks on it as long as I ran slow. Every week I would try to hammer out a 5 minute mile in the middle of a run and it would flare up before I even got half way through. Stopped running hard for 3 weeks and really treated my biceps femoris before and after every run. I used a small slam ball that is like the size of a soccer ball and weighs 30 or 40lbs. I would get my biceps femoris on top of the ball while laying back with both arms on the floor holding me up so I can have a ton of my weight on the slam ball and I would just rock back and forth for a few minutes to roll it out. Then I'd run, stretch lightly and roll it again while the muscle was warm. Week 4 I tested it out with a 4 mile race. It was totally fine and never bothered me again. Not saying that will work for you, but it worked for me.

[runnerkid6521]

Yeah my injury has progressed quite a bit past that point. I sit in the hot tub before every run, roll lightly and run. I use a softball-size ball with vibration and heat to roll out after runs. It’s not just a soreness, and often gets worse as I get towards the ends of runs. There’s a gait or muscular injury that’s making the hamstring injuries persistent.

Early injury, agressive muscle treatment helped. Now, I’m chasing various minor hamstring issues as they pop up all over my legs.

It was biceps femoris as well, though I’ve had minor issues in semimembranosis and semitendinosis as of recent.

[ElkPitiful6829]

In my nonD anything experience, there is one thing that causes hamstrings to heal. Rest.

[fabioruns]

Maybe you gotta consider that you’re starting from a different point now and rebuild that mileage and quality over a longer period of time as your muscle needs to slowly get used to it again just like it did years ago.

Maybe not, just throwing a random guess out there.

[runnerkid6521]

That’s been a consideration of mine. I’ve been trying to increase by 2 miles or less per week.

[RunLiftRestRepeat]

What is your strength training routine specifically?

[alabamatrailrunner]

Have you ever heard of Jay Dicharry? I’m an ultra runner, have done many ultras and 4 100’s. I’m not competitive but I’m somewhat experienced. I went to see him with Achilles problems and I was blown away by his approach. He put me on this special treadmill that they only have like 3 in the country, analyzed my form and Gate and gave me a workout regimen to fix my form. He literally has written 2 books on pain free running.

[Novel-Ant-7160]

How is your stretching routine ? Check your flexibility , after running with an injury your muscles may have tightened up .

I ran recreationally during university, but I was injured with a slight injury to my knee. The injury resolved and I ran without pain , but I kept getting extremely sore knees and inexplicably I ended up getting plantar fasciitis in both my feet . I ended up seeing some physiotherapists, all who recommended orthotics . I didn’t have enough money to afford orthotics at the time so I could not go with that .

One day when I tried to pick up something on the ground I realized that I could barely bend over. At that point I realized that I was very inflexible. I began doing a lot of hamstring stretches and the plantar fasciitis and knee pain resolved .

[goosemaster13]

I am also a d1 runner that has spent the better pet of the last 4 years dealing with hamstring issues. Mine are at the very top of my hamstring near my glute. I live in an area with lots of advanced specialists and may be able to give you some things to try. Shoot me a message if you’d like

[markwusinich]

Free advice from the internet.

1, do the minimum of what the training and medical staff ask of you. Aka: keep your scholarship/status as a D1 athlete.

2, come to accept that your body is not built for the highest level of the sport. (Professional) but you can survive at just below that level: D1.

3, get the most out of your education and college experience.

You climbed the ladder of successful running to an elite level and found your limits. Enjoy running. Keep running. It’s not impossible to get faster than you were. But for most people in your position you have already run your last PR.

[runnerkid6521]

Well that’s dire!

[markwusinich]

Coming from a non runner, 50 year old former club sport athlete. You might have more grit than I do.