Surprising Loss of Strength

I haven't been to the gym in so long that I can't remember the last time - it was probably about a year ago. I haven't needed to go to the gym as the weather allows me to run outside year round and I hate treadmills. This means that I haven't done any weight training on weights machines in at least a year, which isn't necessarily a problem as running and exercises at home are normally enough for most runners.

If a runner gradually increases pace, distance or the amount of hills their body can keep up and make the changes necessary to the muscles and bones and keep everything balanced. This sounds great, up until the runner gets injured and as part of the recovery focuses on strengthening one of the muscle groups, which breaks the balance and when the runner returns to running, some muscles are stronger than others and a circle of injury and strengthening certain muscles begins.

Why am I mentioning this? well, since I have returned to running following my Achilles Tendon strain I have been experiencing shin/calf/knee pain on the other (right) leg. My recovery from the Achilles Tendon problem was mainly focused strengthening of my calf muscles which it appears has broken the balance of power between my calves, hamstrings and quads. How do I know this? well, firstly the pain in my shin/calf/knee, but mainly because today I got on the Leg Extension machine in the gym and found that my right quad is much weaker than my left and that together both of my quad muscles are much much weaker than they were 12 months ago. I could barely lift 55lbs (I could lift 70lbs without a problem before) on the machine and my right leg was shaking (which is a sign that it is struggling with the weight) with my left leg performing fine.

I am going to be doing Split Squats at home and using the weight machines at the gym on non-running days to strengthen my quad muscles and hamstrings to at least the level that I can run pain free and let my body re-establish the balance.