....Sun Run

.....continued from last post....

Race Day! Despite the lacklustre week or so I was excited to lace up the T5s and hit the pavement for a quick 10k. I was prepared for disaster since my breathing had been so poor the previous few days but hoped the low pressure system and morning would help. Richard had said that this would be more of a "workman's race"(term coined by Bruce Deacon) meaning that we are training for a marathon here and we cant expect anything special, just a good hard race effort. Obviously as an athlete we hope that something special DOES in fact happen and you run really well! Not the case! In actuality I was happy with the race. I didn't feel good for any of it, in hindsight my legs did feel stale, and my breathing was only a bit of a problem(I had to breathe harder than I normaly would but it wasnt a restricting factor in performance I don't think, much like last year). That said, I didn't feel BAD either, and put in a strong mental and physical effort which I am happy about. I am also pleased that I was able to be very disciplined during the race, I new my groin and hip flexors were a problem and in a few point in the race I had the chance to really go full throttle and I held back knowing the fight was in Ottawa and risking injury here would be foolish. Unfortunately I didn't get to have fun like last year in the Sun Run and Times Colonist where I had a great kick and ran like a wild animal, that was fun! So, all in all, it turned out to be a "workman's race" who knew, Richard was right...again. Running sub 31 in these conditions is just fine with me, hopefully this summer I can get in 10k and try to break 30, I know its there somewhere.

DONE....for two weeks

The most brutal semester is over! What a few months it has been, the worst schedule, and trying to run hard while doing it. In general it was not that much fun, I am seriously tired out, which is probably why I have spent so much time in bed the last few days. It really is a relief. Even though I am starting 3 more classes on May 5th, my schedule is WORLDS better. I only have class on tuesday, wednesday and thursday morning, thats right, 4 day weekends! So awesome!

Running. Its been a trying couple of weeks, things were going really well but the wheels kind of came off two saturdays ago when we did a 3 x 3mile workout, it was solid(15:36, 15:16, 15:23) but it was more or less the straw that broke the camels back as far as my physical and mental energy could go with exams coming up, and it made my groin issues that much more sore.

I have been fighting a groin problem for a while now and, as expected, it is taking a while to heal, I am able to still do the sessions but there is an extra dose of caution associated with everything which is getting annoying, right when I want to be hitting it hard, I have to be extra careful(maybe that is a good thing). After that workout I did a hilly 20+miler on monday which I have since decided aggravated it a bit more, I reacted by doing some strength exercises to aid the healing. Ooops, went a little too hard and strained my hip flexors. I didn't really think it was an issue till the wednesday workout at the track where I had trouble getting around it at 3min/k pace(I also couldnt breathe!) So needless to say the allergy season is upon us, which only compounded the problem.

Last year was the first year I had allergy problems and I was in denial for most of it, and it really hurt my training and racing, mentally and physically. So, when I did the session on wednesday then went for a one mile jog(then quit) on thursday, and couldnt breathe, I was depressed to say the least. I decided I wasnt going to run for two days since I needed to summon all the mental energy I had for my exams on thursday and friday. I figured it wouldnt hurt to take a physical break too, even if it left me a bit stale for the race, i really needed a regroup.

Sun Run.....maybe i'll continue this in a new post.....

Row, Row, Row your boat....

Into the grind. Well now that school is over, well, since last week actually, but now that classes are over I feel like my focus has really come to full capacity for running and we are into the critical few weeks leading up to Ottawa. It is really important to keep this focus because training is hard and the volume is up, so any lapse in focus could mean injury or sickness or both. The reminders and cautions from Richard are invaluable and I am trying to make sure our communication is as transparent as possible. Right now everything is basically going as well as it could, despite the groin issues. They seem to be subsiding with the addition of some exercises and light stretching, and luckily I had to make very little, if any, concessions in training because of it.

I am starting to feel like a marathoner again.

The reason I say this is not because of the fatigue of the training but the mindset that comes from it. How to explain....ok here's an example. On wednesday night we did a 8 x mile workout(longest interval workout i've ever done) for a 14mile session altogether, which was really quite tiring. Then on thursday, while tired and sore, I headed out and did a 15mile run and despite being sore and tired my body decided it wanted to get moving on the return portion of the run. It is this type of run that tells me i'm a marathoner again, when you are tired and sore and your legs still want to roll. It is a great feeling! I really feel like I am on track, not on a high, but on track.

aargh!

So frustrating when you hope things will just go away...and then they don't...and then they get worse. I suppose it has been a couple of weeks now that I have a little bit of soreness/tightness in the left side of my groin. I can't really put my finger on exactly when it happened but I think it was racing up a flight of stairs to the skytrain the afternoon post-long run 2 or 3 mondays ago. I figured it would just go away with a bit of stretching but it seems to get a bit better then i'll do a hard workout and it will be bad again. I went in to see my massag therapist on thursday and got some work on it but by the workout this morning it was actually tighter than before. After the 10mile tempo(52:31) portion of the workout I stopped to change shoes and it really tightened up and has been tight and sore the rest of the day. I suppose it should be expected after a 22mile session but I am getting quite worried. I have only had a groin strain once before, and it was a lot worse actually, when I was playing hockey way back as a kid. Unfortunately now I am 13 years older and don't heal as fast and cant just skip out on practice for a week or two. So I guess the plan is light stretching and to start doing some strength exercises and hopefully that will be the ticket to heal it up. I am kind of kicking myself for not doing my regular strength sessions to prevent injuries, which I usually do on a semi regular basis. I am certain this would have been prevented. Oh well, thats how it goes, hopefully I won't miss any training over it.

Other than that the session was pretty much exactly what was planned so I am really happy with it. I didn't kill myself, and didn't feel great to begin with so to execute the workout is something to be pleased about. Just gotta keep on rollin.