All knotted up but getting loose

Oh boy, it's been a while since my last post!

I hit a few bumps in the road, and am not one to write about those. Not that there is anything wrong with writing about bumps in the road, it's just that acknowledging the bumps makes them real, and typically I am not ready to do that until I got a hold on the bumps. Probably none of this makes sense. So let me explain.

After my last 5K and crazy fast speed I developed a lot of knots in my hamstrings, than quads which made running difficult. I managed to keep running but with a shorter stride, and a much slower pace. Although I hit 73 miles last week, they were all slow. I ran a 20 miler last Saturday in over 3 hours, with stretch breaks. I ended up seeing a PT who confirmed that I am all knotted up (better than knocked up, I suppose:). Apparently I have weak glutes and a weak core, so my quads and hamstrings are doing more work than they should. He has me on a strengthening program which is great, but obviously makes my running more difficult. My legs/butt/core are sore which is unusual for me. I am also getting massages, which help a ton. The PT told me to keep running, which is great (gotta love a PT who tells you to keep running!). Things are getting loosened up and I even managed to do some speed this week, at a rather pathetic speed, and most of it on the treadmill, but I take it for now. This is not a major bump in the road, but it is one that left me thinking a bit about what running means for me, about my goals, and about how I am going to do things differently after Boston (meaning, I will take a full week off of running and also do a 6 week strength program before my next training cycle).

As far as some introspections, realizations during this semi-injury phase? Running even slow is better than no running. I can adjust to running on the TM, doing 20 loops on a 1 mile trail, running tempos on the track, you name it. The elliptical machine is an amazing exercise for running. Some smart coaches agree on that, too:)

Running benefits my marriage, my mothering, and my friendships. Enough said:) There are other things in my life that can take the place of the competitive element of running. This makes me happy and content that putting so much time into running over the years has not left me unbalanced as a person (just left my body muscles unbalanced, LOL). I am not good at receiving empathy when it comes to my "bumps". Please don't tell me you are sorry, or that I need to take it easy; I know you mean well but really that does not help. You can tell me I am going to get my speed back soon, that will make me feel better:)

On other news, we had a lovely Christmas, filled with lots of plastic and wooden toys for Petru, that are currently taking over my living room.

I am having a few days off before the new year, and it is lovely. Oh, and I got to do speed again this week, did I mention that?

Hope everyone has a happy, happy, merry, merry 2012! No injuries, lots of PRs, and lots of growth:)

A load of happy!

Feeling pretty happy right now.

My left hamstring was very unhappy after my last 5K, to the point where I limped out of the bed several days this week. Thankfully I diagnosed myself well with a hamstring tear, and was not terribly worried. I took the entire week easy, running a lot but only easy miles, stretching, icing, rolling, and by Thursday morning I was walking normally again. The runs were fine the entire week, just a little limp the first couple of miles. Now, I can say I am 90% better. The last 10% will take a few more days, but I can deal.

I am running pretty good right now. I tested the hammy yesterday and ran for 10 min effortlessly at what used to be my 5K pace last year around this time. My form has changed quite a bit. I think I am much more efficient, finally being able to do that ankle lean that I kept reading about. I've been looking over my training logs, and realizing that I dropped 30minutes from my marathon in the past 2 years. This makes me pumped for my next training cycle.

And what else makes me happy? I made the Brooks ID team along with these 3 fasties. Super excited to represent a company with great product, support for the environment and for the overall running community! Thank you Brooks, very grateful I am!

Impromptu 5K

So I ran a 5K this morning. The initial plan was to run one next weekend, but it looks like next Saturday we will have to be away; so, last night I frantically searched for 5Ks and found the South Boston 5K, $20, 10am. Perfect.

Woke up @ 7, had my oatmeal and coffee, watched "Busy Town" with Petru and headed out to South Boston. We got lost but made it there on time so I could register, get some awesome swag including a cool race shirt, and warm up for 2 miles. My L hamstring has been bugging me for a week, but I knew that the pain would be gone once I warmed up. It did.

I wanted to run sub 19. I did 5x1000ms with 1 min rest @ 5:20-5:45 on Monday and felt pretty strong. Based on this run, I could have broken 19. The gun went off and I was taken by surprise so ended up running the first 200ms a bit too fast, but settled into a comfortably hard pace. First mile was 6:09. Second mile felt fine and I was passing people (6:09). One woman was in front of me but I was getting closer to her. Third mile was hard. I honestly think I lost it mentally here. It is hard to plan for moments like this, sometimes I can push through, other times I can't. Today I did not. Maybe I did not believe enough, but I know for sure that I did not want to feel more pain. So I ran a 6:16. In spite of slowing down I got closer to the woman who was in front of me. That was the plan, get really close and surprise here. Except that someone yelled at her that I was coming, and with 200ms to go she got her kick in on the uphill toward the finish line and she smoked me. I ended up second, but got a nice $50 gift certificate which made it worth my time.

Oh, and no official PR.

Official results: 3.1 19:32, 6:16 pace.

Garmin results: 3.15 19:32, 6:12 pace.

Oh, and the winner was 16. Happy for her but darn pissed bc I know I could have done better today. Even though I ran 77 miles since last Saturday and I was not tapered, mentally I did not push enough during mile 3. It is OK though. Less than one year ago I was happy to celebrate a sub 20 5K. Now a sub 20 is not enough and I want to celebrate a sub 19, particularly since I truly believe this is a realistic goal for me.

Now, off to run my long run. It's marathon pre training, after all.