A Saucy Wench
I have been instructed to post a race report.
I dont usually do a RR for a 5K - I do only one a year and am glad to have it over with - but this one is pretty significant.
Background - In January of 2009 I got a hamstring injury. Thought I was mostly recovered and blew it out again last July in this same race. It was August before it was correctly (I think?) diagnosed as a lumbar disk bulge and nerve impingement. Basically I could run lots and lots of slow but any fast effort made the hamstring either seize up with pain or just not respond (all of a sudden the pace drops out the bottom and no idea why). I lost over a minute per mile on all my races, more on my long ones. I was making some decent rehab in February when I fell down some concrete steps injuring a different part of my lumbar.
In April I got pissed at 15 months of declining progress, decided that the rehab wasnt working and designed my own rehab.
Last nights race:
Unfortunately I didnt get the mile splits and I cant seem to get my raw data to upload. I usually turn off auto split in a race and use the markers, but there were no markers.
Mile 1 was flat and into a headwind. I've run this race before and KNOW KNOW that the pack starts off really fast as over half the field is highschool kids. Got myself in check rather quickly after starting off at a 5:50 pace (duuuurrrrr) I think for the first mile I was about 7:30ish
Second mile is the "hilly" section. A long up, a short down, a short up. I was just under 7:30, maybe 7:20 ish. I know I was just sub 15 for 2 miles.
Third mile starts with a gently downhill and then flat the rest of the way in. I picked up turnover on the down and was hovering right under a 7 mm until 2.7 when my right hamstring siezed. Now that I know it is nerve pain I deal with it a bit better. My pace dropped to about 8:45 instantly (didnt help that we turned into a wind tunnel) and then after a minute or two I slowly ramped up speed for the rest of the race, but with not much help from my right leg.
Finish 22:50.8 a 6 SECONG PR. I think I lost about 10 seconds on the hamstring seize so I will be really pleased as long as the hamstring heals quickly. It did not appreciate continuing on for the next 0.4 miles
First PR in 21 months. First even CLOSE to a PR in 21 months.
whoops 6 second PR, not 6 minute.
I have become Death, the destroyer of electronic gadgets
"When I got too tired to run anymore I just pretended I wasnt tired and kept running anyway" - dd, age 7
BlazinCajun
Anne,
What a milestone. All the miles that you have been putting in may have slowed your recovery; but, your aerobic fitness is probably through the roof.
When I saw that you had a race scheduled yesterday I peeked at your log and saw the "Big PR" . Noticed the large gap since your last one and new it was significant for you. To be able to PR in a 5K, which must seem like a sprint to you, after such a long drought should really make you feel proud. Hope the hammie gets better soon.
Congratulations!!!!
Andrew------------------God, my Lord, is my strength;he makes my feet swift as those of hindsand enables me to go upon the heights.Hb 3:19
Marathon Maniac #957
Life is a headlong rush into the unknown. We can hunker down and hope nothing hits us or we can stand tall, lean into the wind and say, "Bring it on, darlin', and don't be stingy with the jalapenos."
"During a marathon, I run about two-thirds of the time. That's plenty." - Margaret Davis, 85 Ed Whitlock regarding his 2:54:48 marathon at age 73, "That was a good day. It was never a struggle."
ennay, congrats on your PR and redemption. It's especially great since you had to fight your way through a hamstring cramp.
TomS
You're one tough lady! Congratulations on putting mind over matter, and battling your way to a sweet PR!
Jay
Without ice cream there would be darkness and chaos.
Sweet sweet RR! Gotta love a PR!
Thanks!
SteveP
wow - nice job!! great PR - you are speedy!!
would love to hear more about your rehab plan as I have a bulging disc at L5 that compresses the nerve too and it is VERY ANNOYING!
denise
Trombone
wow - nice job!! great PR - you are speedy!! would love to hear more about your rehab plan as I have a bulging disc at L5 that compresses the nerve too and it is VERY ANNOYING!
hey just saw this. This is going to be long.
OK, so the bulging disk at L4-L5. I had NO back pain initially. All of my pain was in the hamstring. Primarily in the lower 3rd of the hamstring and even down into the calf. Hamstring rehab succeeded in only giving me a burn from knee to butt in the hamstring.
The official PT for this was back bending. Avoid scrupulously any forward bending or anything that took the low back curve out of the spine (so if you HAVE to sit, use a lumbar pillow). In addition I was doing prescribed back exercises. It is like cobra pose except you have to totally relax the glutes and push deep so the spine is the limiter. As I got more flexible I was doing these poses on blocks and using straps or my children to pin my hips down to increase the flexion. Also seated back extension weight lifting. When running was reintroduced I was instructed to avoid hills for awhile. Yoga, biking and rowing were also not recommended.
And it worked, to a point. The pain moved from my hamstrings to my back---which is theoretically a good thing. I was able to run miles and miles and miles. But any kind of speed caused the pain. Which feels exactly like hamstring tearing. Or I would run hard and all of a sudden my hammys would just go dead, like I hit the wall, but the rest of my body was fine. And sitting was agonizing.
After Boston I got pissed. I had made really no significant improvement in 18 months. And on the flight back from Boston, were my quads sore? OK they were sore a little because I was woefully undertrained for the marathon. But it was my low back that was in agony.
Which got me to thinking that while we had worked on back strengthening what was I doing. 3 sets of 10. What the hell does that do for back ENDURANCE. And how many marathoners does my back specialist work on. (ummm....ME!) . And 2-3 days after the marathon when I was still not running I got on the rowing machine. Rowing has always been my XT of choice for running recovery. I've always been able to get on and do 20-30 minutes until boredom kills me.
And I did 2 minutes before my back called uncle. The second day I did 5. Holy hell.
PT was not happy to see me on the rower, but I do it with as much low back curve as possible stay very upright on the forward stroke and emphasize the pull. And worked my way up to 30 minutes 3 times a week and that is when things started improving. I end with a back bend set.
I also started Yoga again. I am a VERY experience yogi though and I do a lot of mods. I keep my back flat to concave in all but a few specific forward bending poses and I have rearranged my practice to a less conventional order. (which means I dont take a class). Standing poses, balance poses, forward bends and floor poses and then I END with a back bending series.
Since school got out the rowing and the yoga have greatly diminished and I need to get it ramped up again. It's just hard timewise. I'm spending about $50/month on gym daycare.
I'm finally back to being able to start strengthening my hamstrings...very very weak. I am doing daily eccentric hamstring curls (2 legs to lift, 1 leg to lower sloooooooooooooowwwwwly)
Right now my limiter is still extended speed. When it "pulled" again it was after about 0.75 miles at right around 7mm pace. When I get tired and am trying to hold speed I think I overstride and it fires. It really didnt appreciate me continuing for the next .5 miles and it took a couple days to calm down and the hamstring is still grouchy.
Bumping in the hopes Ribs will chime in. He's a big advocate of core work, too
The "avoid hills" part of your early treatment Rx puzzles me. I really like easy, moderate-grade uphills, and my shorter recovery runs are chock full of them...hmmm....experiment of one?