Notes
I’m putting these thoughts down in my thread for a variety of reasons including: for myself and future reference (so I can really remember what I was thinking after a training cycle/year), explain what the hell happened to the people I’ve been talking to, and share my mistakes. The bottom line is that I had a good training cycle this spring and fall (although it was incomplete) with some shit in the middle and only a decent half marathon to show for it.
As far my recent issue with my hamstring I think it happened because I stopped doing core/bike work that I’ve done on and off over the last few years. When I keep up with the core/bike work I seem to stay healthy (I call it core work but I include exercises for the hamstrings, hips, ankles, etc.).
During the first week of my taper I got to Friday of that week. It was lunchtime and a 60 degree day. My goal was to run 5 miles with a couple of miles of work. After an easy 7:50ish first mile. I began to work my way down to 7:30 and then 7:17ish. I felt strong, lean, and the run felt effortless. A typical run during the taper. As I hit the 3.5 mile mark I felt a tug at my hamstrings. What was strange was that I’ve never had this injury before at any time in my life. It was hard to understand what was going on because I wasn’t running hard and never tripped or lost my footing or stepped awkwardly. What a weird and unnerving feeling. I got home and figured it would go away. Tried to run 2 days later on Sunday and lasted 100 feet. Tried again 3 days later and ran .6 of a mile. Lots of research and sought advice from my PT friends. Lots of icing, stretching, and ibuprofen, and then another 5 mile attempt yesterday. After 3 miles it just didn’t feel right and I couldn’t see how I could run another 21+ without really f’ing myself up. I spoke to a buddy of mine at work, got off the phone, and cancelled the hotel. It was over. A huge disappointment but I had a 10 day lead up time to realize the possibility that I would not be going to Delaware. Not having an airfare investment made the decision easier along with the fact that Kathy and I would be leaving the kids and the entire trip was turning out to be a stress for the family anyway (with the coordination of someone to watch the kids, the school activities, etc).
My mistakes this year were for different reasons. I started off the year doing all of the right things: gradual miles, core/bike work, solid long runs, etc. The mistakes I made this spring were because I was running hard too often and stopped doing my core/bike work. Running a hard 20 miler - 2 weeks before my race in May was incredibly stupid and I got caught up in the workout. This was the theme for the entire spring. I got drunk on the results. In the summer I was a mess. No energy or motivation and as a result my 5k times dropped to the slowest they’ve been since 2012. About halfway thru August I started up again and after a short period of time I realized I wasn’t that far away. The runs at the beach really gave me some hope. In September I created more structure for myself and then at the end of the month decided to sign up for Rehoboth which was great for me mentally. Work has been (and continues to be) horrible from a stress a perspective (not long hours just sucky and stressful) so the running really helped. I started to sleep better and began to feel stronger. In October I had some great workouts. L Train and I began this cadence of early Saturday morning runs and I could feel myself getting stronger. I was running with someone who was always capable of mentally getting through harder workouts so I was always pushed. I also lost weight and got very learn. I had 8 weeks of 60+ and 1 – 80 mile week, and 300 mile month (Doug numbers). While this was all good stuff it’s ultimately what broke me down. My goals in 2016 will include 2x weekly core/bike workouts but also add 10 minutes of stretching every day after my workouts. I think I can handle the miles if I have better foundation of core, hip, hamstring, strength. My goal is to get to 60 mile weeks again but it will be for a 4 week stretch instead of a longer duration. I’ll continue with the interval/tempo workouts but will change up the distance/reps.
The other thing I never really talked about this year was that I hurt my right hip which has been bothering me since late February and still bothers me now. While this was never bad enough for me to stop running it is still there. I am also pretty sure that the lack core work this spring, and running too hard too often contributed to the right hip which contributed to the left hamstring. I know that I will have these niggles when running, will never feel perfectly healthy, but this is another symptom I need to figure out.
The problem with being injured is that I am already bored out of my mind. Being burned out is different because I was still able to run. I’m going to need to find a hobby, go lift, learn a language or something. The thought of swimming….good lord.