Two days off from running. After a week of walking with a "glitch in my giddy-up", I decided it was time to see my massage therapist...again--a week and a half from the last time I saw him. I was afraid it was my left hip again, acting up like it did a decade ago. If I had kept running, eventually the iliotibial band would have tighten up so much that I wouldn't have been able to run a ¼ mile. I purposely scheduled an appointment with my message therapist just before a scheduled off-day to give myself that much needed down time for my body to heal. He suggested that I try to take two days off. Dammit! I agreed and skipped out on a 9 mile tempo run.
As an amateur athlete--or recreational, if you'd like--I had to get it through my head that recovery is also a part of training. Moreover, recovery can also encompass an extra down time to help recuperate from a possible injury. I had to remind myself this because I was going nuts not being able to run. I couldn't even workout with weights for my upper body. It was total down time! I felt lost, being off my schedule. Did I mention I was going nuts?
At last the day arrived that I could begin to run again...slowly. I was planning to do a 6 mile tempo run to compensate for having missed a tempo run the day before, but I opted to play it safe by doing the schedule 6 mile easy run...on the treadmill. As luck would have it, I ran into a friend who's a competitive swimmer, Roberto Figueroa, at the Y. He recently medaled in three events at the FINA World Masters. We share our workouts and our training ups and downs. I told him of my recent injury and downtime. He asked me what I thought might have caused it. The only thing that really came to mind were the last three hills, or the hills in general, of my easy runs on Saturday followed by a long run Sunday morning. He simply suggested to me: "Eliminate what's causing the injury." He explained doing the same thing when he took some downtime from his shoulders acting up from a weighted workout. The light bulb came on.
This morning was another scheduled easy day of 10 miles out on the roads at the chalet. I had to cut out 2 miles which would eliminate running up the last three hills of the course--in other words, I had to go out further from my turn-around point to end the 10 miler right before the hills. I can still feel my hip, but it's not as bad as before. I'm still able to run, but I have to wait until tomorrow to see if I'm able to run at marathon pace (8:26/mile).
Following day after the 10 mile long run:
Another completed long run in near perfect weather. I eliminated the hills, but I then realized that I needed to work on the psychology of my running. I slowed down in the middle of my run but picked up my pace when I realize there was only 2 miles left on my long run. I didn't run right on marathon pace as my finish time was 1:25:29 at 8:33 pace. We'll see how this plays out as far as eliminating the hills, but for now I found another topic I can write about: staying in the race.
To be continued. In the meantime, keep on running!
As an amateur athlete--or recreational, if you'd like--I had to get it through my head that recovery is also a part of training. Moreover, recovery can also encompass an extra down time to help recuperate from a possible injury. I had to remind myself this because I was going nuts not being able to run. I couldn't even workout with weights for my upper body. It was total down time! I felt lost, being off my schedule. Did I mention I was going nuts?
At last the day arrived that I could begin to run again...slowly. I was planning to do a 6 mile tempo run to compensate for having missed a tempo run the day before, but I opted to play it safe by doing the schedule 6 mile easy run...on the treadmill. As luck would have it, I ran into a friend who's a competitive swimmer, Roberto Figueroa, at the Y. He recently medaled in three events at the FINA World Masters. We share our workouts and our training ups and downs. I told him of my recent injury and downtime. He asked me what I thought might have caused it. The only thing that really came to mind were the last three hills, or the hills in general, of my easy runs on Saturday followed by a long run Sunday morning. He simply suggested to me: "Eliminate what's causing the injury." He explained doing the same thing when he took some downtime from his shoulders acting up from a weighted workout. The light bulb came on.
This morning was another scheduled easy day of 10 miles out on the roads at the chalet. I had to cut out 2 miles which would eliminate running up the last three hills of the course--in other words, I had to go out further from my turn-around point to end the 10 miler right before the hills. I can still feel my hip, but it's not as bad as before. I'm still able to run, but I have to wait until tomorrow to see if I'm able to run at marathon pace (8:26/mile).
Following day after the 10 mile long run:
Another completed long run in near perfect weather. I eliminated the hills, but I then realized that I needed to work on the psychology of my running. I slowed down in the middle of my run but picked up my pace when I realize there was only 2 miles left on my long run. I didn't run right on marathon pace as my finish time was 1:25:29 at 8:33 pace. We'll see how this plays out as far as eliminating the hills, but for now I found another topic I can write about: staying in the race.
To be continued. In the meantime, keep on running!
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