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Day 64–Back To The Old Routine

The legs are in no state to be doing any speed work but they are fit for a Tuesday double – similar in distance to what I used to run back in Coventry / Kenilworth. Both runs saw the debut for the turquoise pair of the Nike Air Pegasus 29. As they were replacing identical trainers, except the old pair were red, there were no unexpected surprises with these trainers – just the abundance of more cushioning with a pair that were 520 odd miles fresher than the pair they replaced.

The morning run was just a typical out and back to Dysart Park and back affair. The only highlight was seeing the queue for the cinema I visited yesterday morning. The queue was about 3 deep then; today it came out of the cinema, onto the street and snaked around the corner. That made me feel highly relieved I went when I did. Pace was fine – a little slower than yesterday, but I was determined to put in as little effort as possible.

For the evening run I put a message out on the Grantham RC Facebook page to see if anyone would be interested in joining me for a few easy miles. Scott replied and said he was up for it, but wanted to run in daylight if at all possible. That seemed fine to me so we headed out at around 4:30pm for an easy 8.5 miles or so. Being in daylight we were able to run up the canal for a bit before heading into Harrowby, which included a cheeky little hill which served a reminder to the legs that the efforts of Sunday were still very much present.

That hill tackled and it was pretty much all the way downhill back into town. The pace was spot on – the legs tired at the end but not unbearably so. What the run did tell me was that although I think they’ll handle high mileage for the rest of the week, anything at pace is going to be a struggle. That puts into doubt my participation in the National Cross Country Championships on Saturday, although the F1 test in Bahrain and a change in time difference between us and then may well have put paid to any hopes of making it to Nottingham in time anyway.

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Day 63–A Bit Tender!

Today I hurt. Nothing too dramatic or necessarily something I should worry about, merely a reminder that running 30km at marathon pace or slightly quicker is not an undertaking you should make every day.

It would have been easy to justify not running. It was left to around 4pm but eventually I made it out. The right groin and hamstring being particularly sore walking around the house, thankfully they were merely distractions during an easy paced six mile run – which again was probably run slightly quicker than it should have been, but I really was putting in very little effort.

Instead I was thinking about just how good The Lego Movie was. I expected some Pixar style candy for the brain animated fare to enjoy with my daughter. Instead we were offered something quite special – a film which works on every level and is, quite possibly, the best allegory I’ve enjoyed since I read Orwell’s Animal Farm for the first time.

Trying to fully decipher the film meant the 40 odd minutes flew by. I hadn’t even noticed it had been raining for much of the run. High praise indeed!

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Day 61–Thankfully Undramatic

The original plan did not have me running today – taking a day off to prepare fully for the Stamford 30k tomorrow. However because my mileage has been so restricted for the past week or so I decided to put in an easy 6 this morning.

The brutal overnight storm meant a fitful night’s sleep so I wasn’t feeling particularly fresh for the run; once I was out however it wasn’t long before the body and mind woke up. Conditions were a bit tricky for clothing, it was approaching 10C but the still gale force wind meant that when it was in your face it felt much colder. In the end I went near full thermal, and this turned out to be a good decision.

The run was thankfully undramatic in terms of not suffering from any pains in the right leg. There was a moment when a small yappy dog free from any control from its owner busy chatting away on her mobile, came rather too close for comfort to the backs of my legs. We had a standoff and it was some while before the owner came to claim ownership of her mutt. There was a little bit of groin pain as I had to twist a bit awkwardly to avoid the canine, thankfully I think no damage was done.

So it’s Stamford tomorrow. This race last year I suffered badly from sciatica in the race – I hope it doesn’t come to bite me again tomorrow. Something in the back of my mind thinks it might….

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Day 60–Run Done Before Another Storm

I was keen to get out this morning to test the leg before making a decision on whether to race on Sunday. The rain just began to fall as I was heading out – mercifully it was light and was nothing compared to the storm that blew in literally minutes after I finished the run.

From the off things felt reasonable, I was running easily and mostly without discomfort. In the final mile or so I put in a concerted effort to run at around the sort of pace I would like to run Sunday. There was a little tightness in the right leg, but nothing out of the ordinary, and actually feeling pretty good considering the battering they received during massage the day before.

So finished the run with the intention of racing Sunday, subject to not picking up the sickness bug my eldest daughter has been off sick with today and that the pains running down my right leg can be easily relieved with a little massage and stretching to be carried out shortly.

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Day 59–At Times I Wonder Why I Do This

I had a timely sports massage booked for the afternoon so I opted to put in a banker run in the morning in case I came out off the massage table in no fit state to run.

With no ill effects from yesterday’s run I set off to do the regular 6.15 mile run out to Dysart Park and back. Pleasingly it was an unspectacular run with very little in the way of discomfort – a few aches on the right quad early on and some tingling on the inner thigh near – otherwise nothing. I was putting in very little effort which made it quite pleasing I averaged 6:56 per mile, the second half significantly quicker thanks to a tasty tail wind – albeit no where near as strong as the gales that battered us and the rest of the country through the afternoon yesterday and into the night.

The run over, it was just a couple of hours and I was with David, my massage therapist. After five minutes of detailing my physical breakdown over the past couple of weeks, he set about putting things to rights. It was, at times, hellishly painful: when you have a thumb stuck deep into an already tender groin, you do wonder why on earth I do what I do to leave myself in a position where this treatment is necessary.

After 50 minutes or so the session was over. We’d found evidence of previous pulls (Presumably when I slipped on the club Christmas Eve run) halfway down the inner thigh, in the groin and tightening of the Psoas. David warned me I would be quite tender for a day or so and suggested ice when I got home. We also went through some stretches I can do  to help the Psoas.

As he predicted the area was soon sore so any thoughts of running again in the evening was put to one side: be thankful that I was at least able to run in the morning and that he thought I should be okay to race on Sunday – although he advised against racing too hard and to think of the bigger picture.

He is, of course right. It is too tempting to ignore the fact I have been and am injured and to resume full training as if nothing happened. What I need to do is to build the mileage and intensity up slowly, assured in the knowledge that the past months of solid training should hold me in good stead come April.