It has been a trying month. Oh, August. You pain in the butt.
After the 70.3 I took 4 days off from all exercise and then attempted to slowly jump back in. Not necessarily where I left off (no 10-12 hr weeks necessary) but just gently to about 7-8 hr weeks to get ready to race again at the end of the month.
Originally, it was going great. I had an amazing run coming back - some of the fastest I've done in a while. Then some decent biking and a mix of rest days and decent workouts. Then last Saturday I jumped in the pool around 8:30 and was feeling a little tight but nothing crazy. I actually had a decent workout holding a pretty fast clip for even some longer sets. Though a little tight, I was happy with my performance.
That day I had also convinced my "non-athletic" boyfriend (otherwise known as one of those people who is athletically talented, but doesn't use it.... *sigh*) to run a quick tempo run with me. Nothing crazy - 10 min warm-up, 2 miles at a 10k race pace, and then a cool down walk home.
In my opinion, this went pretty well for him. He ran too far and ended up doing more like 3 miles at race pace and then when all was said and done ran nearly 4 miles. Yeah, he said it was hard - but I don't know of anyone who can just go run 4 miles at a decent clip without any training. Plus after the warm-up, he left me in the dust. For what he did, he had to have run 8 min miles at the slowest....which to me says that with any practice he could run 7s for a long long time.
I, however, was not so lucky. It was hot and I guess I didn't take in as much water between the swim and the run as I thought. My warm-up was fine, but then as he took off for the tempo run (which was just a more aggressive jog for him) I ran 3 minutes before feeling awful. My legs felt like lead, my stomach started hurting - just bad news bears. Interspersed with walking - so no, not exactly a tempo run - I made it to the turn around point and then walked/jogged it back. I met up with him and we walked home. Even though I felt crappy, I was so proud of him that I didn't really press the issue too much.
Later that day we took my dog to the park for a nice long walk. Again, it was pretty hot, but we stopped a few times so she, and we, could drink water. 2.5 miles of walking should feel like nothing to me, but I was hot, cranky, aching and in need of a LOT of water. I stopped once to try to stretch out the pain, but nothing helped.
That night I had trouble sleeping because the pain in both my hamstrings got so bad. I woke to fidget every few hours. Walking didn't hurt, but laying and sitting killed. This got worse throughout Sunday, so on Monday, sitting hurt. The pain in my right hamstring had subsided (this is the one I injured this winter), but the left was so bad I couldn't think while I was sitting down. The drive to work made me wriggle in my seat. I immediately took 800mg of ibuprofen and it all went away. I thought this was promising until again, I spent a night in pain. I tried icing the left side, but to no avail - and still experienced the same pain on Tuesday and Wednesday. I made an appointment to see a chiropractor on Thursday.
Thursday morning I woke feeling a little better. Sleeping had been easier but the pain still was present. The chiropractor felt the tightness and found a number of areas of localized pain in my leg which he helped me work out. He also helped me get my hips back in the right place and found a knot in my back that he released. I chronically have pretty knotted shoulders - so this was great. I felt sore that day at work, but only took an Aleve (not 800 mg of ibuprofen). By Friday, the pain during sitting or laying was totally gone.
I went back for a check up today and the doctor went back to my areas of localized pain, but still went through my entire leg as he had. One by the back of my knee was still bad - but other hamstring pain had eased up considerably. Instead I discussed with him the abdominal cramps that I regularly suffered from and was able to find similar knotted areas in my external obliques that he could help me release. I'll be curious to see if that takes an effect on that periodic cramping I get while running and biking. He also found similar pain in my left hip flexor (yep, same side at the hamstring thing) and worked that out.
I was and am optimistic. However, I did try running today, and could not even take a few strides without experiencing bad pain. I quit and got on my bike instead which did not irritate the hamstring - but instead bothered my knees. Granted, I took a route with fluctuating grade so the climbing has a tendency to do that.
Ultimately, I am supposed to race next weekend, but now I'm not sure if I can. My brain tells me I just shouldn't, but I was very excited about this race and it upsets me not to go and finish out my season. Right now, I'm considering trying to run again a few times this week. If I am capable of completing any run without hamstring pain, I may still race, but today the future does not look bright.
The worst part about injury is the impatience. I have gotten better - Andrea of old would never have been capable of taking an entire week off, but I did. Still, healing is slow, frustrating, and mentally taxing. At least I can keep up two of the three sports.
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