Friday 10 October 2008

Not So Good

.........................in fact "Not very good at all" or "what a fuc#ing disaster" depending on what way you look at it and how long after the event it is, but given my philosophical temperament "Not So Good" is fine.
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And now that the title is sorted..........................
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While recovery from Sunday's 15 Miler appeared to go well with no niggles except for a bit of tightness in both calves after Tuesday's reduced intervals I picked up an injury during Thursday's scheduled tempo run.
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I felt fine at the track on Tuesday evening but decided to deviate from the plan and reduce the length of the 3k, 2k, 1k & 0.8k intervals at HM, 10k, 5k & 3k pace but perhaps keep the pace on the comfortably aggressive side (i.e. sacrifice distance for speed) and it went pretty much to plan as follows:-
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Dist (km) - Time - pace (km) - pace (mile) 2.08 - 08:01 - 03:51 - 06:12 1.248 - 04:31 - 03:37 - 05:49 0.832 - 02:52 - 03:27 - 05:33 0.416 - 01:20 - 03:12 - 05:09
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Wednesday I was busy at work and I only managed 2.5 miles on the treadmill at lunchtime (that's fine, i'm tapering)
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Thurdsay was also pretty busy but I decided to get a shortened version of the scheduled tempo run (2 x 2.5 Miles @ HM Pace) in after work. As the evening was wet I was half tempted to give the whole run a miss, but convinced myself to go ahead with it as I had a busy work day on Friday also and would not get the opportunity to run.
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I'd decided to keep it to 2 x 2 miles but if it felt too strenuous I would reduce or cut the 2nd set of fast miles - no need to push it too much. So after a mile warmup I started into the first mile completing it in 06:26 (feeling strong). The pace at the start of the 2nd mile was a bit on the fast side and I was beginning to feel the effort a bit more, so much so that on coming towards the end I was already deciding to reduce the length of the return leg. Then I felt a sudden cramping sort of pain in the top of my right calf. I stopped immediately and stretched and knew there and then that it was going to be a slow jog/walk the 3 miles home. In fact the attempts to jog had to be abandoned as I could feel the pain coming on.
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I think/hope it's just a mild sprain but 24 hours later I can still feel the tenderness especially when walking on the tip of my toes (using the stairs) and know that the next time I am likely to test it is over a 26.2 mile course in 9 days time.
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I could rant and rave about.......just about everything, but what would be the point of that. I trust there will be plenty of comments about how I should have taken it easy after Sunday and not taken the risk so close to my goal race etc. etc. but hey! everything is a risk and if I didn't take any I'd be still sitting on the couch without knowing I was blessed with so many mitochondria. Perhaps ignorance is bliss after all. I take some comfort from the stories I have read of elites being laid up for three weeks before race day and pulling off PB's on the day (i.e. the sudden unexpected taper). I know that if I can run on the day the PB is certainly there for the taking.
. Tue 7th Oct 6.14 Miles in about 50 minutes with Mixed intervals 2k to .4k @ 06:12 to 05:09 Pace . Wed 8th Oct 2.5 Miles in 20:00 . Thur 9th Oct 5.9 Miles in 01:00:09 with 1.83 Miles in 11:32 ( 06:18 Pace @ 158 HR) and most of the rest at a slow shuffle. Sleep: plenty of time for that. Legs: left - excellent condition, right - slightly worn.

12 comments:

  1. What is it about you and your calves before a marathon? Didn't you have the same before Cork? Well, you managed to run that race just fine, so I guess you'll be ok for Amsterdam as well. I'm beginning to think it's all psychosomatic.

    Don't panic.

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  2. Sorry to hear about the flare up. I guess the rest, ice, anti-inflammatory thing will kick in now? If you rest up for 3-4 days you might find that it improves enough to go for some easy runs to get some blood flow thru the area. You'll probably be OK if you're seeing some improvement after just one day.

    Hang in there! Nine days is a long time to heal up - if you can get in even a few easy runs, you probably won't lose much/any fitness.

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  3. Ouch! Why does it always happen when all the work is done? I'm sure plenty of ibuprofen and ice will bring it around. One thing that may be obvious but which I just learned this year is that icing works when you take it away by improving blood flow in the applied area. Good luck!

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  4. Take care of it and like everyone has suggested it will come under control. Like Thomas said, my guess is that it will be fine come race day.

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  5. Aye, hopefully a fair whack of it is in your head. I get a fair few phantom injuries in the weeks leading up to big races. Take it easy on it anyway - you're winding down now so that shouldn't be too hard.

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  6. Sorry to hear about the problem, I had a similar thing happen to me the week before my fastest london marathon, when my calf looked up on a fast session.
    i had to jog easy all weekbefore the race not running more than 35 mins, i found that one of those calf muscle supports was very useful, not only do they give support they also keep the muscle nice and warm.
    the other thing that might help is if you run with a relaxed foot and calf muscle as in the chirunning book, good luck with the recovery, the rest might do you good, thinking on a positive note!

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  7. From one who knows...lots of ice and rest is the way.

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  8. Bummer Grellan! Hope everything comes around okay. No risk, no reward, so don't beat yourself up to much over it.

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  9. Yikes!

    Not much to add to what's already been said.

    Man, I hope it eases up in the coming days.

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  10. I feel your pain. My left ITB is just tight enough to cause me concern after a 16 miler yesterday. Not a good idea after a 5.5 mile tempo on sunday. Still, I hope to put in one more hill session before the marathon. Before I forget, good luck on sunday and remember, pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

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  11. Hey Grellan - how's it feeling?

    I hope all is well.

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  12. Sorry to hear about that Grellan. As someone familiar with calf strains/tears, I can only say be careful with it.

    Baby it longer than you think necessary by feel - give it a few more days after it's feeling 'normal' when walking around and normal to touch.

    All the best.

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