It's been an interesting week of running, with getting into new territory in a couple of regards. I headed out for a run last Sunday, after a really solid week. I'd had a "rest" from long runs, with my longest an easy 15km. I thought I'd just finish up the week with a quick 8km. Well, I'd only gone about 2.5km when I got a niggle behind my left knee. I pushed on, but it turned into a twinge, which became a pain and I had to stop. I gave it a stretch and kept going, but I soon realized I should stop. It didn't hurt to walk, but I couldn't run comfortably on it. I've never really had a running injury before, so I just wasn't sure what to do!
When I got home, I iced & rested it, and it felt pretty good. I put it down to running too many days in the week (it was run #6, and even though a few of those were only 5-7km, it's more sessions than usual). I didn't run on Monday, then went to my usual Tuesday morning speed session. I was pretty cautious to start with, but got through the 1km reps easily & the knee didn't trouble me at all - yay! I went on to do a good-paced 10km on Wednesday and another 5km on Friday and while I felt the occasional twinge, there was no pain.
Saturday brought the next challenge - breaking the 30km barrier for the first time. I felt mentally prepared to tackle the distance and made sure I fueled up well during the morning. Dean & I set out together and decided to just head out towards Scarborough for 15km then turn around. I felt great energy-wise and mentally strong as well. It was nice to follow different paths and have new surroundings to take it. Dean was again feeling tight in his hamstring and we had a couple of short stops for him to stretch.
From about 20km onwards I knew he was doing it tough and before 23km, he had to stop. It was so disappointing for him to not make the distance and I'm making him book into a physio or osteo this week to get it checked out. As I left him, I knew I'd just have to knuckle down and get those final 7km done. 3 of those were across the Hornibrook Bridge, which is long and boring and tough. I just went into robot mode and made it home to clock up the 30km in about 2 hours 45, a time I was really happy with.
My knee held up fine - again, I could feel it niggle every so often, but it didn't hurt or affect my technique. However, it has been a bit sore ever since, especially going up & down stairs. I'm hoping it's just general soreness and won't affect my training this week. I'm so happy to have reached that milestone & know that the mindset hasn't been an issue. I have a few aches & pains, but except for the knee, they are all my usual spots. It's 7 weeks until race day, so this is really crunch time for training and I'm feeling very much on track! Here's hoping for a pain-free week!
No comments:
Post a Comment