Monday, October 22, 2018

Defining a Different Goal

I'm so glad that as far as injuries go, mine is pretty minor. I didn't tear anything (we don't think), I don't need surgery, it's not going to keep me sedentary for long. Unfortunately, pulling your hamstring isn't a quick fix, so it certainly derailed my training considering it happened in my build up before my December 2 marathon. I could have continued to train through it, but it would be with pain on every run and it could have led to a torn hamstring, which is a brutal injury. Rather than being dumb, I chose to be extremely cautious and totally stopped running. In the past four weeks, I have only run four times. The first run a few days after the injury was a test run and with it came pain in every step. It gave me a lot of good data to pass on to my doctor, however, so it wasn't without positives. I tried again weekend before last but within a few minutes I knew it would be a very short run. Then this past weekend I finally feel like I had a breakthrough, with a good 3 mile run with minimal pain, and then a four mile run with no pain this morning (although my hamstring is a little bit achy afterwards). My last real quality run was on September 25 and I've missed 200 miles of training runs.

I have focused on physical therapy, upper body strength, core strength, and have thrown in a little swimming. I never really knew how difficult being sedentary would be for me, but I don't do well without a physical activity routine and the mental health therapy that goes along with the long hours of running. It's a part of me. I don't subscribe to the "running is life" mantra that a lot of endurance athletes tout on social media, but I really do miss it. I'm glad that I have other activities that I can do, although the hours of cardiovascular work can't be duplicated. My endurance gains are definitely going to be gone by the time I get back into it! My four miler this morning wasn't all that easy compared to pre-injury days.

So how does my leg feel? I was surprised that I didn't feel my hamstring during my run today. I'm expecting a little discomfort as it continues to heal. There is tightness in my posterior chain and that will need to be continually worked on. I am acutely aware of any twinge that I feel. Thankfully I have so many exercises that I can do to work on my deficiencies and I am doing them every single day.

So now that I have had to defer my October 28 half marathon and December 2 marathon, I will need to forge a new path to Boston on April 15. Now that I know I'm okay to start regularly running, I will need to rewrite my training plan and basically start from scratch. I'm hoping I will see some glimmer of leftover cardiovascular endurance soon. It's crazy how fast we can lose that fitness, however. I won't be running consecutive days for a little bit longer, and I need to build up my weekly mileage slowly.

In 13 weeks I have the Aramco Houston Half Marathon. That should be plenty of time for me to get into shape to race and I absolutely LOVE that race. I have several friends racing both the half and the full so I expect it to be lots of fun. Twelve weeks later is Marathon #15!!

I'm a believer in things happening like they should no matter how painful the path may become. I made it to Boston by a mere 15 seconds, it will be 15 months between marathons for me, it will be my 15th marathon, and it's on the 15th of April. I'll take a 15 second PR that day! Or maybe it'll be 15 degrees out? (only if it's 15 Celsius) Yes, I know I'm weird.

3 comments:

  1. You Rock! Continued prayers for healing, strength and perseverance!!! :)

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  2. I hope you're doing better! I always recommend people to resort to physical therapy, because It's so beneficial to our physical and mental health, but mostly because it helps cancer patients on their recovery. It's sad that people don't know how impactful undergoing physical therapy is. A website that has helped me become more aware of physical therapy and its importance is Preferred Rehab , you should check it out!

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