Friday, August 7, 2009

You Put Your Left Leg In, You Put Your Left Leg Out...

My training has been all out of whack since the marathon. The Friday after the race I endeavored to complete an easy 3 mile run to ease myself back into running. Somewhere around mile 1 my left hamstring started feeling a slight dull ache. I chalked it up to post-marathon soreness. By mile 2 it was a stabbing, burning pain I could not ignore. I stubbornly kept on 'til mile 2.5 (I have OCD about Garmin) then walked/limped the last 0.5 miles home.

Major suckage.

I was thrown a bit by this because I have never had any hamstring issues. It was not an issue during my post-marathon soreness phase, either. I took four more days off. After two days of pain-free walking I went on a 3 mile run this past Tuesday. That went okay. A little dull achiness but no stabbing pain and no residual pain when walking afterwards.

Today I went for a 6 mile run. Hammie was 100%! Thank goodness. Another plus was that the 6 miles didn't feel nearly as terrible as I thought they would after such a long lay-off. They weren't effortless and I can tell I've lost endurance, but another week or so of good running and I should be back on track.

What's next? I have a rematch with the San Jose R'n'R Half Marathon in October. Last year I had registered with visions of trying to smack down a new half PR. Well, I seriously crunched my shin in August 2008 (since it was the day the Olympics started I will forever remember this day) which derailed all sorts of running plans for months. I did complete San Jose last year, but it was done purely for finishing rights and no racing. Because of this I signed up to run the 2009 edition of San Jose at the expo last year before I had even run the 2008 race.

This has surprised a few people when I've mentioned it the last week so maybe it bears mentioning here: Without a doubt, my A race for 2009 is the San Jose R'n'R Half Marathon. I want to improve my half marathon PR much more than I care about my marathon PR at this point. The entire point of the San Francisco Marathon was to build up a good endurance base to commence training for San Jose (and to train for CIM, but the jury is still out on that).

I have been pretty down the past week about my hamstring because I felt like all of my SFM work was going to waste. In reality I've only lost one week so I'm looking forward from here on out. That said, I still have no training plan. I've been meaning to create my own for weeks but never got around to penning one down. And this past week I was in no frame of mind to work on one. But tonight I am going to sit down and think this thing out.

**I am very excited to announce that RoadBunner will be doing our very first giveaway soon!! Stay tuned. I hope to get it up in the next couple of days!**

12 comments:

Ann (bunnygirl) said...

I'm glad you're feeling better, but have you gotten a good massage?

RG said...

Stretching after warmups?

Good luck with the plan ... as long as it is sort of like how you went after the Marathon - it's just that you can train faster because you won't have to train much beyond 10mile runs ..

Marlene said...

Phew, glad to hear the hammy is a-okay.

After this marathon training cycle (which you nailed!), you'll be in great shape for a half PR.

d. moll, l.ac. said...

Sounds like you are mended....give a ways????

rUntoNamAste said...

Considering your short recovery period after hard training, I'd say your body is holding up well. Impressive! I was down for a month, but I'm not a marathon vet like you! Take care of that hammie though and good luck penning your plan down...You're definitely in PR form!

I heart giveaways. (don't we all?)

Mica said...

I'm glad your hamstring has stopped being a pain!

Yay! A giveaway! I'm excited!

Southbaygirl said...

Hey-I would have done the exact same thing!! You go and rock San jose!!!

Giveaways!!! I never win but woo hoo!!

cody@codywestheimer.com said...

Keep up the good work! PR in sights!

X-Country2 said...

Stretch stretch stretch. Good luck with that half marathon. I like that race so much better than a full too.

Alisa said...

Glad your hammy was okay for the 6!

I definitely think all your SF training is going to pay off with a nice half PR!

ShirleyPerly said...

Oh, I'm so glad your hammy is behaving now. Mine popped while running 10 miles the weekend after I ran a marathon and bothered me for months. I probably should have taken it easier and stretched more diligently.

Aron said...

glad the leg is feeling better! wish you were going to be at a different race on oct 4th but you are definitely going to rock that one!!!