My current Marathon PR was from 2017 at the NYC Marathon.
As a side note, unbeknownst to me, a movie was being filmed during the 2017 NYC Marathon and I made it into the movie. If you blink, you will miss me but a friend send along this screen grab. Also, you can see my race report for NYC here. http://jimsoccernut.blogspot.com/2017/11/2017-tcs-nyc-marathon-race-report.html
 |
| That is me in the red Gobble Wobble shirt |
Sports Backers Marathon Training Team (MTT) runs out of Sports Backers Stadium in Richmond. The stadium is 1 mile from my house. When MTT started, I decided I would run from my house to the stadium, run with my MTT team, and then run home. I have always enjoyed doing that kind of thing and have run from my house to the Monument Ave 10K, run it, and run then back home. And I used to ride my mountain bike from my house in Henrico County to the downtown trails, ride all the trails, and then ride back home. There is something appealing about not having to drive, park, etc. So, for MTT, I always got 2 more miles than what was prescribed in the MTT training plan. Overachiever? Maybe. Sorta like this guy.
This routine seemed to work out well for me. I would run 1 mile to the stadium and then have a little break including using the indoor bathroom at the stadium which is always a runner's dream. Then I would run the prescribed route with Team Limes which always included SAG stops where we could all refuel with water, PowerAid, gels, etc. Then I would take a little break when we got back to the Stadium before slogging that last mile home.
With the extra mileage and all the hill work that I normally did not do, I really felt primed to run a good race. I made a decision that I would stop training for triathlon and just focus on running. I wanted to sleep more and thought that skipping the 5:30 AM pool sessions, and long bike rides on the weekend would give my body more rest. I also made a hard decision to stop training with my coach who I had been training regularly with for more than 5 years. It was tough to break up with him because I had learned so much from him enjoyed a great deal of success under his guidance. It was nice to simply complete workouts as prescribed and not really have to think about it much. But I was a bit burnt out and wanted to try going at it by myself for awhile. Plus, I could really use some new tires on my car and the cost savings would help with the tires and various other expenses. It took a while for my decision to sit well with me. I missed Dave. I threw myself into MTT.
On October 17th, I was running track after a weekend 22 miler, and I was feeling fast. The weather had gotten cooler. It was really the first cool track workout I had. After a short warm up of 2 miles and some strides, I was ticking off some decent paces that felt relatively easy. Below you can see my laps. I pressed the lap button after one time around the track. I did one mile followed by some active rest and then a 2 miler. Again, it all felt very easy. I had one more 2 mile interval to do. Somewhere around 600 meters into it, my hamstring started to complain a bit. I pulled the plug and called it a day.
Lap # Time Cumulative Time Distance Pace HR
Well, that sucked. I took the next two days off and did all I could to heal including compression, heat, stretching, and rest. On the following Sunday, I took off from my house a little slower than usual to let myself warm up. Of course it was relatively cold and rainy. Our first real bad weather run of the season. I was planning to see how I felt when I got to the stadium. When I got there, I felt pretty good. My hammy was fine and I was ready to resume business as usual.
The route that day went through the Fan of Richmond and with all the rain and poor drainage around that area, there were flooded areas and I ended up running through some pretty cold puddles. Is it a still called a puddle if it comes up past your ankles? Oh well, I was soaked already so I shrugged it off and kept on trucking. Then, about 3.5 miles into the run, my hammy started to act up. I told the person I was running with that I was going to slow down and that she could keep going. We were discussing how slow I was going to go when suddenly a sharp pain shot through my hamstring which caused me to shout an expletive and then stop all together. It was like a snake bite. This was not good at all. I turned around and started walking home. I decided it would be less mileage to walk home than to walk back to the stadium and then back home. So, that is what I did.
 |
| Mine was my left leg |
I hobbled home. It was pretty miserable as far as walks go. It was cold and rainy and I could not move fast enough to keep warm. I would occasionally shuffle a bit more than a walk but that would not last long. It took me about 40 minutes to walk home. I took a quick hot shower and then got bundled up and drove my car back to Sports Backers Stadium so I could sign back in so the Team Limes coaches did not wonder what happened to me.
So, now what? I consulted my physical therapy friend who always gives me guidance and she thought I should go see someone. I decided to try to get into see a professional ASAP. I called the VCU Sports Medicine hotline which was a perk of training with MTT. They were supposed to give MTT participants priority appointments. I managed to get into pretty quickly to see an NP at the VCU Sports Medicine clinic. She gave me a thorough exam and wrote me a prescription for physical therapy. I spent the next day trying to get in somewhere and finally landed at Richmond Physical Therapy near Willow Lawn shopping center which was not too far from my house.
Richmond Physical Therapy (RPT) was great. The entire staff was pleasant, supportive, and knowledgeable. Mary Beth took good care of me and put me on the road to recovery. At this point, my marathon plans were on hold as I worked through the exercises, trying to heal and get stronger.
 |
| Short video of my doing an exercise at RPT https://www.facebook.com/richmondpt/videos/569002377185411/ |
While I was going to PT, I started to ride my bike some. Mary Beth said it would be fine to ride my trainer. So I would do some short rides before doing my exercises. Riding was not a problem for my hamstring so at least I had that going for me.
I don't want to get into too many details but I do want to share this one tool that really played a bit part of my recovery. I call it the "Magic Ball". I put this ball under my hamstring while sitting at my desk at work or while driving my car. I can do active release as well as massage while multitasking. After a short session, my hamstring always feels better.
 |
| The Magic Ball |
I ended up being mostly out of commission for two weeks. I ran two of the long taper runs with Team Limes. I took it easy, took a few walk breaks, and mostly held it together. After my two taper runs, I decided I would go ahead and try the marathon but with adjusted goals. I knew it would be a bit of a struggle but I thought if I took it easy, I might be able to run around 4 hours. So that was the plan. I would try to run 9 minute miles and just hope that I did not blow up. There was always the possibility I would have to pull myself out of the race at some point so I went in to the race with that notion in the back of my mind.
Next up will be my actual race report. I know, the suspense is killing you. Did I survive? Did I finish? Did my hamstring act up? What was the race swag like? Did I swear off running forever?
No comments:
Post a Comment