Hamstring Update: Getting Better

Well, it has been nearly a week since my first blog post about my road to recovery. Things have been going pretty well. I was pretty sore after lifting weights last week which further solidified how out of shape I had become. Since that session, I have managed a few more Pilates sessions and a few more bike rides. In fact, I did a group ride on Saturday that was pretty intense. It had been ages since I rode with people and I had to concentrate the whole time in order to not get dropped on descents and climbs. Those guys really fly!

I have also started some other rehab activities. I discovered that my quads were like stone and have started using the foam roller to try to loosen them up as much as possible. I find this helps with my hamstring woes. I also was able to incorporate some compression into my day which also helps. 

On Sunday, I went to Poor Farm and walked on the trails. After about 40 minutes or so of walking, I found myself on the track at the high school that buts up to the park. I decided to do some gentle drills on the track and after some additional warmups, I did some very gentle short runs. I jogged for about 100 meters and then walked some. I repeated that several times and worked in some other drills. I took it real easy and short. 

Monday, I got up at 5 AM to go swim. It has been ages since I have been to the pool. In the past, I have found that as soon as I stop swimming, I get injured. It seems that swimming helps me stay limber and seems to have a injury preventative effect on my body. I am signed up for another early session tomorrow morning. 

Tonight, I am going to return to the Yoga mat for an hour class with Yogi Kelly. I have been taking Yoga classes on and off with Kelly for many years and always feel great afterwards. I will cook an early dinner for Melissa and I and then do Kelly's Zoom class. I really enjoy the convenience of the online class. 

Overall, I would say my hamstring is 75% better. So I am moving in the right direction. Here is hoping I keep moving that way. 

Road to Recovery - Day 1

I have had a pesky hamstring injury for quite some time but have also been busy with some family commitments which have required lots of travel back and forth between Richmond and Northern VA. I have been able to get a bike ride in about once a week while up there but have not really been doing much other than lamenting the fact that I can't run. 

Today, I started on my road to recovery. It all started with assuming the standing position at work rather than sitting all day. I have a nice adjustable standup desk but have been a bit sitting more than ever due to my mood. Last night before bed, I put my desk in the standing position in anticipation of standing today. 

After work, I rode my bike to Bryan Park and did some short hill repeats followed by Pilates and then some lower body weight lifting. I have an immediate goal of being able to do an easy run in two weeks. My plan is to continue with strength training, Pilates, yoga, etc. I also am going to try to tighten up my diet. Another goal is to quit drinking Red Bull again although I don't seem quite ready to do that. I will need to be more disciplined with my time so I can do the things I want to do and get the proper sleep. 

I think the key will be to start off small and be consistent. It might be neat to document it all too. So far, Day 1 is off to a good start. Here is hoping that I can continue to fight the good fight and keep up with my work, school, and family commitments. We shall see!

Richmond Marathon Race Report +

Well, it has been 16 weeks since the running of the 2019 Richmond Marathon and I have been very delinquent in my blogging. Now that the spring season is getting ready to ramp up, I thought I better get this report out of the way. 

From my last blog entry, you know that I injured myself but decided to go ahead and give the marathon a try and see what would happen. I am not going to go into too many details on this post because frankly, that would be boring. I will try to focus on the particulars and anything else notable for the historical record.

Race day was cold and windy. I opted to wear tights under my running shorts to keep my legs warm which normally I would not have done but with the hamstring injury, I decided it would be better overall to keep my legs warm. 

As I mentioned previously, my goal was to simply finish in about 4 hours. When the gun went off, I started conservatively and ran the first mile in about 9 minutes. The first several miles went well and I was maintaining a pace that would easily put me under 4 hours. I did slow down on some of the more hilly parts of the course but I was able to pick things back up after those tougher miles. 

The wind was a killer. Not only was it physically difficult to run into the wind, it was also mentally tough to keep going with it blowing into my face. Crossing the Leigh bridge was especially tough. There was not much chatter around me as everyone seemed to be struggling. The Leigh bridge section is from about mile 15 to mile 16 on the RVA Marathon course and that is where I really started to struggle. You can see from my splits that mile 16 was the beginning of my fade. I did manage to pick it up again a little later. But that did not last long. Here are my splits for the entire race. 

Lap	Distance	Time	Pace	GAP	Elev	HR
1	1.00 mi	9:00	9:00 /mi	9:01 /mi	-8 ft	142 bpm
2	1.00 mi	8:50	8:50 /mi	8:45 /mi	22 ft	142 bpm
3	1.00 mi	8:43	8:43 /mi	8:42 /mi	4 ft	140 bpm
4	1.00 mi	8:38	8:38 /mi	8:36 /mi	7 ft	143 bpm
5	1.00 mi	8:42	8:42 /mi	8:39 /mi	7 ft	142 bpm
6	1.00 mi	8:54	8:54 /mi	8:41 /mi	26 ft	144 bpm
7	1.00 mi	8:38	8:38 /mi	9:01 /mi	-144 ft	136 bpm
8	1.00 mi	8:49	8:49 /mi	8:44 /mi	8 ft	138 bpm
9	1.00 mi	8:52	8:52 /mi	8:54 /mi	-20 ft	136 bpm
10	1.00 mi	9:00	9:00 /mi	8:49 /mi	20 ft	137 bpm
11	1.00 mi	9:16	9:16 /mi	8:56 /mi	33 ft	140 bpm
12	1.00 mi	9:13	9:13 /mi	8:58 /mi	31 ft	139 bpm
13	1.00 mi	9:22	9:22 /mi	9:16 /mi	7 ft	137 bpm
14	1.00 mi	8:51	8:51 /mi	8:52 /mi	-24 ft	140 bpm
15	1.00 mi	8:58	8:58 /mi	9:06 /mi	-55 ft	140 bpm
16	1.00 mi	9:46	9:46 /mi	9:32 /mi	34 ft	143 bpm
17	1.00 mi	9:44	9:44 /mi	9:29 /mi	38 ft	141 bpm
18	1.00 mi	8:54	8:54 /mi	8:47 /mi	32 ft	147 bpm
19	1.00 mi	11:07	11:07 /mi	11:10 /mi	-31 ft	131 bpm
20	1.00 mi	11:23	11:23 /mi	11:11 /mi	12 ft	132 bpm
21	1.00 mi	11:34	11:34 /mi	11:31 /mi	1 ft	128 bpm
22	1.00 mi	14:38	14:38 /mi	14:36 /mi	-5 ft	109 bpm
23	1.00 mi	11:42	11:42 /mi	11:39 /mi	0 ft	137 bpm
24	1.00 mi	12:11	12:11 /mi	12:17 /mi	-23 ft	139 bpm
25	1.00 mi	13:17	13:17 /mi	13:02 /mi	22 ft	143 bpm
26	1.00 mi	12:44	12:44 /mi	12:50 /mi	-38 ft	136 bpm
27	0.32 mi	3:22	10:23 /mi	11:29 /mi	-96 ft	142 bpm

As I ran north on Arthur Ashe Boulevard, it happened. My hamstring decided it had had enough. However, it was not my left hamstring that I had been rehabbing. Nope, it was the right one doing the same thing that the left one had done. I was forced to walk. I walked and hobbled for the next couple of miles. I looked at my watch and did the math. I could finish well within the cutoff if I simply walked the rest. But the thought of being out there in the cold for that much longer was not very appealing. I tried to stretch some but even that was difficult. I was finally able to start a little shuffle and did a shuffle/walk for the rest of the way. It was painful and down right miserable. However, I had been in this position before. During Ironman competitions, the last part of the marathon is always a death march. I knew I could just keep going and finish so I pushed through the misery and ended up finishing. 

Out of the three marathons I have run, this was the slowest. It was even slower than at least 3 or 4 of my Ironman marathons. But I managed to finish and did not really do any damage to my body. 

After the race, I went and got my bag of stuff that I had dropped off at the start earlier that morning. I took off all my wet clothes and put on dry clothes as quickly as possible. I then hobbled my way back to my office and used the bathroom and put on all my jackets and another hat. I also gobbled up some candy and had a Red Bull. 

I was following Melissa on the marathon tracker and estimated that if I hurried, I could catch her finishing. I made it back to the course in time to see her running up Franklin to the 5th street turn. I ran with her for about 25 yards before my legs demanded I stop. She continued on to the finish and I walked down to meet up with her. She had a fine race of course. She is the pacing queen and always knows how to stick to her goal and finish well. I am always impressed with her determination and accomplishments on and off the race course. 

And that was that. I had a nice build up to a potential PR and then blew it by getting injured. However, I learned some lessons that I will talk about in my next blog post. 

Since the RVA Marathon, I have done a few races. I did the Countdown to None 5K in Vienna, VA on New Years Eve and got 1st in my age group. 

Later in January, I ran the Frostbite 15K. I went out a little hot and struggled towards the end but managed to have an OK race. I got 13th out of 50 in my age group on what proved to be a challenging course. 

Yesterday, after a last minute entry the night before, I raced the Shamrock 5K here in Richmond. Considering I ran 12 miles the day before and did a short but high intensity trainer ride afterwards as well as a 1 hour trainer ride a few hours before the 5K, I was pleased with my result. My goal was to keep up with Justin and then try to out sprint him at the line. I was able to hang on to him and then towards the end step on the gas a little to put some distance between us and then finally sprint down the straight away at the finish. I ended up 3rd in my age group. Not too shabby for running on tired legs.

For the upcoming season, this is what I have on the calendar so far:

Date	Race	Location
Saturday, March 28th	Monument Ave 10K	RVA
Saturday, April 4th	Smithfield Sprint Triathlon	Smithfield VA
Saturday, May 9th	Kinetic Half Triathlon	Lake Anna, VA
Sunday, May 10th	Kinetic Sprint Triathlon	Lake Anna, VA
Saturday, May 16th	IM 70.3 VA Blue Ridge Training Camp  not a race	Roanoke VA
Sunday, June 7th	IM 70.3 VA Blue Ridge Triathlon	Roanoke, VA
Sunday, June 28th	Rev3 Williamsburg Olympic Triathlon	Williamsburg, VA