Oh Bugger

I am officially an idiot.

Pulled up very sore after the Puffing Billy race on Sunday and was getting a fair bit of pain in my right hamstring when I tried to run. Ignoring that, I did all of my scheduled runs for a 115k week up until Wednesday morning. They were very slow, plodding runs but strangely very enjoyable, zen like experiences (at one stage I stuck my foot in a hole and face planted into the nature strip and got up laughing).

Wednesday night is where the trouble occured. I rocked up to my first training session for my new club (Aths waverley) and discovered that everyone else at the track was a sprinter. Feeling somewhat intimidated, I warmed up in lane eight, did about 3k, ramping up the speed the whole time to test out the legs and was pleasantly surprised that my hammy was feeling good even at 3:35/k. Eager to have a go at some shorter stuff, I told Coach Terry that I was 'ready to do a few sprints'. He chuckled, slapped me on the shoulder and told me I'd never be ready to do a few sprints (well almost:P) and told me to do a fast 600m instead.

So feeling incredibly self-conscious, I did an almost all out 600m (only just managing to overtake some veterans doing their 100m repeats) in a fairly terrible time of 1:45. Terry seemed glad that I'd given it a go, and jogged around with me for a while, discussed my training and goals. I'd initially written him off as a bit of an interval junkie because the first thing he said to me after I told him I was training for half marathons was 'Ah, so I bet you're doing lots of long, slow miles huh? Well you know what long, slow miles make dontcha? Long, slow runners!' (a la Seb Coe). He turned out to be a really nice guy who knew quite a lot. A few times, he lectured me on a few physiological/training concepts (eg. how muscles recover), and I prepared my ears for the crock of shit that was surely coming their way, but what he said was actually pretty accurate. I found myself liking the guy and when he suggested I do another 600m, I thought why not?

80m later I pulled up, wincing and holding the back of my knee. It wasn't 'controlled' or 'relaxed' or even fast, and my hammy knew it! Owchy. I jogged out the rest of the session with Terry, rode home in some pain and then stupidly half limped, half jogged another 2.5k to meet the mileage target for that day.

I could barely walk up the stairs when I got home and it took me ages to get to sleep because lying in my normal position was excruciating!

The leg wasn't any better today and I have a feeling it's going to take quite a while to heal up. I've obviously tweaked a ligament or a tendon or something like that connected to the hamstring:S

Lardner Park this Saturday is out, and I don't think I'll be able to go for a long ride on Sunday either, which I was looking forward to. It's a bit depressing when the thing that most gives meaning to your life gets taken away:(

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On the plus side, my iron levels turned out to be fine. The doctor thinks I just need to sleep more (I've been getting 8 hrs, but apparently that's not enough). I'll have an extra 45 minutes to sleep in for a while I guess, so I won't be doing any morning runs..