So I concluded last week with having to do 1 more 4 mile before I started to chill per say, excluding the additional 10mile I planned to do! But... After the 4 mile on the Friday 12th the next day saw me in pain with my groin AND achillies! Noooooo. God. Nooooooo. You can only imagine what's going through my mind. I could not pull out of my home town half. I was itching to start my race season on a high!
As a result, I took it upon myself to rest for the weekend and stretch it out. The deep heat and volterol were out again!
:-/
After all, it was only a 4 miler I was missing out on. To be completely honest, having done a 10 week programme for the Birmingham Half Marathon. I definitely missed a week for going away to Rhodes (and that's with all the inclusive junk food) and an additional week altogether if I calculated the runs I missed throughout the whole training programme. I'm doing very well with my training this year. Considering it was a, excuse my French. A shit start to the year, medically for me!
So I started the week off with a 4.2 miler on the 17th Feb. My Achilles seemed fine and groin was back to normal. The rest had paid off! I came in with a 9:28 min mile! With a finishing time of 39:50.
19th Feb seen me take on my final 10mile/ long run before race day. I was in a good frame of mind. Feeling optimistic with my newly acquired SIS Hydration tablet in my drink and a SIS gel in my back pocket for around mile 7. I decided to go with less elevation gain than my previous 11.50miler. Purely with avoiding injury due to my stupid, random muscle pains. I passed many runners on this run. Many of which were men, obviously with their game heads on. It made me think randomly, whilst I started my stretch on the Tamworth Road, about something I'd read in Women's Running the week before. Entries into half/ full/ ultra marathons are predominantly that of the male entrants. But studies conducted, show that women are better at judging their success rate. Whereas, men go into an event all macho, and are more likely to burn themselves out quicker, due to not being able to calculate a steady pace. Women, on the other hand, will only enter an event if they feel ready to do so. They will slow down if they feel tired, as to avoid burning themselves out. It has been shown that women may not be the fastest in an ultra marathon, but males have a higher drop out rate! Women also cope with sweating to cool themselves down more effectively (hormones or summit, summit) #womenpower! How can I recite all of this from an article I read 2+ weeks ago. But cannot remember anything from seminar reading i'd read the night before in Enviromental History and 200 Years of People Politics. I'm in the wrong degree- I swear.
With these pondering thoughts my breathing and pace had levelled out quite nicely. No pain was yet present apart from a bearable niggle in my knee. As I was heading up Nunts Lane (quite a steep incline), my Achilles began to feel tight. But I put it down to the steepness of the hill. Feeling a bit fatigued, but no where near as much as I'd felt on the other route. I got home in 1:40:49. Which was an average pace of 10.04! I love it!
The next day I decide ain't nobody got time for a rest and went for a supposed 4 mile which ended up being a 5 miler. Thinking i'd better get it out the way due to starting work @2pm (which is a very late start). My plan to complete the 4 miles Sunday. Bad idea. I warmed up properly, my muscles didn't feel too tight. I'd strapped my achillies up and volteroled my groin over night too. The 5 miler was difficult, my knees felt like they were grinding against the bone and creaking, my groin didn't seem to phase me or my Achilles for that matter. To think, I'm only 20, as my stepdad says when I put my pettella straps on.
"You shouldn't be needing them. You have young knees!"
Well, my shift at work was painful. My groin started to ache like mad. My knees, where I'd accidentally twisted due to attempting to look behind me and cross the road on Watery Lane began to be my downfall. I had to mop the food court that night too. So that added extra strain to my knee due to the forward backward motion. Ergh, you could say my day was slowly turning into a nightmare. I decided with a 10am start the next morning to see how I felt. Woow, my left hamstring directly behind my knee was killing me. Maybe an over hyper extention? I thought, well walking on it around work will keep it warm and kill the pain off. Ooo well I tell you, I had to use my 15min break @2:30 to run to Savers to buy deep heat and a knee support just to pull me through the last two hours of my shift. After smelling of eucalyptus oil for the remainder of the shift. Of which help immensely. I decided against the idea of the 4 mile that night. As well as feeling a bit under the weather. This week has sought me avoiding coughs and sneezes by people. Upping my vitamin C. You name it. Trying to avoid germs in general! I can't be dealing with a coming cold with only 4 days to go. Noooooooo. You mad? Not now! I've worked too hard for this mofo!
It's now obviously Wednesday. My supposed virus attack seems to have been avoided (touch wood). My Achilles is fine, my groin still has a niggle when its severely cold in my house or when I start my walk to university which is the case ever since I injured it from weight lifting back in 2013. I'm currently sat with a support on my left knee with deep heat on it due to it being slightly painful when I awoke. The question is should I avoid even tapering this week like my mum advised? (being a fully qualified fitness instructor). Or go for 3,2,2 mile. :-/
Stay tuned!!
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