Entering the sharpening period and narrowly escaping injury

So it HAS been noted by some that I have not been blogging much of late. Usually I would say this is pure laziness on my part. And it was to some degree.

But I reeeeeally didnt blog about running because I was scared that I was injured. For some reason I could talk to Kristen about the butt-crease/hamstring pain I was feeling until I was blue in the face (or she got sick of me) but writing it down on this here blog seems to take it from pre-injury niggle territory, to full-blown injury-dom. And at this stage of my training cycle, such a position would warrant a gigantic freakout. So I stayed a little away from discussing it out there in the real world.

Anyway, its pretty much gone now, so Im ok to talk about it again. I'm sure you're both relieved and elated, you, our 2-3 precious readers*

So the last two weeks of training have looked like this:

November 5-11, 2012 (four weeks out from goal race)
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 10miles easy
Wednesday: 1 mile easy, 10 x 800s on treadmill, at 9.4 (6:27min miles) with 0.25 mile walk recoveries, 1 mile easy - toughest speed workout I have done, but made it through.
Thursday: Easy elliptical, 45 mins plus light leg strength. My Fast Running Blog entry was:

I began feeling a pain in the butt/upper hamstring after yesterday's run, and decided to skip the speed work in favor of XT today. I think it was brought on by my two speed workouts last week on the treadmill where I felt my form go down the gurgler. I know I overstride on the treadmill, and don't seem to do well at keeping up a good cadence at higher speeds. 


Friday:  Was still feeling tightness but decided to go for my tempo anyway. I was pleased with how it went, given that it was windy and I was unfueled (it was morning; Gu chomps are not the greatest first thing):  2 miles easy, then my splits were: 7:01, 6:54, 6:58, (1 min break) 7:00, 6:50, 2 miles easy. Very encouraged by the last mile!

Saturday: SHOULD have XT, but went for 8 miles easy (8:20 pace) plus a home made strength workout: pushups, squat jumps, sumo squats, mountain climbers, lunges.

Sunday: Hamstring tight and sore. Butt sore. Freak out, freak out!! Skipped the long run, and cross-trained on elliptical for 60 mins before flying to San Diego to see my fellow little runner work.

November 12-18, 2012 (three weeks out)
Monday: Rest. Commiserate with Kristen about how we're both laid up. Lots of stretching, rolling, hamstring curls. 
Tuesday: Rest again.  I was self-diagnosed with a bit of upper (proximal) hamstring tendonosis (aka "pain in the butt").

It feels like tightness in your hamstring, but burning pain in your "sitting" butt bone, because thats where the hamstring attaches to the pelvis. It actually got better when I stopped stretching. I think I was pulling on the upper hamstring which is actually tendon, not muscle. It made a big difference. Kept the strengthening regime going though, with hamstring curls.
Wednesday: Tempo. I was aiming for 6 miles at around 7; i.e., nearish to race-pace. Disappointing. Actual workout was 1 mile easy, then 6 miles: 7:08, 7:09, 7:04; 7:23 (what??) 7:06, 7:08, 1 mile easy. I totally lost the game in that 4th mile and literally stopped running for about 20 seconds. Got back in it though, and fuddled through the last two miles.
Thursday: 60 mins easy elliptical, + 2 miles easy on treadmill
Friday: Speed - 1 mile easy,  6x 1k at 6:22 (9.4 on treadmill with 1% incline), 1 mile easy + easy leg strength
Saturday: 60 mins elliptical intervals plus light core workout
Sunday: 18 miles at 8:20 pace - longest ever run!

So my hamstring/butt area doesn't feel 100% now but it doesn't feel injured anymore. I was really disheartened to lose those couple of days of training. But I gave myself a little reminder:

Note to self - for the upteenth time. Yes, it is agony when you've been training really hard and hitting all your scheduled workouts to have to take unexpected days off to take care of a "pre-injury" niggle. But remember this feeling; this feeling when you know you just escaped a real injury by taking some time to let your body recoup. It is only a few days. Take it, and you will thank yourself when you are running healthy again in no time. There are no workouts you can accomplish in a few days that could possibly make up for weeks - or even months - of time off that you have to take if something turns into a real injury!

I have to keep hitting myself over the head with this "gentle" reminder. Anyone else have to do that or do you just plough through and hope for the best??

*Possibly includes both our fathers, so no, the popularity count on this blog is not our most astounding feat.