Rest-mode

I have pretty much been in rest-mode since the Cool Runners 10k. A week of rest, yoga and stretching had me feeling much better. I honestly thought I was ok. 

Sometime in October last year I had attempted Shawn T's 60 day Insanity program - and failed miserably - and had promised myself I'd give another shot at it at another time. Somehow, (call me stupid) I thought that the "another time" would be now - just as I was recovering from an injury. Two days of crazy intense cardio workout put me right back on square one - injured and limping. 

I've been told that it takes about 4 to 6 weeks for an injury to heal completely. I should be allowing myself that much time before returning to intense cardio activity. Back to doing just yoga, stretches and static weights. Not Happy.

Cool Runners 10K

Sunday was the dreaded Cool Runners 10k. I say dreaded because I wasn't feeling fully OK. Even though I had given myself a break of 10 days from running in the hope that my adducter muscle would right itself, it hadn't quite. 

I have never felt quite so blah before a race. Normally, the bib expo is when all the nervous excitement peaks but this time round, it did nothing to dissipate the "blah" feeling. The previous night, I just went through the motion of sprucing up my shoes, putting together my race gear and I performed all of my pre-race routine by rote. I woke up in the morning feeling like I would on any other regular training run day. I didn't even feel like taking my ritual pre-run photo.

Throughout the run everything was good & hunky dory. It was hot, humid and sweltering but I was running at my comfort pace. I knew that I would finish around or a little slower than my PB but didn't want to push myself to go faster. My finishing time was 1:09:47 but it was the last thing on my mind. My hip adducter definitely felt strained and started feeling tighter with the passing hours.

This is definitely a strange injury to have. There is no major pain as such - it just feels weird and uncomfortable. As long as I'm moving it is fine but when I get back up after sitting down or lying down for a while, it starts to nag. A short dose of Yoga this morning relieved some of the tightness but unfortunately all I can do now is rest it out till it returns to being completely normal.

It was while I was feeling particularly bummed out that I decided to check out the race results online and surprise! surprise! I discovered that I had made it to the leader board in the 10K women's open category. I came 7th of all the 197 women who ran in the open category!! Picked me up a bit.

Confession Time

Like any normal person I hate getting injured. And like any regular runner I feel that the worst part of an injury is that it keeps you from running. Remember my TWCM Half Marathon? I got to the start line in a mad rush and there just wasn't enough time to do my warm up properly? Post-run I experienced a mild strain (not my first) in my right hip adducter. It was so mild and negligible that I deliberately ignored it and talked myself into thinking I was imagining it. Though I confess that in the back of my mind I knew all along that it was something. 

I didn't allow it to stop me from running. I even ran the Auroville half marathon just two weeks later. I had been training like everything was normal. I did not even acknowledge the strain. I didn't have to because I was running fine with it and the strain was just a very mild irritation that I would feel if I sat idle for too long. I would however consciously spend more time doing the hip adducter static stretches post run and more dynamic versions pre-run focusing on those muscles. You can find some of those here

But after my speed-training on Tuesday, the "mild strain" felt more pressing. I would still class it as "mild" but it is alarming enough to force me into a week of rest. Yoga, Zumba and maybe some cycling it is till the cool runners 10K on March 20th. 

Sigh! Why do I do this to myself.