Lying in bed last night, I couldn’t help but dwell on my performance at the relays yesterday. I’m really disappointed in myself for not having warmed up properly and for not pushing myself harder. If I had warmed up properly, and done a trial run up to the top of the hill, I would have known that I could have quite easily made it to the top, without having to conserve as much energy as I thought I did because I didn’t know how long the hill went on for. I know I could have pushed much harder and run faster – I proved this at last week’s hill session where Steve had me sprinting up Factory Hill so I know that I’m more than capable. I just need to learn to push myself rather than having to rely on others to push me. Seriously, I really need a hypnotherapist!
I found the fact that I didn’t have a set start time for the race really difficult and I had no idea when to start/stop warming up so all I did was a pathetic little jog which didn’t even last two minutes. No strides, no stretching.
Again, I have no one to blame but myself and wish I could turn the clock back and do it all over again.
On a brighter note, you learn by your mistakes so I just have to pick myself up, move on and file this experience away as a lesson in how to run relays. Hopefully the next one will be a different story.
Oh and I forgot to mention yesterday that I also did a 45 minute yoga session as part of my goal to get back into core and flexibility work.
By about a mile into tonight's steady run, I realised something was wrong. My calves and shins were really tight. I stopped for a stretch and, whilst stretching, also did a hamstring stretch and this really hurt on the right side, under the glute. I hadn't noticed it whilst running. Some of you will know that I have a lot of issues with my right glute/hamstring/low back and have been having physio on it for a good while. Whilst the deep tissue massage and stretching exercises alleviate the pain, it's isn't going away entirely. I think it might be time to make use of my Pru Health plan at work and get some x-rays done to see if there is anything more serious going on. I'm not sure I want to know the results though and I know that any non-running doctor will just tell me to stop running, which isn't really an option.
After a few minutes stretching I tried to give it another go. Whilst the pain wasn't too bad, I wasn't happy so I kept stopping to stretch throughout the entire run. By the last mile my right side was feeling really heavy, like my leg had turned to lead. Looking back, I probably shouldn't have carried on trying to run but you know what runners are like, we carry on hoping it will get better on its own.
I'm supposed to be doing a speed work session tomorrow but I really don't think that will be happening now. Typical, my first week of getting back into some more serious training and this happens. I'm not sure if it was the race yesterday or what that has made my muscles so tight. I have just spent the last three quarters of an hour rolling around on my Grid foam roller and using a massage stick but it doesn't seem to have helped much.
My blog seems to be all doom and gloom these days!
I really need to get this sorted out as I have another race this weekend... and the weekend after! At least I don't have to feel bad about missing a speed session though as I can just use the race as a speed session instead (if I end up doing the race!).
Total distance - 6.25 miles.
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