"It's a treat being a runner, out in the world by yourself with not a soul to make you bad-tempered or tell you what to do." - Allan Sillitoe


Sunday, September 27, 2009

Long run inc marathon pace - now the taper

Wednesday - still felt a bit trashed after the Yasso session the night before when I did my usual recovery run.  My right ITB was a bit niggly which was slightly concerning and I started to think that I may have overdone it the day before. 8.4km in 48 mins.  Avg HR - 130.

Thursday  - Medium long run 21.5km in 1 hour 37 mins.  Right ITB still not right. Pretty windy this morning made this a run to just get done.   More concerned about my ITB and started up on the anti inflammatories again as well as Voltarin gel on the site.  Ran into Kim out with her running crew as I got down to the river this morning.  I expect we will see them all over at Rottnest, I just hope that I am able to get there in good shape as my ITB is an increasing concern.  Sought some advice from a couple of top marathoners 2.14-2.16 who both recommended getting some active release therapy as well as self massage with a foam roller or a tennis ball.  I didn't have a foam roller so went with the tennis ball (ouch!!)

Friday - took an unscheduled rest day instead of a recovery run in an effort to get in front of this ITB issue.  Made an appointment to see a therapist first thing Saturday morning.

Saturday - 1 hour massage therapy session.  I have very tight hip flexors which are contributing to the problem which my therapist thinks has been caused by my scooter accident three weeks ago.  Felt better after the session so decided I would give it a test to see if I could still do my scheduled long run on Sunday.

Rox and I took the kids to the Moscow Circus in the early afternoon (Couldn't face watching the AFL grand final after the Dogs were knocked out.  Actually that's not true, I could face watching it, I just wasn't interested in the result).  Ate too much popcorn which came back to bite me when I went for my run at 4pm.

It was quite warm at 4pm when I went for my run and although my right leg felt good, I felt pretty (very) sluggish and it was a real effort to crank the run up into the moderate range for the last 4km or so.  12.5km in 54 mins (4.19/km pace).  Knee felt good while I was running but sore immediately afterwards which makes me think it is not a true ITB problem as they normally hurt when you are running but ease off when you're not running.

Sunday - Bit the bullet and decided to push ahead with my long run as scheduled, mainly to see where I was injury wise over a decent distance.  Went out at my normal long run pace.  Took a gel after an hour and then ran on for a bit more before getting into 16.76km @ marathon pace effort.  I knew where I was running to and from but not how far it was and how long it should take me (I worked that out later).  My knee, which had been a bit uncomfortable while running at my normal long run pace, was much improved at the quicker pace and aerobically I felt good.  I ran the 16.76km sement in 67.40 which works out to 4.02/km pace so pretty much right on the money.  A slow last km as a warmdown, got me home for 32.2km in 2 hours 18mins and 30 secs (4.18/km pace).  My fastest 20 mile training run by a considerable margin.  Knee a bit stiff and sore when I stopped running.

We had the junior soccer club trophy day this morning (I got home from my run at 9.20am - trophy presentation was at 10am) and it was while I was at the trophy presentation that I did a standing hip flexor stretch.  I felt a small "click" in my knee while doing it and my knee has felt a lot better since.  I can feel the tightness in my knee when I stretch my hip flexor so it has worked out well that I have a rest day tomorrow where I will do a lot of stretching and hopefully get on top of this knee issue now I seem to have identified the cause of the problem.  I might alo get an appointment to see my osteopath during the week to make sure my back is not the cause of my tight hip flexors (as I suspect it might be).  The therapist I saw on Saturday thinks that it is possible that I have a cracked rib so if that doesn't improve over the next few days, I guess I'll get that checked too. - (There is nothing that can be done for it so I have, and will continue to give this a lesser priority).

Monday - Sunday 7 day total = 101km

3 comments:

DC64 said...

Sounds like you've had a tough week ; you've trained really well and now you can relax and let the taper fix all your ills. Lot's o massage and rest, and I can't recommend getting a foam roller enough. Actimed in Guthrie St. osborne park have them at a pretty good price, as well as all sorts of other physio goodies. Hope to catch up at the Freo fun run next week...

Clown said...

Great work on those 800's, very impressive.

Enjoy the taper and best of luck at Freo 10k, should be another pb on the way.

trailblazer777 said...

sounds like you are making progress on the knee and other injuries. All the best with that!
Well done on the 800s!!! and the Sunday run especially. Hopefully in a week or three the knee will be right, and the PB's will be lowered.