Wow, I definitely didn't see that one coming. The first race of the 2008 track season was a shock, and for several reasons. First, it was a shock to my system physically. There has been a part of my training that has been missing for a while now. I had not done anything faster than my typical training runs in almost a month. I was doing a few pickups after my runs before I had my injury, but I was overly cautious in trying to recover. I avoided anything that might cause a negative reaction or that would cause me to regress.
The second "shock" came during the race. I had pretty high (whether or not they were warranted is another issue) expectations going in to the race. It was the first time I've ever started a season with a 5000. The last race I had run was one of best of my life (CC nationals), so that figured in to my thought process, too. I planned to go out at 4:40 pace (14:35 5k) and then maybe pick it up towards the end. The race went out almost right on pace, but it was surprisingly difficult. When I was already struggling at the mile mark, I was pretty downtrodden. Looking back, it reminded me of the 3000 I ran last year at St. Olaf, where I went out hard and finished sluggishly. All in all, I ran far worse than I expected.
One thing that I found interesting following this race was how other people reacted and interacted with me. Obviously, they thought I would run faster than I did, too. People talked to me timidly, even asking me if I would still run the next weekend. Expectations can be a tricky thing.
I was able to take two huge positives from my race. First, I was finally racing again. It had been over three full months and it felt good to be running hard again. Second, I didn't feel my quad injury at all at any point. If it would have been a factor, it would have been easy to play it off like it wasn't a big deal. To have no lingering effects is a huge deal for me and it gives me a lot of confidence going in to the next few meets.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
Revised Outlook
I figured that if I kept the contents of this blog consistent with what I had done in the fall (posting CC newsletters), it would basically be dead at this point. So, I have decided to change directions a bit, offering updates on what is going on in my life.
I had an injury scare recently, which forced me to take some time off from running and make a visit to the doctor's office. It happened on January 29th during my second run of the day. The windchill was -40 and I felt some pain in my upper leg/quad area, but it was somewhat numbed by the ridiculousness of the cold outside. I didn't think much of it until the next morning when I could barely walk, so at first I was only mildly concerned. I decided to take a few days off to let it rest and recover. By Saturday, I was basically feeling 100%. I started on a five mile run and was feeling great, quickly opting for the seven mile route instead. Soon enough, the pain returned, getting progressively worse each step. I walked in the final two miles, almost certain that my leg was broken.
I avoided telling people how bad I thought it was for two reasons; first, I didn't want them to worry about my injury or feel sorry for what happened and second, I wasn't completely positive what was wrong yet.
By the time I reached the St. Cloud Orthopedic office the following Tuesday morning, my leg was once again feeling much better. I remember commenting to Tim that every time I go to the doctor's office, my injuries are typically already feeling much better. It was almost embarrassing because during most of the diagnostic tests, I couldn't feel any pain. Regardless, X-rays were taken, but did not show any obvious break in my femur. A stress fracture could still show up in the future as it healed, but as long as my leg continued to feel better, the chance that this was my problem was remote.
With this knowledge, I was able to stop worrying and focus on getting back to running, which I soon did. That afternoon, I was able to run two miles, virtually pain free, on the indoor track. The next day, I ran seven miles in the morning and another five in the afternoon. I still wasn't 100% sure that my leg would hold up, but a week off from training made me pretty anxious to test it.
Now, after running again for about a week and a half and another 150 miles, I'm starting to get really excited about racing again. I've decided to keep my training log to myself for a while. I don't want to feel any pressure (subconscious or otherwise) about how my training is evolving. I also haven't raced since CC nationals in mid-November and I was limited to officiating duties at our first indoor meet, so next weekend's (Feb. 23) home meet becomes more appealing by the day.
I had an injury scare recently, which forced me to take some time off from running and make a visit to the doctor's office. It happened on January 29th during my second run of the day. The windchill was -40 and I felt some pain in my upper leg/quad area, but it was somewhat numbed by the ridiculousness of the cold outside. I didn't think much of it until the next morning when I could barely walk, so at first I was only mildly concerned. I decided to take a few days off to let it rest and recover. By Saturday, I was basically feeling 100%. I started on a five mile run and was feeling great, quickly opting for the seven mile route instead. Soon enough, the pain returned, getting progressively worse each step. I walked in the final two miles, almost certain that my leg was broken.
I avoided telling people how bad I thought it was for two reasons; first, I didn't want them to worry about my injury or feel sorry for what happened and second, I wasn't completely positive what was wrong yet.
By the time I reached the St. Cloud Orthopedic office the following Tuesday morning, my leg was once again feeling much better. I remember commenting to Tim that every time I go to the doctor's office, my injuries are typically already feeling much better. It was almost embarrassing because during most of the diagnostic tests, I couldn't feel any pain. Regardless, X-rays were taken, but did not show any obvious break in my femur. A stress fracture could still show up in the future as it healed, but as long as my leg continued to feel better, the chance that this was my problem was remote.
With this knowledge, I was able to stop worrying and focus on getting back to running, which I soon did. That afternoon, I was able to run two miles, virtually pain free, on the indoor track. The next day, I ran seven miles in the morning and another five in the afternoon. I still wasn't 100% sure that my leg would hold up, but a week off from training made me pretty anxious to test it.
Now, after running again for about a week and a half and another 150 miles, I'm starting to get really excited about racing again. I've decided to keep my training log to myself for a while. I don't want to feel any pressure (subconscious or otherwise) about how my training is evolving. I also haven't raced since CC nationals in mid-November and I was limited to officiating duties at our first indoor meet, so next weekend's (Feb. 23) home meet becomes more appealing by the day.
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