Sunday, August 10, 2008

Where do we go from here?

Where to start...A recap from last weekend had me with a bum knee that hurt after my LR. I took Monday off, skipping a short 3 mile recovery run, then tried to hit my 6x800 intervals the next day. I got through 2 before the skies opened up and the lightning started, when I tried to return to the run, I got through one more before I started to tighten up. I ran only 2 on Wednesday, did my tempo run on Thursday, which went fine, and took Friday off. I ran the Fort Collins Human Race on Saturday in Old Town. This is where things begin to turn for me. I ran a 44:45 for the 10k. My knee and leg started to ache after about 3 miles or so. I was on pace for a PR, then just had to cruise in, hoping not to push the leg too much. I went out for my LR this morning and started to feel it around my 6, but same as last weekend, I finished fine, but about 30-45 minutes after the run, I could hardly walk on it. I could barely shift the clutch in my pickup after Jaz and I left breakfast this morning. It feels better after some time has passed and a trip to the hot tub, but I know if I pick things back up tomorrow, I'll be right back in the same boat next weekend, and next weekend is the hardest stretch of my training cycle. 9 @ MP on Saturday, followed by an 18 miler that comes on Sunday. I really have only missed one or two workouts for this training plan, but at this point I am planning on taking Monday and Tuesday off. I will be missing a recovery run tomorrow, but on Tuesday I have hill intervals scheduled, and I hate to miss the speedwork, especially after not getting all my miles in last Tuesday because of the same problem.

So now I am faced with a tough week ahead. Bottom line is that if I only miss a couple days, even into Wednesday, I can pick up my tempo run on Thursday, take Friday off and hit my workouts over the weekend. If my leg is ok, then I probably don't miss a beat and am still on schedule for Chicago. BUT, if I don't bounce back on Wednesday and wind up being out of action for any significant length of time, what do I do? I know that if I took a week or two off because of this, that I could pick up my plan, go to Chicago and run. I could do the 26.2 miles tomorrow if healthy, the problem is, how fast could I do them? Could I BQ...Probably not. Could I run a 3:30 marathon or so. Most likely. So, do I go and hope that maybe I catch lightning in a bottle, that the drop in altitude, the crowds, and the people I know who will be there to cheer me on, thinking that they might give me the 15 minutes I need to run the 3:15:59. Or do I close up shop, let myself get healthy and once again look at Phoenix. That would give me almost a month to heal and then resume from square one.

I've been sick to my stomach all day long with this turn of events. To think that I may not be able to see this through, that I may go run Chicago just to say I've run it. It fucking sucks. I'll know more in the next couple days...

2 comments:

Van 1- Hall said...

if it makes you feel any better, I messed up my hammy a month or more out of Boston because I overtrained the week after running a 1:23 half. I tried running and couldnt and pretty much went a whole month without running prior to Boston. I couldn't tell my mind to stop worrying. I toed the line and even though I didn't meet my goal, I PR'd and ran a 3:06. Taking a little time off will only benefit you man rather than having the injury nag and fighting it until the start. You'll be able to run in Chicago.

cmmoore said...

Keep your chin, up, my friend. You know your body better than anyone, so just continue to listen to it. Your body is strong and healthy; give it a few days, like you said, and see what happens. I'll say a little prayer for your knee.