Hamstrung!

As a metaphor "to be hamstrung" suggests having limitations, externally imposed or not, preventing full freedom of movement or utilization of resources.

Yes I am definitely hamstrung at the moment but signs are encouraging.  After a painful couple of days post Sunderland 5km I am back into some steady running with a few morning runs no quicker than 7:30 miling and evening runs closer to 7 min miling.

Tonight was the first "speed" session since Sunderland and I opted for steady loops around my old training patch in saltburn.  Generally struggled to get anywhere under 6 minute miling but it certainly was a step forward from previous runs.

Tomorrow nights biomechanical assessment will hopefully give me a few answers about why these left sided injuries keep re-occurring but more importantly may provide some preventative measures to stop the injury cycle.

Interestingly my last few years have been relatively injury free.  In my mid 20's i was in a similar cycle of running well, injury, rehab, running well, injury etc etc and it reached a point where I just ended up cutting back on running and cycled, swam and ran more for fitness than competition.   A few years of this and I got the running bug back and started "training" again.   Its sometimes a fine line between being able to enjoy running as a daily pleasure and training to achieve a pb or working towards a specific target.  With the latter comes an increased risk of injuries but a greater sense of pride!

I made the decision to miss Sundays Great North 10km and concentrate on getting back to some decent running.  I have a few other races lined up so the decision was a sensible one.  The "computer" made the decision not the "chimp".  For those thinking I have gone a bit mad this is a reference to the British Cycling Psychiatrist Dr Steve Peters who uses this paradox to explain athletes behaviour....once ive sorted the body I may invest in this book to sort out the mind!   On this occasion the decision not to race was the rational "computer" making the decision and not the irrational and impulsive "chimp"!  The chimp sometimes wins the day though.....

Its been a while...

done.

Doesn't time fly!  Its been a while since my last blog so it could be a long one...if only I could remember half of whats happened in the last three weeks or so since my last post.

Training has been going reasonably well up to the last week or so with a few decent track sessions in the bag and a few tempo type efforts at Redcar Locke parkrun.  One of the sessions on the track was a repeat of my 15 minute "Balke" test which I ran in June.  The distance covered was 2.83 miles compared to 2.85 miles in June so I know training has at least been consistent!

Last night I did the Sunderland 5km and hoping for a fast (sub 16-30) 5km I ended up with a solid 16-41 once again outsprinted by Stewy Bell on the grass finish!  Gutted !

One of the themes of the past three weeks or so has been a niggling hamstring injury which has gradually got worse.  It has not stopped me running too much but has been a painful after effect of hard sessions lasting for a day or two.  In the last 200m or so of last nights 5km my hamstring ached, creaked and seized up leaving me jogging over the line.  

Frustratingly it is always my left hand side where I pick up injuries...calf, achilles, ITB, hamstring so I have decided to bite the bullet and have a biomechanical assessment
done.    

In the meantime its a case of easy jogging, ice packs, stretching, more stretching and ibuprofen.   Hopefully by Sunday I will be recovered to run the Great North 10km and then my focus will turn fully to the Chester Marathon in October. 

Maybe I should look at barefoot running - The BBC Panorama documentary tonight explored the issue of expensive trainers...A shoe catalogue that came through the post this week had a very flash looking pair of Asics at £159.99 - Will they make you run faster...probably not!

Lets hope I make the start line on Sunday!