Running with horses: Week summary (9-15 April)

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Week summary (9-15 April)

Monday

Rest

Tuesday

Am - 15km (210m elevation). 1:08

Pm - 10km (120m). 0:48. Injured. Again.

Wednesday

Rest

Thursday

Speed interval. 5 x 800m with 75 sec break between each set.
Timing: 2m51s, 2m46s, 2m46s, 2m41s, 2m38s
Total: 4km

Friday

Am - 13km (144m). 1:03

Pm - 7.8km (110m). 0:36

Saturday

Am - Mt Mee Gate Run. 13km (250m). 1:02

Pm - 13km (144m). 1:02

Sunday

Pm - 30km (656m) covering Mt Beerburrum (280m). 2:48

Total distance: 101.8km (excluding speed work)
Total time: 8hr27m
Total elevation: 1634m
Average speed: 4.98 min/km

I am just so frustrated with myself. Each time when i take on the approach of 'whatever feels right' when it comes to running, i end up injuring myself. Apparently i have over-estimated the strength and resilience of my legs to carry myself during the runs. On Tuesday, I thought i was going well, until half way in my evening run that i felt a familiar nagging ache in my left outer knee. The ache slowly became worse as i continued. Ahhh! It was my ITB flaring up again. Darn! :( :( :(

I have always felt that running should be as spontaneous as possible. You slip on your shoes, grab your bottles, and you hit the road. I don't think so much about the programmes, what pace to run at, what time I am aiming to finish. I just run, and let my legs decide how they feel that day, as to whether i would run long or short, push hard or hold back. However, whenever I allow 'feelings' to dictate the way i run, invariably i end up injuring myself.

I spent the next one and the half day nursing my ITB, applying both trigger point therapy and using the foam roller to self massage. The pain got better. During my speed training with Caboolture Road Runners club on Thursday evening, I did not feel any ache at all. On Friday I was back in full training.

So now i really need to apply common sense when it comes to running. To slow down sometimes even though i felt i could go on longer, and to spread out my mileage across the week more evenly rather than running a lot early in the week, get injured, can't run for a day or two, and then play catching up later in the week.

Having said all these, I had a great run on Saturday morning with some old men in Mt Mee. Mind you, these old men are fast. One of them (Mark) can do a sub-3 marathon, and the other (Ian) can do sub-40mins for 10km easily. The route was very hilly, but it's one of the most scenic run i have done so far. Am definitely looking forward to going to Mt Mee more often to run.