BEING INJURED IS NO FUN, PLAYING HURT NOT AN OPTION

I’m sure if you had read my previous post regarding my desire to have an interruption free preparation into Gold Coast and the several lead up runs prior to it, you shouldn’t be shocked to know that yet again this hasn’t been the case. Issues away from the training roads haven’t helped, but now is not the time and this isn’t the forum in which to air the dirty laundry. Instead, this post is purely going to concentrate on the physical ailments that are derailing my preparations even this far out from the biggest mid year running goal of many including myself.

Whilst the times weren’t anything flash the beginning of training was going reasonably well. Perhaps doing a 10km training run the day before a full day of footy may not have been ideal, but I also figured that if I was going to be successful that opportunities to train wouldn’t come as easily as this. The full day of footy on the Saturday involved a couple of umpiring stints (planned well and truly in advance) and having to play a game (certainly NOT in the planning but with a lack of troops I had little choice). After the 2nd umpiring stint I did feel a little fatigued in the legs and sore in the groin area, but I put that down to a lack of running on grass which I find requires a different style of running to road running, plus the stop-start nature of the day with the first stint of umpiring from 8:30-9:30, the game from 12:30-2:15 and the 2nd umpiring stint going from 5:00-6:00, which thanks to a timekeeping communication mix up should have been from 4:45-5:30 (times are approximate).

Despite this I felt good enough to do a little footy training on the Tuesday night which I often use as a little cross training. This usually also helps me with quick bursts that the game requires so I can use them when overtaking in races. Everything was going well until the end of a long drill, when I was looking to kick with my preferred right foot when I felt a pull in the hamstring virtually upon impact of ball on boot. Despite hoping it was cramp initially I knew in reality that this was far more serious. Training for that night was certainly over, and any hopes of meaningful training for the week were dashed as simple rest and recovery became the order of the day.

At this stage I haven’t attempted to run for a week but I am looking to go for a jog in the next couple of days. With the local Rocky River Run in a little under a fortnight, I want to be able to at least complete that course and thus I want to have some training complete. That event was probably going to signal the real beginning of Gold Coast preparations, but unless the hamstring recovers this may be the start of the entire preparation which can’t be ideal (the preference is to gradually build up the distance). Certainly footy may be on the back burner for a while for bending over still causes discomfort although I’m hopeful with some stretching and compression this will go away by the end of the week.

At this stage, there’s no plans to withdraw from any event but should the injury persist then I may have to rethink the plan. I have run injured in the past, particularly in the 2013 City2South in Brisbane where I battled with a corked thigh, so it’s something I hope to avoid ever again particularly as the age continues to increase and recovery time similarly lengthens. Hopefully there will be better news when next I touch base.