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Week 112
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Hello my 50+ running friends. The week started with such promise, but ended with me deciding I better take a few days off and get some niggles straightened out before they become a big deal. As such, I managed just 38.5 miles on 6 days, opting out of running Saturday, which pained me to do, as the temps were perfect for a nice long run. The week’s log was as such:
Sun: 8.0 w/5@6:33 pace
Mon: 4.2 easy + post-run
Tue: 6.1 easy w/5.1 on grass focus on knee lift and more forefoot.
Wed: 7.0 w/3x1500m (5:26,5:25,5:20) full 800m (~4:20) jog recovery between
Thur: 5.2 easy w/4.3 on grass + post-run
Fri: 8.0 w/4@6:35 pace + post-run
Sat: 0 :-(
Had a nice moderately-hard tempo on Sunday and took a few easier days Mon and Tue (although Tue did make my calves just a tad sore…no biggy, though.) Wednesday’s 3x1500 I thought went really well; the reps felt controlled, and I didn’t labor at all until the last half-lap of the third rep. I felt, afterward, that I’m in about as good a shape as I’ve been in 3 years. I planned for Thurs and Fri to be easy, with a long run Sat. But on Friday’s run, I just started picking up the pace after mile 2, and it wasn’t really laboring to run at 6:30-6:40 pace, so I just went with it, figuring I could just run easy on Saturday. I stopped after mile 6 to catch my breath and chat to a guy about some new construction going up in the neighborhood by the arboretum. When I started back up, a pain in my lower abdomen was not pleasant…not debilitating, mind you, just very uncomfortable.
So here’s the back story on this latest niggle. A slight tension in the lower abdomen has been a low-grade sensation for about the past two weeks. Truthfully, I thought it was just stress related, as we've been muddling through the summer dealing with getting my wife’s dad’s widow relocated, etc., etc. The whole summer has thus been financially tense, since my summer pay is given in one lump sum at the end of July (only a few days away, hallelujah!); but it’s not like we've not been there before. By Thursday, however, I felt the discomfort was worse than at the beginning of the week; and Friday, when I started the run it was definitely worse than even Thursday. After the first mile on Friday it had subsided significantly; but when I stopped and started up again at mile 6, it was worse than it had ever been (manageable, but definitely not pleasant.) It still was pretty uncomfortable returning the final 2 miles of the days run. So I went to the boards to see if this lower abdomen pain was common, and it is. Seems I might be at the onset of a sport’s hernia (See
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=3154758
and links therein, as one of many threads on the topic.). Note: they say it’s not really a hernia, just a strain in the adductor region. So I've decided to take a few days off, read up on it and try to understand it, before it becomes a serious issue. Hopefully I've not already crossed that threshold, and it seems from what I've been reading, I’m not that far along; it doesn't hurt to sneeze, for example. It’s about time to schedule a full physical anyways, so maybe I can get hooked in to see a PT, as well.
At any rate, that’s where I’m at, feeling as aerobically fit as ever, but there is yet another weak spot that’s been found out and needs to be corrected. As Spikez has said, we all have these moving knots of pain (MKOP’s) that are constantly at our doorstep. Managing them means constantly fine-tuning and adjusting what we do so that we can move forward---such is the life of a runner. Any advice or suggestions appreciated.
Hope you all had a great week…any races to report?
Cheers!