March 2nd-8th Training

Monday: 5.3 miles (7:01).  Did thirty minutes of Active Release Technique with Garrett at Physiofit.

Tuesday: 4.1 miles. Since my hamstring kills on downhills, I decided to test it by running on an incline on the treadmill.  Ran for 10 minutes at 2.5%, then I moved it up .5% at 15, 20 and 25.  And for the last 5 minutes, I'd move it up .5% every minute. I was running lower 7:00s but it got a little tough towards the end.  The good news is that it didn't seem to stress my hamstring very much.

Wednesday: 3 miles. Ran at 3% and was shooting to run 8 miles but I hate treadmills.

Thursday: 4.9 miles (7:22)

Friday: 5 miles with strides (7:05). Leg didn't hurt at all.  I also got a massage, which hurt a ton.  Even though my hamstring pain is in the lower part of my biceps femoris, the insertion point under my butt was insanely tight and tender.  It was the most painful area I've ever had in a massage.  The strides felt slow and awkward.

Saturday: 9.3 miles with 5k race in 14:56. I don't know where that came from.  Since the half-marathon was cancelled, they moved all the runners as well as the prize money, to the 5k.  Since Connor was out of town, I decided to see if I could get through 3.1 miles and get the Nashville Striders money and maybe finish in the top three to double dip.  I figured I'd run 15:15-15:30 and was running for second, since Josh Whitehead was there.  We got out in 4:40ish and it was down to me him and me.  A little bit after two miles, I wasn't feeling too badly, so I started a long drive for home and slowly pulled away from Josh to win by eight seconds.  I could have maybe run 14:45 flat out, which is a good sign for my fitness.  No hamstring pain during the race but my leg was a little achy on the cooldown.

Sunday: 7.7 miles (6:57). Calves were jacked up but at least no hamstring pain.

Week Total: 39.3 miles. Lower than last week but I was overly cautious with a lot of treatment and some extra rest.  I'm definitely happy with my 5k because it shows I can probably be in sub 14 shape within six weeks if I wanted.  I'll still be a little cautious the first few days of next week and will probably get a massage to play it safe.

And during my runs this week, I started getting that tiredness and offness (is that a word) that comes when you go from losing sharpness to flat out being out of shape. Hopefully it's not too long of a road back.

I have to decide which way to direct my training for this spring, which I'll post about in the next few days.  I also need to do a US Marathon and US 15k Champs preview since they are both this weekend.