This running year seems to be all about setbacks, and now it seems pretty certain that the AC Half Marathon isn't going to happen. Well, it will probably still happen. I'm almost certain it will. I just probably won't be in it.
I've been a little behind where I should be in my training, but with cooler weather coming and a very flat course, I wasn't too worried. I knew if I could get my long runs up to 8 or 9 miles that I could finish a half. I wasn't going to break any PRs, but I could finish. However, over the last two weeks it seems like even those modest goals are out of reach as I seem to be having some injury problems that are limiting me to around 3 miles or less.
It started two weeks ago, when I went out for a run and had to stop after about a mile and a half with lots pain in my calves and ankles. No reason for panic, I'd missed my runs the previous week when work took over my life (again), and had spent a weekend on a roadtrip with some college friends and I'm sure I was still dehydrated. I came back in the middle of the week with a better run. We ran the Sasquatch 5K in York last Saturday. It was a trail run, and our goal was to have fun, laugh at or run from bigfoot, and not kill ourselves since we're not really very accomplished trail runners.
Since then, I just haven't had any success. Another 1.5 mile bonk this past monday. A little better on Wednesday, 3.5 miles before my left ankle and shin were just hurting too much. Today, desperate for a good "long" run, I headed to the flatter rail trail. I ran 3 miles north, feeling good for about 2 miles of it and bad for the last half mile. I stopped to try to stretch my ankle out, and I realized that I didn't have the full range of motion in my left foot. I'm not sure if it's related to my varicose vein, or if maybe I sprained my ankle at Sasquatch, or all of the above or none of the above, but it's time to get this checked into. On the positive side, I did see a cute black and white kitty.
(I'm sitting on a bench, trying to flex my feet upward as much as possible.
The left one just wasn't able to move as far as the right one. That shouldn't happen, right?)
Through a combination of factors, both within and outside of my control (mostly my own stupid fault, though), I'd gotten myself in a situation regarding the AC Half where I just couldn't afford any setbacks. I'm probably going to defer from this one, but hopefully whether it's rest, PT, or surgery on my varicose vein, I can get this taken care of pretty quickly so that I can still realistically train for the Shamrock Marathon in March. I know if I can get myself back up to 7-8 miles by the end of the year, that I'll be in an ok starting point to train for it. After that, I'm probably done with marathons, but getting back to Shamrock's been one of my goals this year, and I still think I can -- even if it's been mostly frustration along the way.
Ok. We now return to our regularly scheduled blogging hiatus.
I've been a little behind where I should be in my training, but with cooler weather coming and a very flat course, I wasn't too worried. I knew if I could get my long runs up to 8 or 9 miles that I could finish a half. I wasn't going to break any PRs, but I could finish. However, over the last two weeks it seems like even those modest goals are out of reach as I seem to be having some injury problems that are limiting me to around 3 miles or less.
It started two weeks ago, when I went out for a run and had to stop after about a mile and a half with lots pain in my calves and ankles. No reason for panic, I'd missed my runs the previous week when work took over my life (again), and had spent a weekend on a roadtrip with some college friends and I'm sure I was still dehydrated. I came back in the middle of the week with a better run. We ran the Sasquatch 5K in York last Saturday. It was a trail run, and our goal was to have fun, laugh at or run from bigfoot, and not kill ourselves since we're not really very accomplished trail runners.
Since then, I just haven't had any success. Another 1.5 mile bonk this past monday. A little better on Wednesday, 3.5 miles before my left ankle and shin were just hurting too much. Today, desperate for a good "long" run, I headed to the flatter rail trail. I ran 3 miles north, feeling good for about 2 miles of it and bad for the last half mile. I stopped to try to stretch my ankle out, and I realized that I didn't have the full range of motion in my left foot. I'm not sure if it's related to my varicose vein, or if maybe I sprained my ankle at Sasquatch, or all of the above or none of the above, but it's time to get this checked into. On the positive side, I did see a cute black and white kitty.
The left one just wasn't able to move as far as the right one. That shouldn't happen, right?)
Through a combination of factors, both within and outside of my control (mostly my own stupid fault, though), I'd gotten myself in a situation regarding the AC Half where I just couldn't afford any setbacks. I'm probably going to defer from this one, but hopefully whether it's rest, PT, or surgery on my varicose vein, I can get this taken care of pretty quickly so that I can still realistically train for the Shamrock Marathon in March. I know if I can get myself back up to 7-8 miles by the end of the year, that I'll be in an ok starting point to train for it. After that, I'm probably done with marathons, but getting back to Shamrock's been one of my goals this year, and I still think I can -- even if it's been mostly frustration along the way.
Ok. We now return to our regularly scheduled blogging hiatus.
