Weeks in Review – w/c 10/1/12 & w/c 10/8/12

Falling behind a little with the blog updates, and I can’t really blame it on lack of time. I guess not much in the way of running has been happening at Run Bulldog Run, so motivation to blog about a mish mash of workouts is pretty low.

Anyway, for those that are interested, cross training is still going well – more biking than anything else, especially as the local pool is “closed for maintenance” at the moment. To help speed things along, on October 1st I visited Bon Secours In Motion – a local, almost-new, state-of-the-art facility offering numerous physical therapy programs. My physical therapist Glenda has been putting me through my paces with regards to rehabbing the weak gluteus muscles and hamstrings, and in just 4 or 5 visits I’ve noticed a huge improvement in strength, mobility and even flexibility, although she still insists I have the tightest hamstrings she’s ever seen.

Many months ago I entered the Inaugural Peroni Crawlin’ Crab 1/2 Marathon, with hopes of running a swift race and possibly getting close to my existing PR of 1:18:25. Of course, the recent injury scuppered any chance of that, but as race day approached I was still keen to take part. I managed to run a couple of relatively pain-free miles the day before the race, so [foolishly] decided on race morning to show up and give it a go.

The first 4 or 5 miles were actually pain free (must have been the ibuprofen) and I was surprised to be averaging about 6:06/mile pace. Miles 5 to 8 or 9 were uncomfortable in the piriformis region and caused the pace to slow a fair bit, and from mile 9 to the finish the pain seemed to slide down the back of the leg into the hamstring area. I guess I could/should have pulled out of the race, but the thought of walking back to the finish kept me running….

In the end I managed to find a little extra to finish things off, and was quite surprised to see the clock still reading 1:23 something. Considering the lack of running in the last 4 weeks, I was convinced a 1:25+ was on the cards, so despite the discomfort was happy with the result and genuinely shocked at the 1st place in the 45-49 age group.

Last week I was able to run a couple of times – once for 20 minutes, and once for a whole half hour! I also spent quite a lot of time in the saddle, so feel my general fitness isn’t too far off from where it should be. Hopefully a few more physical therapy sessions will get me right back on track so I can attempt to salvage something in the final 7 week build to the Cayman Islands Marathon.

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