Aaack, a quick glance at the Geneva Marathon countdown in my sidebar reveals that there are only 11 days left. For the record, I plan on running the half-marathon part of the event (21K) not the full (42K).
A few weeks ago, I was fully on schedule following a training plan intended to build my endurance, lactic-acid threshold, and speed, peaking just in time for the event. I even e-mailed a friend that all I had to do was stay healthy and injury-free and the run would be a breeze.
Ah such hubris... That was before a blessedly short-lived but still brutal repeat episode of Labyrinthitis hit three weeks ago leaving me with some residual depth-perception problems. In addition, I have nagging hamstring and achilles strains that no amount of ice, heat or ibuprofen seem to be able to fully resolve. Grrrr, when I signed on, my goal was to run the half in 2 hours, that may be a tad ambitious now. Well, stay tuned, the race is on Mother's Day, May 10.
4 comments:
Girl, you need your e-physio and fast! Make sure you are stretching your hamstrings and calf muscles in a weight-bearing position, i.e. standing with your foot on the ground. The reason being, you don't want to be over-stretching the tendon or connective-tissue attaching the muscle to bone, but rather the muscle itself. In weight-bearing you'll get more feedback that the stretch is occurring where you want it to. If you're not adverse to yoga (and you have no back pain), consider the downward facing dog pose, alternately keeping one knee bent to isolate the stretch on the other leg. Ideally, warm up with either a light cycle or a warm bath (10 minutes minimum), stretch and then ice after with the muscles relaxed but in a somewhat stretched position.
The trouble with training toward a race is the fixed end date. At a certain point all athletes are tempted to tune out their bodies' signals with the intent of staying on schedule. Invariably, the body wins out-- or loses depending on how you look at it-- and tissues fail. It's a tenuous balance, athleticism. Hope this helps!
You are a goddess! I am so impressed with you, you marathoner you.
And, of course, listen to everything Mighty Mom says. She is always right ;-)
Being off schedule for something like this is frustrating but I've no doubt that you'll do the race and be proud, no matter what time you do it in! Hope you find the right balance of training and resting!
You know I am in complete awe of you and all your challenges. You know when I first encouraged you to have a goal (mine was a measley 5kms)...I never imagined you would be trying to do half marathons! As I always say - I personally don't care about my time but I'm just proud that I have accomplished it. So - Go girl!! (But take it easy too - you still get me worried!..)
Post a Comment