More Hamstring Hiccups

Well after two stellar weeks - a huge 1/2 marathon PR followed by my strongest 20-miler to date, my hamstrings started rebelling again. Same thing as before. Exactly the same. They just get so tight and achy. It's a nerve thing. It's from my sciatic and the pain refers down into and numbs my calf muscles. I decided to get a deep tissue massage, just like I did before. Unfortunately, the massage sucked. Not only did it suck, but it aggravated me far, far worse. As a result, I ran only about 7 miles this week - during what was supposed to be longest week of the cycle: 56 miles. I am frustrated, but not as angry or hopeless as I was in August. Because I know it will be short lived. And I know rest cures it. I am not injured, I just haven't figured out a way to keep my hamstrings going strong for more than a month or so.

Now, a lot of the blame (well, all of it I s'pose!) falls on me. I don't stretch nearly enough. Hardly at all. And really good, solid stretching is what cures this. And not just hamstring stretches but lower back stretches too. Stretching takes time, running takes time, and I just have so little time these days! But that's a bad excuse for allowing myself to get to this place again. I screwed up. I am learning my lesson. I hope.

So today, instead of running 22 miles, I went to spinning class. Well, this whole thing may have been a blessing in disguise. I had a blast and felt SO STRONG! I don't think I have ever taken a spinning class when I was this fit before. Spinning is HARD (for me) but I was able to keep pushing and pushing through this one in a way that was exhilarating. Now, yes, one uses one's hamstrings to cycle too. And I felt them. But eliminating the pounding of unassisted gravity helped things and I was able to get in a really solid, albeit anaerobic, workout. I also realize I miss having a more diverse workout routine. I am NOT one of the people who like fitness for fitness' sake. I am an athlete and I like training. But I do like mixing it up. Trying to get my runs in has taken up so much time that I have completely eliminated cycling, core/strength, or any other kind of training. And I think that has been a big mistake for me both mentally and physically. I am very fit overall, but I am not particularly strong right now. And I keep getting slightly burned out on running. Next cycle - even if it means less miles, I need to find time to get this other stuff in as well.

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I have been going through a lot of old pictures lately. (After getting my life out of storage - where it spent the last two years)...lots of fun pictures from my track and soccer days. I have had this whole hamstring problem since it first reared its ugly head in the middle of a 100-meter dash at the Lake Superior Conference Track meet in 10th grade. Right in the middle of the race it snapped - it literally felt like I had been shot - and next thing I knew I was on the ground. There were only a few weeks until the Section 7AA meet and in that time I only did pool workouts. We didn't know if I'd be able to run at Sections. In order to try, the athletic trainer rigged up a sort of wrap for me, using ace bandages and therabands, that went around my waist and around my quad, creating a sort of sling. It made it MUCH harder for me to pull my leg down to get it to turnover, but the sling allowed it to bounce right up (which is what I was unable to do because of the hamstring tear)...well, it was a bit of a miracle fix. I was able to run top speed and qualify for the state meet again. Anyway, here is a picture that was in the newspaper where you can see my crazy wrap:

My 4 x 1 relay team also qualified by winning the meet:

And thus ends my trip down memory lane to the beginning of my hamstring problems.

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I Hope to get back to a full week of running this week - and to get in a good long one next Sunday. That marathon is coming up FAST!