So after a pretty long effort I cracked the 10k in 47 minutes which was great and I felt like I was running really well. Until that is I suddenly felt a nasty twinge in my hamstring. Now, I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that the massage worked wonders for the reduction of pain in my hamstrings, but they were still being repaired by my body, and the last thing I should have been doing was sprinting (for me) 10k's. Looking back now it was pretty darn foolish, and I'm certainly regretting it. It wasn't a severe pain, but it was noticably there, and enough to stop running and try and stretch it out.
I pushed it to the back of my mind for the remainder of the week. Had a good ride on Wednesday in the sun, and skipped the transition run to let the hammy rest. I also took a view on changing my road position slightly by moving the saddle down a touch and moving my cleat position back a touch to try and be a bit kinder on the hams.
Thursday came, and following having applied for a British Cycling race license earlier in the week I was all set to enter my first cycling race. Luckily I have the Castle Combe racing motor racing circuit fairly local to me who run a Summer series of races every Thursday evening. I paid up my £12 and pretending like I knew what I was doing while waiting around for the race time of 7:30 to approach.
Probably not the best number to begin my racing career with!
The start time rolled around, and after warming up round the car park everyone cruised onto the circuit. Prior to my entering I'd read a lot of Cat 4 race reports, and all made a point of staying in the bunch.
The starter set us off and immediately I was surprised by the pace. Up to 26mph + very quickly. I wanted to build confidence by staying at the side so I had an out should I need but this was probably not helping me as I wouldn't have been getting the full bunch effect. But I didn't feel comfortable cornering inside the group, and or pushing into the group. The full race is 17 laps, or 32 miles. I managed to stay with the main group for 12 of those laps, before getting unceremoniously dropped coming out of one of the chicanes.
I just wasn't used to the surging nature of the group, constant little sprints and efforts, interspersed with barely any recovery time made for a tough introduction. I'm keen to go back and try to stay with the group for the whole race. I'm sure I can do it next time, and its a good workout even if I don't.
Friday came, and after work I went out for a run, but cut it short to just 15 minutes after I felt the same hamstring pain as Monday. Not good.
Saturday, and a 5:55am alarm woke me with a start. I'd planned to do the Bike Bath 100 mile ride this morning, so before I knew it I was up with a belly full of porridge and on my way. The weather was miserable, with showers due all day and 20mph winds. Overall the ride was enjoyable despite the weather, but was surprisingly a bit tougher than the great western sportive. Great feed stations and organisation though.
Ride: http://app.strava.com/activities/62092547
After the ride my hams were pretty achey. I stretched, and had a protein shake for recovery before driving home. Once home I had an ice bath, followed by a shower, then stretched again. All of which helped my recovery for Sunday I'm sure.
Woke Sunday and relaxed most of the morning. Endeavored to complete the scheduled 2:15 run on Sunday, but the hamstring pain was still mildly present. I cut it short and managed an hour still. All the more dissapointing, as I feel my running has really come along since the Outlaw, and I was on a roll. Undecided on how to continue now, the last thing I want to do is make it worse. But with only another 3 full weeks of training before taper, I'm terrified of missing the workouts and just not being able to handle the full marathon come IMUK!
My thoughts on IMUK overall at this point.
Swim: Little bit nervous, I've still been slacking on the swim, so really need to pick this up in the next few weeks as a confidence boost. Something I should be doing as I can hopefully remain injury free in this discipline!
Bike: Feeling pretty good, and happy covering the 100 mile distance, albeit on the roadbike, and at a pretty slow speed. Focus on the TT bike for the next few weeks, and getting comfortable with the long distance on that bike. Weather is looking good for the weekend so this should be a goer.
Run: Pretty worried about this now, just want my hamstring to be OK so I can get some more decent volume in prior to the big day.
So as usual its been a learning experience this week, and I'll definitely think twice about my performance following any massaging!
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