A Week Cut Short

Thursday saw another double with 11.5 miles in 1:30:13 for the morning outing and 4.2 miles in 31:34 for the afternoon amble. Veteran's Day - had the day off. In both runs the legs were sore - especially in the quads. During my evening run the batteries died in the headlamp so it was quite dark. When I came home I realized that the battery cover was just loose. I should buy new batteries just in case. Well, I took Friday off and then got up at 4am Saturday for my morning 1 1/2 hour jog. The forecasters were calling for snow and I was very excited about a "silent run" with a slight powdery padding and the hushed sounds of a small New England town awakening amidst a thick flurry. Oh no, not for me. Instead it was cold, raw, & wet. The wind was whipping out of the north making huge droplets of slush-water stick to my spectacles. Cars were out in force spraying up the gunk from the road while my feet progressively got wetter as I splashed through the inch of slush that occupied my route. I dressed too warmly of course because I was afraid of getting an early chill. So instead, I was a little overheated which made my pace very slow. It took me 1:40 to do a 1:30 run. To top it off, my legs were "spongy". Just plain tired. I put the 11.2 in with a time of 1:40:38. The good news was I left early enough so the day wasn't blown.

The bad news... Last night my hamstring on the right leg was giving me sharp pains each time I turned or twisted. This usually occurred when I went down into the cellar to fetch some more wood for the woodstove. Unfortunately, this meant no Sunday long run. I called it off last night, took some Motrin, and sat on some frozen vegetables. The day off, anti-inflammatories, and the ice has seemed to work. I've been running down into the cellar all day without any pain. Tomorrow is a day of rest anyway, so I will have an additional day to cure this issue. It is just unfortunate as the long run is key. However for the long run to be key to my sucess, I need to avoid letting it be key to any failure. Therefore, it is better the long run was scrapped for this week. So for the week I logged 46.3 miles - about 20 miles short of my goal.

The reason for the pain I think is two-fold. One of course is the mileage. Anytime I put consistent miles on I suffer annoying setbacks. However, I have yet to find the perfect balance to allow for none of these. So I put more value on minimizing the setbacks as best as possible rather than getting upset when they arise. Secondly, on Thursday, most of my day was involved with moving wood from point A to point B. This involved a lot of lifting, throwing, bending, and stacking. Activities not normally associated with my laid back lifestyle. I am hoping that the elimination of this week's long run will be the necessary cure for my ill.

My friend Marc, is away on holiday. He jetted his family to London town with plans on migrating north into Scotland. He has sent me an email from the colony saying he had the opportunity to run at Hyde Park (8 miles) and plans on other interesting runs while he is there.