Injury

I'm hurt.  It isn't super serious, but it is hindering my run.

Here's the story.

Last winter, during the "Tri the Oval" race, I was caught wearing "Maritime Race Weekend" gear and was awarded entries into the Tartan Twosome.

These are the great Tridents that I raced with.  Claude skated, I biked and Beth brought it home on the run.  It was c..c..c..cold!




I was pumped about the Tartan Twosome and had plenty of time to prepare.  I was planning on setting a personal best 5k run on Friday night and a personal best 10k run on Saturday.

During the summer I ran.....a lot.  Lots of speed work lots of 5 and 10k runs with some longer distances thrown in too.  I was feeling pretty confident until about two weeks before the races, I pulled the hamstring in my right leg.  It wasn't a limp inducing pull, but it hurt to run and hindered my stride.

I decided that I was healthy enough to run, but the idea of pushing for a personal best was out of the question.

This isn't my race costume, but I am running in a  kilt.
I wore this kilt plus a pirate hat and an eye patch for the race.

 Friday night I dressed in a costume and enjoyed the 5k run.

Saturday, I was so tight that I couldn't stride out at all.  It was turning into the worst run I've had in a long time. I simply could not extend my right leg to anything close to a normal stride.

 Luckily around the 2k mark my leg loosened up and I could stride out and it turned into a good effort run with consistent leg pain, but nothing walk inducing.  I met up with about five other people running the same speed.  Three of us crossed the finish line seconds of each other.

After the race, I started stretching and took a couple of weeks off running, but any time I ran and pushed some speed, the pain in my right hamstring was walk inducing.  My stride has changed to compensate for the stiff leg and that is causing pain in my left knee.

Luckily I'm able to keep swimming and cycling so I'm not bulking up too much, but I miss running.  Needless to say, the last few months have been frustrating as far as running goes.

Road to recovery.

I hate stretching - it is boring and simply not fun.  To make myself stretch I've organized a morning yoga session once a week.  I'm hoping yoga combined with a couple of days of stretching combined with rest will get me back running.

I'll keep you posted on my progress.