Houston, We Have A Problem

It's been a tough week.

It all started with my long run. After taking, what I felt, was a much needed weekend break from running, I set out after work on Monday to do 29 km. With about 10 km to go, I started feeling some tightness behind my left knee. I kept running, believing this to be no more than just a twinge.

Sadly, I was wrong.

With only three km to go and into the home stretch, I could barely walk, let alone finish my run. I had to call my husband to come pick me up. It's the first and only time I've ever not completed a long run.

We got home, I hobbled into our apartment ... and I immediately burst into tears.

I've been fortunate to have been mostly injury-free ever since I started running, experiencing only a minor setback last fall with a strain to my right quadricep. Many friends have asked me for advice on injury prevention and my reply has usually gone something like this:

• Slow down when you need to slow down. Most of us are recreational runners; there's no need to push yourself to the point where you may do more harm than good. That's just stupid.  
• Pay attention to your body. Pain is the precursor to injury.
• When in doubt, go to physio.

So I went to physio. And the diagnosis was four key words that all runners hate to hear: "It's an overuse injury."

In my mind, this is the utmost worst thing that can be spoken to anyone who is training for a race and it's because the best and first treatment is rest. 

Rest means not running. Not running means not making the weekly mileage. Not making the weekly mileage means falling behind. 

It's a tough pill to swallow, but I suppose if this was going to happen to my hamstring it's better that it's happened now, with four weeks to go until Marathon #3, versus right before race day.  In that sense, I suppose I lucked out. 

At least I can rehab, work on my biomechanics (gotta love physio!) and rest up. Rehabilitating properly now means I can reduce my risk of a more serious injury that might keep me from achieving my other running goals. 

That's all I can do for now: take it easy and try to be patient. Admittedly, not my best virtues but hopefully ones I can cultivate while on hiatus.

Did some spring cleaning recently and found 
all this tucked away. Keeping an eye on the prize.