Another day, another drama. Anything less would be way too boring. After the hamstring tweak last Friday, I was left with 3 weeks to get it right before hoping to race on 9/22 in New York City. I wasn’t happy about this development, but I also wasn’t panicking just yet. I iced it all night and took plenty of ibuprofen candies hoping to minimize the swelling, and Saturday morning I could walk pretty pain-free so things were looking up.
I took it easy all weekend around the house, but did manage to get in the HydroWorx pool on both Saturday and Sunday for some easy mileage – 45 mins on Sat and 60 on Sunday. Running in the pool made me forget I even had any issues, but from past experience I already knew this would be the case. Too bad I couldn’t take it on the road with me…
Laredo – it’s a dry heat….
I left Monday morning for a week-long trip that operated back and forth between Fort Lauderdale FL and Laredo TX. I had done this trip in the past, and so as usual I left a little early to visit my grandfather in Delray Beach, which is a couple of train stops north of my layover hotel and the home to every single remaining Mercury Grand Marquis on the face of the earth. I got to his house Monday around lunch time, and based on my relative lack of discomfort and the success of my runs in the pool over the weekend, decided to get in some easy mileage along the Delray Beach oceanfront path. Maybe there is a downside to rehabbing in the pool after all – complacency and overconfidence. I got about 2.5 miles out and started to feel some fatigue/soreness in my hamstring, and sure enough about 1 minute later felt a twinge. I immediately shut it down, and proceeded to limp the remaining 2+ miles home, which took a loooong time. Not good.
Delray Beach 500 – New NASCAR event? Speed limit 27mph….
At that point I decided that this was stupid, and I need to get the hamstring right before doing anything else that would make matters even worse. Running easy miles on land and risking further damage is all pain, no gain. I decided that even though I had high hopes for getting in some mileage on this trip, I need to rest the leg for the rest of this week and get it better. With the new plan in place I sat it out on Tuesday, Wednesday, and again today (Thursday). I’ll be flying home all day tomorrow, so skipping Friday was in the plan anyway. By Saturday I will have access to the pool and its miracle powers, so I plan on making it my home for the foreseeable future….
I’ll have to go back and re-read my posts from my last dealing with this injury (Sep ’10), but I am pretty sure I re-aggravated it in the same fashion (too much, too soon) that time too. I’ll be curious to see the time frame on that recovery. Like I said last post, I was happy with where I was conditioning-wise when this happened, so I am more concerned going forward with getting the leg better than with needing to cram in some late workouts. Patience is a virtue, so I am going to have to try to live by that creed for at least the next week or so. Hopefully the leg appreciates my effort and obliges by repairing itself…
