Monday, May 18, 2015

5/10/15 to 5/16/15: Achilles Injury Remains Stubborn

I don't like that I can look at my training log and see the exact workout where I likely would have been fine if only I had backed off.  I had been operating in dangerous territory anyways, but if only I backed off on that one tempo run...

In the grand scheme of things though, this is a typical overuse injury.  Starting with the Soup Run, I had 14 hard efforts (14 out of 36 days), with 4 of those being race efforts (including Boston).  This is an injury of my own making.  The typical overuse injury...

10-May Easy (No LR) 0:07:48 4.36 Battle Road - achilles just not quite there yet.  Started LIPUS treatment.
11-May Rest/Easy 6.05 AM: Rest & LIPUS
PM: 6+ commute…felt some pinching, but overall reasonable.
12-May Bike/Bike 0 AM: ~4m of biking.  Could tell the Achilles was meh.  Had a meeting downtown and walking 2+ miles in work shoes.  Achilles was on fire all afternoon.
PM: ~6m of biking then Ultimate.  Played a decent amount and only felt the Achilles for a stretch of 5 minutes or so.  Went to the sidelines to walk around and add a little tape then felt fine.
13-May Bike/Bike 0 AM: ~5m biking, mostly on a flat tire, so it was actually a good workout.
PM: ~5m biking then 45 minutes worth of a hodgepodge of stuff - planks/shoulders/back/squats/lunges/biceps.
14-May Bike/Bike 0 AM: ~5m biking.
PM: ~5m biking.
15-May Bike/Bike 0 AM: ~5m biking.
PM: ~5m biking.
16-May Fresh Pond 2.5 Started the Fresh Pond race basically just trying to be comfortable.  Stopped at 1.5 (well in the lead too!!!)…what a friggin bummer.

Total: 12.91


Monday, May 11, 2015

5/3/15 to 5/9/15: Liam McGuire's Almost 5 Miler + Achilles Injury

Last week ended with an injury, and this week started with racing through said injury...Fortunately, both Elizabeth and I were relatively responsible at Fanning's wedding the night before the race, so we were both tired, but at least we weren't hungover.

Unfortunately, my right Achilles remained and still remains bunk.  The morning of the race, I did foam rolling, used KT tape, and still felt bunk.  I went out for the warm up with Terry and Jon, but I was heavily favoring the uninjured side and I had to stop 2 miles in and walk back to the car for more stretching.  On top of the fact that the injury was painful, I also had a visible popping going on that I could actually see whenever I had my foot in a dorsiflexed position.  I was contemplating a DNS all morning, but I spoke with Kevin pre race and liked his idea - run the first mile and then drop out of it's no good.

Once the gun went off, my legs felt pretty dang good from the previous two days off, but the Achilles certainly hurt.  After a quarter mile, it hurt a bit more.  After a half a mile, it hurt even more, and I was very close to dropping out.  But I stuck tot he plan.  Wise or not, that's what I did - and the adrenaline must have kicked in by the end of that first mile.  From then on I only noticed a very mild pinching in the Achilles, but it wasn't affecting my stride.

It wasn't until about the start of the third mile that I was re-focused on the race.  I had gone out surprisingly quick, but I didn't feel the affect and I was feeling cautiously strong.  The only thing I really recall from the race was making a very hard push to catch the guy in front of me during the 4th mile.  I was running solo and into the wind at that point, and it took a lot out of me.  In retrospect, I should have waited until the turn inland, but my in race thought process was that it would be easier to coast along side him after fighting against the wind to catch him.  I was wrong though, I was pretty cooked.  I should have stayed steady and made my push from a ~mile out without having to fight the headwind...anyways...I wasn't able to recover at the still-quick-pace, and he started to pull away again.  I recognized the guy behind me as a Pub Series runner, and I focused on holding position and finished 7th.

Splits:
5:30.21
5:34.17
5:44.29
5:40.39
5:15.55

Data:
3-May Liam McGuire Almost 5m 7.28 Almost didn't run today, but glad I toughed it out for 7th place.  Pub Series is worth it!
4-May Easy/Rest 4.06 AM: Easy 4m, but right achilles was really sore.
PM: Just not worth it.
5-May Injury - Rest 0 Took today off completely, really frustrated.
6-May Rest/Easy 6 AM: Not quite there yet.
PM: 6m commute home slow and sore, but not brutal.
7-May Easy/Rest 2.4 AM: 2.4m then hopped on the bus.  I was limping and really really hurting.
PM:
8-May Injury - Rest 0 Achilles bunk.
9-May Injury - Rest 0 Achilles bunkish.

That Thursday morning run was really depressing...

Total: 19.74

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

4/26/15 to 5/2/15: 2015 Spring Classic 5k Race Report + MP Training + End of a Streak

I wasn't planning to run the Spring Classic 5k in Cambridge one week after running Boston, but it's rare that Elizabeth has a specific race in mind - and if anything, I'll always be accommodating to another race.

I ran a longer warm up (5m) and both calves were really tight.  I was a bit worried about this, but during time between the wheelchair start and the regular start I continued doing strides and they loosened up enough.  Though I still wanted to take it out conservatively.

After watching some 20+ runners hammer it for the first quarter mile, I started to move up the field.  I felt pretty comfortable throughout, and kept trying to get a runner to tag along with me so we could pick off the stragglers...unfortunately everyone was a straggler after hammer the first quarter of a 5k.

Long story short, I got within shouting distance of a couple guys, but my legs were still tight and I didn't want to hammer it home.  I still finished in a time of 16:53, which was a PR and a pleasant surprise.

The stuff!

26-Apr Spring Classic 5k 14.7 5m warm up, then the Spring Classic 5k in 16:53 for 8th place and a new PR.  Very surprised, as I thought I would still be too close to Boston to have any speed, and I felt like I was taking it easy the first mile.
27-Apr Easy/Easy 10.06 AM: 4m commute in whatever.
PM: 6m commute in whatever, really tired.
28-Apr Easy/MP Workout 18.8 AM: 4m commute in whatever.
PM: 4m progression followed by 5x2m at MP w/400m jog. 14.75 total averaging 6:19 for the 2m segments and 6:36 overall.
29-Apr Easy/Easy 10.11 AM: 4m at 7:50.
PM: 6+ at 7:30.
30-Apr Easy/MP Tempo 16.74 AM: 4m at 7:40.
PM: 4m progression into 6m at MP w/2m cool down.  GPS was funky, so total distance here is a bit short. Unsure of pace, but roughly 6:20.
1-May Injury - Rest 0 Damn Damn Damn
2-May Injury - Rest 0.33 Effin Crap.  Right Achilles is BUNK!

That's a 125 consecutive running streak ended on May 1...

Total Miles: 70.74