Falling short

It's been a full-on three weeks since my last blog. I had laid it out so that I would have a final push to prepare for the Onehunga Half, then a week "off" to do our education audit, and then to swing back into training the week after. What did I get? Well, that familiar story.

The week before the race I ran mostly at night for once. I tend to be a morning runner but with so much going on in preparation for the audit, an early morning blessing at a new campus one one morning I decided to switch to flip it. Evening is not my preference, for one, I would have to do it before dinner as it takes too long to digest dinner, run, then have the body settle down. On the Tuesday I did a "double tempo" which is a longish run with two patches of fastish pace. The first stretch I ran through the familiar Balmoral and Three Kings streets at the target paces before I dropped pace for the "rest" period. I was making my route as I went along and thought I would have enough distance to do the second stretch and be back in good time for dinner if I traversed into the St Andrews Road and Manukau Road.

St Andrews Road isn't a good running road in several places. There is one section where there is minimal footpaths on both sides, and in the section I was going to traverse across it had a part where the thin footpaths were well-separated from the road with a grassy verge. This meant that to cross it I would have to be mindful of cars and then run across possibly uneven grassy ground, cross the road and overcome something similar on the other side. I did 99% of that smoothly and it was only when I hit the footpath that I rolled my ankle on a slopping concrete edge. The previously sprained left ankle. 

I ran a few more paces with full sensory focus on that ankle and though it had the usual "light twist" feeling, there was no pain, no issues with movement or flexibility, and after a few more hundred metres I thought it was nothing and proceeded into my second tempo. 

The next evening, since it was a rare week of running in the evening, I went to a social running club that I would attend from time to time in the past. There were some really fast youngsters doing the 10kn route and I was pretty happy to try my best to keep up with them. But at the 8km mark I noticed a distinct change in my left ankle it became sore in places it hadn't been for months and my whole confidence it its stability disappeared. I kept going at a slower pace and eventually crawled back to shop where it starts and finishes. I did my stretches, chatted a bit and then went home. On the way home I tried running but strangely didn't feel any issue. That gave me the confidence to test it the following evening but again, the ankle was just useless after about 5km and I aborted the run. This was three days before the event and I decided to not run at all for the two days before and then see how I would be. 

Sprint forward to race day, I did my warm-ups and felt nothing amiss. It started and I was right on my planned pace and really enjoying it... until about 8km when that familiar feeling came in. I had to drop pace and though it was a manageable level of discomfort it was then the focus of everything. The route itself was beautiful - I wish I could have just enjoyed the running and the scenes without thinking about my ankle with every stride. Surprisingly, the pace was sustainable and I crossed the bridge and went to Māngere Bridge and back. People were passing me but I was fine. 

It was about the 15km mark that something strange happened. I realised I could go faster, close to my pace at the start of the race. I crossed back across the bridge and was looking forward to registering a time similar to my last race. However, maybe because I was unconsciously changing my gait to go fast on a hopeless ankle the stresses on my body had changed and at 18km my left hamstring pinged. 

It was pain and I had to stop. I gave it a rub and tried again, and stopped. I stretched it thinking it was cramp, and tried running and couldn't. I could walk but I couldn't extend strides without pain, and so it was walking that I did back to the race base. DNF. 

At least that meant that I could focus on the education audit with plenty of sleep. That week went by in a flash and all signs are that it went well. For all my fears about them making something out of nothing, or the students (or staff) saying something that is misinterpreted, the final summary meeting alluded to nothing out of place. The executive team as a whole was relieved to have a smooth audit done and dusted. 

As for my hamstring, I occasionally jogged over the road that week and I could feel the tightness and planned to give it at least a week. My regular physio was booked up for the week so I got a time in the future but I gave it my own treatment. It was only on the Monday morning that I gave it a kilometre run and found both the ankle and my hamstring fine. I extended on the Tuesday to 5km and again, no issues. Then came lockdown but Wednesday evening I gave it a 10km tempo run and while I felt the hamstring it didn't impede my pace at all. Even so, having felt it on the run, and noticing some tightness the following morning, I had two days of running rest.

Finally, bring on the weekend, I ran 26km and 21 km this morning and though my body feels a little tired for all the work I hadn't expected from them for two weeks, both the hamstring and the ankle did nothing out of the ordinary; the ankle feels a bit more flexible than in the days before I rolled it. I'm going to rest tomorrow and hopefully start back to my normal training again.

So, I feel back on "track" though in lockdown. In three more weeks I have the third in the series of three half marathons, the Tāmaki River Half. It is probably after that that I'll know if I should aim for the Auckland Marathon, which is 10 weeks away.