It was a hill workout tonight: hard down, hard back up a 660m hill (length). I wanted to test out my sore muscle ahead of the 5 Peaks Rattlesnake Point race this Saturday, knowing that it probably wouldn't be good. My lower calf muscles had also been killing me all day, a nice reminder of my poor running form at Sunday's race.
I shuffled down the hill, then hobbled back up. Passed so many people I hadn't seen in about a month due to the injury or illness or tapering. It was so great to be out! Many people were concerned about my hamstring and giving me the "way to go" on the way up. They could tell I was "favouring one side." Tell me about it. Our club president actually asked me in all seriousness if I'd been to Boston! haha, no, it's just a light injury.
I tried to hard-run the next downhill, but although most of my body was in the mood, my left leg just couldn't open up. I tried a few bounding strides uphill as well, and I definitely felt pain. I didn't bother doing more reps.
I realized later that if I did run Rattlesnake, everything that makes it so fun for me would be missing, as I wouldn't be able to attack the Escarpment the way I love to do. I didn't enjoy the 10K. I learned a lot from it, but it was no fun to run it with this shitty gait. 5 Peaks will be so technical, I will probably be miserable.
I'll test again at the end of the week, but I think it's time to throw in the racing towel.
It sucks to miss a race you love! You are not throwing in the towel though, you are setting yourself up for your next race and the rest of the awesome season!!!
ReplyDeleteIt does suck to miss a race, but I can see now that it would suck even more if I showed up to a race I love and couldn't run it in an enjoyable way. So I am okay with this choice. :)
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