Wednesday, May 01, 2013

7K leg meltdown

I was supposed to do 10K with 2x5' at 10K race pace. I made it to 7K with one 500m burst a bit slower than 10K race pace (2:59).

I'm frustrated but I know I need to be patient. I hate being patient! However, there really is no alternative. My legs just had nothing today. My hip hurt but no more than 2/10, so that's good. I tried to work on technique but everything just feels so lousy that I don't know if it did any good.

My rule for stopping a workout these days is: 1) if my hip hurts 3/10 then I stop, or 2) if I cannot maintain 7 min/km pace I stop. Today 2) is what did me in - I hit a 3:30 500m and felt terrible; tried to pick it up a little but knew it was futile so headed home before I got stuck farther from home and had to do more.

Tomorrow I have a speed work session planned. I'm going to try it in the hopes I'll be recovered enough to do it. I have to push a little right now because of the race coming up in a couple of weeks; as long as I don't injure myself more, being tired and not recovering well is OK (though hard on me mentally).

What's sort of getting me through this is knowing that it's temporary, and considering the alternative - stationary bike (shudder!). I just have to get through this and I should be able to train better in a few weeks.

Total time was the slowest yet: 47:09 for the 7km for 6:44/km with ave HR 137 (yeah...low HR=dead legs).

Garmin data here.

***

Both before and after my workout I did some PT exercises: hip hikes, one-legged squats, lunges, planks, jump-ups to step activating core & glutes & pushing through toes. Before I did just enough to get glutes activated; after, I did more. I still have more to do and hopefully will do some this afternoon.

1 comment:

Harriet said...

It is times like these when we remember how good it is to be able to train at full volume and intensity.