A new start?

Well after a week off, and even abstaining from the 5km challenge around the bay I decided to see what was happening and run the STaR on Sunday. This week it was Davidson Recreation and is based around Lindfield, Killara and Roseville with a nice piece of trail running along the upper reaches of Middle Harbour to finish.

I opted for the 6:10am group who are supposed to run @ 5:30 pace. Quite a few usual faces with Cool Runners and other Striders in the mix. After a little encouragement gnscon also joined us as we headed out. The first few km were fairly undulating and also the pace at the front was a bit faster than it should have been. Apologies to Rob (gnscon) as I was struggling a little myself and did not notice him drift off the back. At about 8-9km it was obvious that those setting the pace were still a little keen as we posted close to 5 min/km. Had a little chat with them but did not make any difference so just hung on. By this stage it was also obvious that it was going to be pretty hot so at least we stopped at every marked water spot.

I decided to peel off at the 20km mark where we were still just over 5 min/km pace and take the 25km option. Another Strider Ron joined me and we made our way down to the start of the bush section. Through here we eased off a little and eventually some of the next group caught us about 2km from home on the steady uphill. My legs were starting to struggle by then as well so I let the others go off and just focussed on getting back, the heat was certainly starting to get to me.

Finished off with a nasty uphill/stairs bush track section but did the 25 km in around 2:20 running time.

You'll notice, not a word on the injury, well because while it was still there, it did not seem to bother me and if anything the further I went the less I felt it. Best news though was once I cooled down it still did not seem to be sore, certainly in comparision with the rest of the body.

So I hope this is the start of a new beginning, I was pretty happy to run 25km at a fair pace over a difficult course and still being able to walk after my recent traumas! Saw the physio again today and we'll keep on working on core stability etc and I will probably have an ultrasound just to be sure. I'm pretty convinced that my injury is/was tendonitis of the conjoint tendon and with the icing and NSAIDs I'm now effectively managing the problem.

Even happier with the effort now that I've reviewed the last 3 months of training.
September 87km - injured calf/achilles on Sep 4, recovered enough for Sydney half and PB
October 139km - not much training with Aus Orienteering champs, just starting to get going again when injury at Nike 10km. Another half PB in Oct though!
November 92km - will probably finish with around 100-110 a struggle with the recent injury

Am feeling a lot more chipper about things, especially running and will attempt a "normal" week this week, maybe even try and slip in a ride with Spud and MPHaz...