Ever since my failed race against my 15 year old on the beach in Hilton Head, my hamstrings have been giving me problems. I didn’t just “strain” the hamstring during that run, but instead it “pulled” right at the knee and I immediately had to stop. So, I knew it would take a while for it to heal.
For the most part I have been able to run pain free by just going my IronMan training pace – 10 minute miles. The pain really would come after the run and over time that pain afterwards has decreased greatly.
Over the last three (3) weeks I have been trying to increase my pace in order to get my mind and body ready to try and complete the Door County Half Marathon in less than 2 hours. During the increased speed runs, my hamstrings have been giving me a bit of trouble – somewhat tight during the runs and from time to time they would cause me to slow down. So, I’m not too sure that I’ll be able to hold a 9 minute mile pace for 13.1 miles – but that is still the plan to try.
Today was my TEST run to see how the hamstrings would hold out on a fast (for me) but short run. So, I planned a 4 mile run that I would complete at or near an 8 minute mile pace. I started out right at an 8 minute mile pace and tried to hold that as long as I could but trying not to push my hamstrings too much. I ran the 4 miles in 31:33 which is a 7:53 a mile pace.
The hamstrings did not hurt at all and the run went great. I ended up with the following mile splits: 8:02, 8:04, 7:47, and 7:39.
So, I’m still not sure that the hamstring won’t give me problems on Saturday – but at least I some confidence going into the race…
3 comments:
Those numbers look good.
Here's hoping for a sub 2.
Are you planning on following the 5-5-5 race plan or got something else?
My plan will be to go out a try to keep even slips the whole way. I'll probably go around 8:45's just to be sure that I have a bit of room to error.
Confidence is everything. DDon't let any future niggles get you down. Sure sub 2 is possible.
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