Thursday, March 4, 2010

Itching To Run Again

It's been 11 days since I've cold-turkeyed myself from running.

My left knee has been aching after my previous runs and had difficulty walking up and down the stairs since Oct last year. The onslaught of race-packed weekends and the quest to achieve a PR was just too tempting for me to resist to register and train for those races, particularly in the 21k events.

So, after Century 21k when I got my 2:18 PR, I finally decided on zeroing out my mileage for the meantime. My left ITB has been acting up a teeny weeny bit as well so I've been surfing around the 'net looking for tips here and there. Single-leg squats are particularly painful to do on my left leg so that just proves how this injury has been aggravated by the continous pounding during my runs.

I think the root cause was that I've drastically increased my weekly mileage, more than the recommended 10% weekly increase. That feeling of invincibility, as my officemate PC said, may have let me think that I can take the jump from 20kms from one week to 30kms the following week. Possibly a case of too much (mileage) too soon.

I've channeled my itch to run in doing other things like swimming (once a week) and doing stretches to improve my knee and ITB and strength training in certain mornings. But still, it's not as satisfying as doing a morning (or even an evening BHS) run.

Two guys in the office are raring to go in this Sunday's United Run 10k by RunRio. I've looked at all the event race maps and they're all the same as that of Century's. Probably the race-org will be at par as that of the Century Run. But no finisher's medal for 21k (ay).

Most probably I'll be at the sidelines on that Sunday morning cheering them on and with digicam on hand to capture those Kodak moments. Hehe.

Hay, I'm really itching to run. Resisting Facebook and Twitter for Lent is peanuts compared to resisting to run. At least my level of withdrawal has not gone as far as those who made artistic fly and egg impressions. ;-)

Anyway, good thing we have this family vacation in Baguio planned out later this month to divert me from running. I think there'll be no race events there to tempt me.

A race in chilly pine-fresh Baguio with challenging inclines and descents?

A race on higher altitude?

Wala naman siguro.

Or is there?

Hmmmm.....very tempting....

5 comments:

  1. congrats on your 21K PR! :)

    yup, it does sound like too much, too soon. i'd feel very much the same if i was trying to get well from an injury or nagging pain--itched to run again. :P get well! :)

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  2. thanks Bryan! I hope to see you at the upcoming Mizuno Run. Thanks!

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  3. From personal experience, when I increased my mileage too much, I either ended up with a pain somewhere or getting burnt out. Since then, I have learned to manage that, but It can be very tempting "like an itch" to have total disregard and just do it. Best wishes, and praying that your ailments will get better.

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  4. thanks Kenley!

    I like how you've remodeled your blogsite btw. :)

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  5. Thanks daytripper! I like to give it a change every now and then.

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