Thursday, March 27, 2008

Bad timing

Last night after work, I went to the gym to lift. All winter, I lifted on Monday and Thursday mornings, but my schedule has been all messed up this week by work events and kid events.

My lifting sessions start with either squats or deadlifts. Yesterday, it was deadlifts. Because of the amount of weight I use in these lifts, I warm up by going through a series of repetitions at no weight and then gradually increasing weight.

Last night, I was going to do 3x8 of deadlifts at 205 pounds. Yeah, if any "real" lifters read that number, they'll laugh, but that's where I am. I started with 5 reps with no weight at all - just going through the lifting movement. Then, 5 reps with just the bar - 45 pounds. Then, I put a pair of 25s on the bar to do 5 reps at 95. Next, I would go to 135, then 185, and then start my real sets.

On the third rep at 95, I strained something in my right hamstring. I stopped immediately and rested for a bit. I tried one more rep, but it was clearly not going to happen. I decided that with a race on Saturday, to just call it a night.

This morning, I planned an easy hour-long run. I was happy when I started, because the hamstring felt a little bit tight, but OK otherwise. But, within half a mile, it tightened up and I walked back to the office.

So, I've now got 48 hours until my race and I have to see if the hamstring will settle down between now and then. I've done this before and it's always been a minor issue - something that recovers quickly and rarely costs me any running time.

After a really good training month in January, and a decent month in February, March has been pretty poor for me. I've missed some training time because of a cold and some other time because I just felt tired. The race this weekend was scheduled to be my main event for the month and a good gauge of my fitness after ski season. Right now, I'm not sure if I'll be able to run or not.

4 comments:

Harriet said...

Ouch...hope you can to your race.

But hey, if you can't, it isn't as if you don't have hundreds of races under your belt anyway.

Damon said...

Yeah, it wouldn't be terrible. But, it's also my first chance since last fall to get together with some of the core New England ultra runners. Hanging out with them is as much fun as the run.

Anonymous said...

When you say that you had two good training months and then a bad one, I remember what Common Sense Jack told me - that we can't keep getting better. We have to back off at some time.

Damon said...

Jim,

Your comments are exactly why I'm not in any sort of panic mode right now. I'm in good shape, and until a few weeks ago, my training had been going exceptionally well for months. I was working 7 days per week at 4 different jobs for most of the winter, plus training. Lots of stress of both the physical and mental kinds. So, if my body tells me it's beat or needs a break, I'm not too worried, because I will listen and let it recover somewhat. And then in April, if the snow ever melts, I'll be able to transition to the next stage of my training.