Tuesday 15 March 2011

Ouchy abs and a return to the club

Yesterday was a rest day and a lovely sunny day. A day that would be perfect for marathon running for me: bright, no wind but still only about 6c. Still a month before the marathon it was 17c in Paris yesterday though...

I felt pretty good and off the back of that decided to walk to the gym but avoided the temptation to do even a light workout on the cross trainer or to swim, instead I limited myself to a slightly truncated core stability workout and some stretching.

That was fine and I quite enjoyed it but I needed to truncate it because of some sharp pain at a point in my RH lower deep abs. I know what caused it.

On Sunday, as I ran through Saltaire, my right foot slipped inward into some sort of hole or big gap between slabs. I stumbled and carried on running but as I slipped I felt a sharp pain at that point in my core, presumably because either the core was already flexed or because they're what fought to keep me upright.

I have 10 miles steady to do this evening and I don't expect it to affect that. I don't recall any pain when running on Sunday and aside from a really, really slight twinge when (for example) sitting up from a lying position and the pain when specifically exercising that area there's no general discomfort.

Tonight will be my first run with the running club in close to 6 months. For me, marathon training has been a very solitary process (aside from wittering on about it on here), where I run set distances at set paces. Today, I'll run down to the club and back and then run in between with one of the groups. Whether that's a slower or faster group I'm yet to decide, and the decision on that will partly be driven by how far it is to get to the club. I don't know. On the one hand running with a steady group would limit the strain on my body ahead of tomorrow's intervals but running with a quicker group might well have a far better training effect.

5 comments:

Maria said...

I suppose you need to see how far it is to get there- as you could always run there steady, do the club run and then run back a bit faster if you felt it was not quite your pace.
YOur Paris marathon is going to be pretty warm then- maybe you need to go running in a woolly jumper to recreate the heat?

Running Rob said...

Difficult to say Maria.

Four years ago there was a big outcry at London about how terrible the heat was at 23c. Two weeks earlier I'd ran Paris and it was 32c at its peak!

The following year it was about 10c and grey. Two years ago it peaked at about 22c. Last year I don't know.

Wont really know until a few days before but I remember in the 2 weeks before in 2009 I kept checking long range forecasts and the projected temp varied by up to 10c from day to day.

Manj said...

Good luck on the club run, I've been toying with the idea of joining a running club for ages but not quite mustered up the courage to yet.

17c in Paris? Hopefully it won't get too much warmer in a months time. I remember running Edinburgh last year and it was about 28c and I really struggled with the heat.

Jessica said...

I hope you have a great time with the club: I've always wanted to join one but would a) miss track sessions during the week due to evening training either clashing with university or just being impossible for my muscles to cope with (seriously, I can't run a step in the evening because I'm so stiff/tight by then. I don't know how people do it!) and b) I'm intimidated by all the other runners and it would remind me too much of school...waddling along at the back of the pack and coming last leaves one heck of an impression!

With such weird variations in temperature I think you're just going to have to go with the flow...maybe try doing some burpees in your gym's sauna ;) Seriously though, don't let potential weather issues get to you - just dress accordingly and hydrate well (but you know that better than me anyway).

xxx

rose said...

Hope you enjoyed getting back to club! Will be interested to hear what group you plumped for. I guess the paces of the different groups could have altered quite a lot in the time you've been away.

I think that London was quite hot last year (well hot for running anyway!). Like you, I love the sunny yet cool days best, like the feel of the sun on my face countered by a cool breeze! Don't want much do we????

Rosexx