I woke up this morning to a text from MGal over east stating “may the 4th be with you”. At first I thought she was talking about the fact that she was visiting and then the penny dropped….word play! The 4th of May…may the force be with you! I usually prefer not to use my brain at 6am but that got me smiling for the rest of the morning!
A good thing the 4th be with me as I’m having a trying week. It would seem at the moment I really want to start hitting the last 3 months with consistent running that my mind is willing and my body is weakening! The knee problem that surfaced during my trail runs in Canberra doesn’t seem to be going away; most likely because I am still trying to run on it. I had a physio appointment on Friday and she confirmed what I thought the problem might be. That my right ITB was so tight it was pulling on my knee. She did acupuncture on the ITB and, for the first time since I’ve been having acupuncture done, I nearly jumped off the table. The muscle she was needling was so tight and it was very painful. She commented that I must have had easy childbirths as I lay there doing my Lamaze breathing to get through the pain. A good massage also, and a new taping technique for wayward knees, and she sent me on my way. I bought another role of tape…just in case!
Friday and Saturday I rested, as instructed. I did weights on Friday night and spent the evening cooking up a storm. It seemed like ages since I’d been able to cook and freeze anything and with a busy week coming up I managed to get a few meals in the freezer. I did menial ironing as my “ironing lady” was still gallivanting in Canberra and I was sick to death of tripping over baskets of ironing. (By the end of the weekend, I’d done about 6 hours worth, but it was finally finished!). Saturday was “perfect” weather wise and I took advantage of time off and walked FD#1 and did a few hours gardening; both neglected parts of my life lately. I managed just on 12kms on Sunday morning and the knee was feeling ok with my new tape-job! Just as I’d passed the turn off for home and had decided to push on for another 5kms because it was “bearable”, it suddenly got worse and I ended up walking the 3kms home. Frustratingly, it feels fine while walking which is a good sign I guess. I missed many kilometers on the weekend; I’d had 31km for Saturday and another 13 for Sunday programmed…I did 12km. And I missed out on some awesome trail runs with friends, they even camped overnight.
I got up at 5am on Tuesday and was determined to push on…I managed 7.5kms. I probably could’ve limped another one or so but decided to leave it at that. My distances were getting shorter, not longer; my knee was getting worse! I have only just reached a point where I finally believe “I am a runner” but I am not a runner at the expense of my body. So I’ve decided to pack it in…the knee has won…but only for the rest of this week. I will continue to ice and elevate and compress and use my foam roller. The reason I was persisting through it is that I did have a qualifying run of 41kms planned for this Saturday night. I was to do this run (in 5 hours or less) to qualify for the Kep Ultra that I have entered on June 5th. I desperately wanted to do this run; I knew I would qualify no problems. Now I can’t do this run, which means I have also pulled out of the Kep Ultra. I try to keep it in perspective and know that the Kep was not my goal, the Death Race is. In order to still achieve the Death Race I need to let my “broken” body sort itself out. I have reassessed and decided to do the Bunbury 50km, which is in 3 weeks time on May 22nd, and then the Perth marathon which is mid-June. Those races, and focusing on consistent running and getting into the hills again (when my knee is good…you have one week knee…one week!) and focusing on the Death Race.
All of this will be more easy to visualise, as my Canadian Death Racing friend, MGuy (another M) has sent me some videos of the 2008 and 2009 races, and some footage he shot over training for the 2010 race. So all good tools to visualise myself out there…and I’m still not scared. Not yet! I will use this time to get up on some housework and walk the dog a little more and focus forward positively.
As an addendum to the MGirl week in Canberra; the team finished 4th. Unlucky tow in the bronze medal match, the week was a learning curve for the young team. With only about 6 members from last year’s gold medal winners returning, the “rookies” did themselves proud and I am sure WA will be successful in the medal again next year. Personally, for MGirl, the tournament ended on an absolute high for her. After a disappointing tournament at the bat (if you ask her) but doing well in the field, MGirl was selected for the AUSTRALIAN Team!!!!! She was beside herself with pure joy, and so was I just quietly. Very, very proud of my young lady; she has such a bright future ahead for her.
