Goal Based Running

As some of you already know, I’ve been fighting a sore hamstring since my 26.2 in September. Basically, I thought I had a little more time to give and I ended up sprinting to the finish to hit my goal. During that sprint, I felt a pain in my left hamstring and it has been lingering ever since. Some runs felt fine and some felt like I knew I shouldn’t be out there.

Rather than let the pain continue into the core training for Boston ‘10, I decided to rest and see if it helps. I took almost two weeks off and there wasn’t much improvement, if any. I then made an appointment with a massage therapist. So, last night I go to my appointment and tell her what happened and she said she’ll take a look. About two minutes into the massage, she says, “Wow, that is one crazy knot”. She continues to work the knot and then, bingo, I feel like a million bucks! I can bend my leg, flex my muscle, etc. without any pain. She recommended I use Bio-Freeze (you know, those white/green packets we get at all of our races), so she put some on and then I put some more on last night before bed.

I was debating whether or not to take another day off, but curiousity got the best of me and I headed out for a four miler this morning. The only pain was felt in my other body parts probably a result of taking a break. Those quickly loosened up and the run felt great. I’ll still ease into the running, but it looks like I may be back! Oh yeah, I’ve also decided to add a monthly massage to my training. If anything, it will just loosen up the legs a little and give me a little fresh step each  month.