Speed kills. Tendons.

Speed kills. Tendons.

Well, my tendons certainly seem to dislike speed - or to be precise, my left hamstring origin tendon dislikes speed.

Sigh. This was supposed to have healed by now.

I had to skip my track and long interval sessions last week - my left leg was still not up to scratch. I hated having to skip sessions so early back into training, but I guess if I push through things now I'm going to make it worse further on down the road.

To be honest, I'm feeling very up and down right now. After initially thinking I was about to get back on track, time seems to be slipping away rapidly and I often feel myself starting to panic when I realise how quickly Melbourne is approaching. But, in reality, there's no point in panicking is there? It's not going to help the situation - it'll just make me more frustrated. Instead, I have to take this whole thing One. Day. At. A. Time.

Yes, there is still a 'big picture'. And I'll get there. I have to. It's just going to take a bit longer than I originally planned. Freaking crying about it won't help.

Interestingly, while we're on the topic of Melbourne, the Melbourne Marathon isn't the Australian Championships this year - they've gone to Sydney. Even if I were in top form I doubt I would have changed my plans and run Sydney. Melbourne has always been faster for me and the elite athlete coordinator, Tim Crosbie, does everything possible to make it a really positive and easy experience for us. I'm out to get the fastest time I can and I think Melbourne's the place for that. Especially now they've sorted out the merge with the half marathon runners.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.

I did 30k on Sunday (23/6) for my long run. Do you know, I'm pretty sure that's the longest run I've done since Melbourne Marathon last year. It felt good to get it done and the tendon was OK. My endurance held up fine and the next day I only had a tiny bit of tightness in my calves - nothing you'd think twice about and my morning run got rid of it.

I've also been in touch with Mizuno to ask about some other shoes that might be worth testing out. At present I am running most of my kilometres in the Elixir, which is working out well. The Elixir used to be my marathon race shoe and I trained in the Nirvana because it had more support so would be kinder on my body. I'm doing all my track work in the Ronin, which I love. Love, love, love. Best shoe ever.

I've found that using a lower profile shoe, such as the Elixir instead of the Nirvana, helps me maintain the body position and form that I need to focus on to get myself through this injury (and to stay uninjured). There doesn't appear to be any scientific evidence for this - even the Mizuno podiatrist said there wasn't much correlation with hamstring injuries and lower profile shoes and my physio said he didn't know, so all I can go on is how my body feels and how it reacts to different shoes.

I am going to try the Inspire as a training shoe - it's got a little more support than the Elixir but less that the Nirvana, so it might be good for doing lots of kilometres. I supposed I'm lucky in that I'm a lightweight so it's not as vital that I have shoes with loads of cushioning, but I'm going to test the Inspire out and see how it goes. A friend recently started running in a pair and he's really happy with how it feels.

So where to from here? I'm literally taking things day by day - seeing how the body is feeling then deciding if the program has to be modified. This week I swapped some days around but I did all the sessions (but again, the track session was cut short - probably a wise move because my 4k cool down had some 'not-right-discomfort'). I had a 25k trail race scheduled for this Sunday - I had a choice of two. I entered one - Woodford to Glenbrook, that I've won the last four years in a row - knowing I'd only be a 50/50 chance of actually racing, depending on my leg. However, it's been cancelled because of flooding. The other one, the Wingello Trail Classic, is a new race in the Southern Highlands. I am doubtful I'll head down to that. Even if I feel OK on Sunday morning, a two-hour drive before a race is never going to benefit the tendon. Sitting in a car for anything more than 40 minutes still causes it to ache.

I do need to get a race in soon though - just to get it over with. I haven't raced since last November and I'm nervous (more nervous than usual!)

So that's where things are at right now.  I'm still fighting.

Hell hath frozen and pigs have wings

If you know me, and you know my running, please ensure you are sitting down before reading on. What I am about to write will no doubt induce shock and may cause you to question if the world has tilted off its axis and if the pigs have taken flight.

I like speed work.

Even as I typed those four words I expected the laptop to automatically lock itself, knowing full well its real owner would never utter such nonsense. But there it is.

First, let me take a step back and qualify my statement a little. As you know from my last post I now have a coach and I am attempting to train properly. Seeing speed sessions on my program still makes my stomach lurch a little. Adding a speed workout to my Garmin is always done with trepidation. Even after I've warmed up I talk to myself (yes, out loud - people must think I'm nuts): "Just go Joh. Just hit start. You can do this, and even if you can't you're better off than if you hadn't tried." Then I usually say a swear word and I'm off.

So how is it that I say I like speed work you ask? Well last week's training was a bit messed up because I was sick (luckily tests showed it's not a relapse of glandular fever, just a virus on my chest) and I missed my Tuesday speed session. I expected that I'd feel a bit down that I hadn't kept to my program, but secretly relieved that I'd avoided the horrible stuff. Instead, I felt a bit edgy - a bit like Homer Simpson when he realises he's missing the Annual Chili Cook Off. If you can't recall it it goes like this:

"What's that smell? Onions... chili powder... cumin... juicy ground chuck? It's chili! Oh my god, I'm missing the chili cook-off! [whining, fidgeting] I'm missing the cook-off, it's going on right now and I'm missing it."

That was me, all Tuesday and Wednesday. "I'm supposed to run fast and I'm missing out on it!" So, by Thursday I gave in and headed down to the oval (yes, friends - I go to the OVAL these days, as neglected and uneven as it is) to do at least some of the session I was scheduled to do on Tuesday.

I got through a fair bit of it before my chest felt far too tight and I thought it wise to call it quits. But geeze I felt better for having done it. By Saturday I was feeling much better and I donned my speedy Ronins and hit the oval again to run round and round and round (and round) doing 3k reps. Followed up on Sunday with a 35k run for a solid weekend of training.

You see, not only am I glad that I'm finally trying to run fast, I've actually discovered that the challenge of speed is a little addictive. Can I run faster than I did last time? Can I hold this pace a bit longer? Was it easier this time? And even though it's depressing when I bomb out, I have enough success in meeting the challenges I'm set that I have enough drive to keep coming back. Coach Sean Williams is smart - he's got the pacing right for me. Not so hard that I feel hopeless because I can't do it, but not so easy that I get it right every time.

And there it is. Get out your ice skates friends because hell has just frozen over.