To Strain to Train through Pain Again

“It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then victory is yours. It cannot be taken away from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.” - Buddha

The pain I’ve had is gradually fading away, but I’m still not anywhere near the condition I wanted to be in for contending with the race this coming Sunday. I took a trial run yesterday. I only did about three kilometers to gauge the pace at which was tolerable for me to take on a 21.1 kilometer run, and to check and see the degree at which I’ve recovered. I managed to get a pace around 5’ 30” /km within the first 700 meters, which was the target average pace I wanted to have for the whole race before this injury occurred. My performance worsened, getting to 6’ 15”/km, a dramatic drop after one and a half kilometers once the stiffening and inflation started to set in. I don’t expect to break any personal records if this keeps up. My goal now has been reduced to just being able to start and finish this whole  ordeal. 

This tapering off process and session of injury treatment before my race day is driving me crazy as well. Tapering off is very necessary to avoid excessive stress and wearing of connective tissues, and to allow the body to rebuild and strengthen the muscles needed for the day of competitive racing. However, after all these months of effort, sitting still to rest has become totally counter-intuitive. It’s tiresome and boring to be stranded at home using ice-packs, a foam roller, and stretching. With this amount of personal downtime, I usually retreat into my kitchen to cook and eat; and now I can’t just eat whatever and whenever I want*. I’m really aching to be back outside on the trails, to be in the sunshine and fresh air. I miss greeting, and being greeted by the fellow runners (especially the lovely Lululemon clad athletic women) on the trails. Doing cross-training on my bike and upper body strength training is tolerable, but not the same. They don’t invigorate me like running does.

It has occurred to me that I never set a reward for myself for accomplishing this next race. I know what I’d really want, but it’s nothing I can simply buy. It’s a wish that’s too personal to express here.

*- I purposely emptied my fridge for camping and left it that way when I came back home, to avoid mindless eating. I’ll grocery shop when I get back into the swing of work and re-training once sufficiently healed.