Taper time
I ran my 16 miles yesterday and I’m damn happy to have it done. The muscle/tendon/psoas/quadricep thing on my leg was killing me. Although, this time it didn’t start to hurt until much farther into the run. Maybe 6 miles. Afterwards I could hardly walk. Although, a short rest in the car driving home seemed to make it much better and it didn’t hurt to walk on it after that. I took some ibuprofin when I got home.
The trails were very warm yesterday, so lots of mud and slippery spots. I passed a bazillion people. And let me say to all those skinny little gazelles in your lycra suits, bounding through the trails, floating effortlessly over those monster hills, with the happy little smiles on your faces, you suck. And I hate every single one of you.
I needed to stop for a gel two times during this run. Up until now I hadn’t, but I got the hungry rumbly tummy feeling and figured I was going to crash if I didn’t. I wish I could have carried more liquid with me too.
So now I have two weeks of reduced mileage, although I had to cut some midweek runs short this week, so I may have already been in the taper. I’ll try to get in more stretching and to be gentle on the leg. I’ve got some stuff coming up this week so I may end up taking an extra rest day on Tuesday, which will be just fine for my leg.
March 12th, 2006 09:41
Nice work on your 16 miler. My psoas pain usually starts after 5 or 6 miles too, that’s why I think I am fine until my long run. BYW, I hate all those smiling skinny gazelles too!
March 12th, 2006 09:45
tapering sucks.
March 12th, 2006 12:08
Those gazelles do suck. That made me laugh though. Tapering is tough but you can do it.
March 12th, 2006 13:05
Just remind yourself that many of those leaping gazelles are running much shorter distances. I look really speedy if I am only running a couple miles - but 16 miles is a long time. YOu have to pace yourself in ways that you don’t if you are only running for 3-4 miles.
March 12th, 2006 13:52
Were the gels of the chocolate variety? The truth now!
March 13th, 2006 00:12
ATB is just around the corner :)….
March 13th, 2006 05:55
I don’t think I ever have to worry about being a skinny gazelle and being picked on by Chocolate Runner’s ;-) Enjoy your taper time!
March 13th, 2006 11:56
help me out here….what is your next race..and don’t forget the huge RBF bash you and I are planning in April of 2007 (flying pig half/full marathon…
March 13th, 2006 18:17
god don’t you EVER update this thing anymore?
P.s. have you noticed a decline in readership since the big crash? Boy oh boy I have.
March 14th, 2006 09:40
Nice work–16 miles. That’s a lot farther than I’m going these days. Watch that psoas/hamstring/iliopsoas/whatever it is.
March 14th, 2006 13:43
16 miles … and with pain! Way to go Jon.
March 15th, 2006 05:04
Don’t worry, I was not one of those skinny gazelles you saw. :) What trails did you run?
March 15th, 2006 11:12
stupid lycra-wearing freak gazelles!! I’ll help you hate them if you want me to. :) congrats on the distance, now happy tapering.
March 16th, 2006 05:54
Why is it that when I type “runner pain injury photo” in Google search your link shows up in the top 10 results ;-) Happy Tapering!
March 16th, 2006 12:35
The pain you are experiencing sounds like it is coming from the siatic nerve. The sciatic nerve has three branches. One brance goes down the hamstrings to the heal, another branch goes down the side of the leg along the illiotibial band and the lesser known brance wraps around to the front of the hip. A good acupunturist will solve your problem after a few treatments.
March 17th, 2006 04:39
How’s the chocolate/candy non-consumption going?
Sorry to hear about the injury - it sounds very painful.
And are you tapering for something in particular?
March 19th, 2006 13:04
I sense a chocolate withdrawal condition going on here.
The psoas is just a pain. Rest and leg stretches have me recovering. The good news is that it gets better.
As for the gazelles, just think how much fun they are to watch hopping around out there to distract you from the other things that bother you. I kinda like ‘em.