Injury Update

My groin pull is feeling better every day, but this has been a lost week in terms of training. I haven't run since Sunday, which is intensely frustrating since the half marathon is but 4 week away! I'm going to have to do away with any tapering, which is OK, as the half marathon doesn't require a taper, necessarily.

Also, this Thursday was the Run to Remember 5K, which I had signed up for and was hoping to run. I got up and dressed with the plan of doing some jogging to see how my leg felt, as I haven't done anything active since Sunday in an attempt to let it heal faster. Unlike Tuesday, I was able to run yesterday, although there was still some pain involved. It wasn't unbearable, but I still had several concerns:

1. Was it worth running a 5K at the possible expense of my half marathon? Definitely not.
2. Is the pain low enough that I could run and bear it? Yes. It takes a fair amount of actual physical pain to dissuade me.
3. Does the lingering pain mean that running would make it worse or would gentle running actually help in recovery at this point? I don't know.

Really, it was #3 that was the real question. While I was looking forward to the 5K, being able to complete the half marathon is my ultimate goal before the wedding. While losing a week of running when I have already been crappy at training for this half marathon sucks, making this lingering injury worse by running too hard at a 5K that was only supposed to be tune-up race anyway would be worse. As it stands, I have three long runs left and my distance sits at around 9 miles now. I could definitely do 10 without any trouble, as I made it through 9 last week without any endurance problems. Really I'll only have two solid long runs left because there's no way I'm running far this weekend with my leg still tender. Sucks.

So, I'm going to see how things feel tomorrow morning and try to get some really easy miles done. I also need to incorporate some stretching and continue with the icing regimen I've been on lately to treat the muscle after I run for the next few weeks up until the half marathon.

Regardless, it is appearing that the Baltimore Half might not be an improvement over my time at the National Half back in March. It'll be a good race and I fully plan on being ready. But I know I won't be as ready as I should be, which is frustrating because I have only myself to blame. I'm already thinking about what comes after Baltimore and how I need to get my ass in gear. Thankfully, it'll be after the wedding as well, which has taken a toll on my energy levels. In fact, with the end of October, my life will become a little less stressful as we'll have moved to our new apartment (that happens next week, actually) and the wedding/honeymoon will be over. That will only leave training and the CFA before the holidays, both of which will require my full focus and attention.

However, I may not be able to run the Richmond Half on my birthday if Annie's performance falls on that date. We'll see but it would be tough to run the race, drive back to Baltimore and then drive up to PA for the performance. That's a very long day and it would be easier to just find another half marathon to run this season and let Richmond go. I would imagine I will have another opportunity to run a half marathon on or near my birthday in the future.