Sunday, February 2, 2014

I will Pay the Price

2nd Feb - I took Ponstan Forte last night because there was a painful part in my left hip, the same side with psoas and adductor problems. Wake up at 5:45. Its still dark. I am optimistic because I did sprint last week. I set off and surprisingly, I am not in pain from my adductors. I am exhilarated. I push quite hard. I am not that fit but I am glad the pain here is of fatigue and exertion, not injury.
I manage 22k in 1:54:04 avg 5:11 min/Km. This is a start.
Its great to run like a normal person again. After the run, of course, the adductors and hips pain like hell.
Whats strange is that, after downing a litre of water, I start feeling cold. So I step under a hot shower. After warming myself up while showering in hot water, I am still feeling cold. Cold to the core. Shivering cold.
I get under the covers and my wife adds me more blankets as I go foetal and shiver like I am in winter. Meanwhile, the sun is blazing hot outside. After 'sleeping' for two hours I get out of bed, the shivering gone. A zombie.
My research indicates this could be dehydration or hypoglycaemia or both. WTF?
The grind continues.
Below is a motivational video sent by a friend who calls himself an "armchair runner"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuPLxQD4akQ

4th - Do 18K in 1:29 avg: 4:57 with Chris. Its really hot in the first 12K. Do some small sprints at the end. Didn't eat much but I am glad the injury is really healing. So much better this time. I am paying the price for weight added last week in Burundi though I am still trying to get back my fitness.
The exercises in page two of this link have saved my adductors. The strange and even fascinating thing is that this whole adductor shit is linked to the psoas, glutes and hips. Its quite a fucker. You mess with it and it fucks you up from all angles. I also do bridges, clams, lunges, piriformis stretch and butterfly. This is the most challenging injury I have ever handled. It seems to me that if I come out of it successfully, I will be in a much better shape than Stanchart last year. Injury-wise at least. 
6th 11k with 200m x15 sprints. The splits: 39.4, 40, 36.9, 38.9, 48.5, 45.4, 41.2, 41.5, 43.5, 43.3, 43.7, 44.7, 43.0, 46.0, 44.3. Best pace 2:47 Garmin TC says 20.4Km/hr
Injury has got better and better. Could do lateral movements with less pain.
9th - 22K. It rained the previous night. I take ponstan forte but I still suffer serious pain that messes up the workout. Barely manage it in sub 2 hours. See Mark in Nyayo avoiding Lunga Lunga and meet GK. Though this was a tough, painful run, I ended it much stronger than last week and even though my injury was painful, I have to say the injury has got much better. I just need to stay the course and I am sure it will heal completely. Keep rolling guys! The mzungu is not consistent.
11th - It rains. Almost give up on my workout. Turns out to be one of the best so far - this year. 14k in 1:04:49 avg pace 4:37min/Km with 13K in under 1 hour. The injury acts up after 14K and I am forced to change speed and jog for the remaining 4K. Onwards to Thursday.
13th - 19 X 200m. Splits: 53, 48, 47, 43, 45, 43, 41, 39, 38, 38, 41, 40, 41, 40, 42, 43, 41, 39, 42
Max speed 21.4Km/hr 2:36 pace compare to last weeks Best pace of 2:36 and 20.4Km/hr
My speed is coming back. I warmed up by doing short strides. I managed lateral movements without pain for the first time this year. Celebrate our 4th anniversary by going for Chinese dinner. The traffic jam stops us from collecting our anniversary cake.
15th - 22K without garmin. Misbehaved diet-wise last night at a Valentines dinner at Intercon.
16th - 20K on Muthurwa-Community route without garmin. Have a good go at the hill. I go for broke down Highrise. I think I should be taking this route and maintaining a steady pace from Uhuru highway to Mbagathi road and see how that goes. Adductors better. I am not out of the woods yet.
18th - 18K at 1:18:59 (an improvement of 10mins in two weeks). I had started off hoping to average at 4:30 but I was strong and I did 18k in 1:18:59 with my injury in its twilight. Chris Mukhamule pushed me from 3k to 7k and then Charles Akara pushed me from 7k to 15k then some footballer pushed me through 15 to 18k 7and I roared home with a 4:07 18th k. I expected myself to start tiring after 11K since I had started fast for my fitness and weight but once I saw that I could do 4:25 at the 12th Km, I knew I was strong so I run each Km without thinking of how much was left then from 15th Km, I ran knowing what was left was a little so I ended up averaging 4:23 min/Km. The Splits:

1.    4:27
2.    4:26
3.    4:17
4.    4:17
5.    4:20
6.    4:22
7.    4:30
8.    4:15
9.    4:26
10.    4:29
11.    4:21
12.    4:25
13.    4:38
14.    4:30
15.    4:25
16.    4:26
17.    4:17
18.    4:08 


20th - 20X200m. Splits: 45,46,45,42,44,46,42,42,40,41,40,42,40,42,46,45,48,43,42,37. Max speed 21.5Km/hr. Best pace 2:41. I am forced to cut short the workout because of a wedding rehearsal for a weddo on Sato where we are best couple.
22nd - Vivian and Pauls wedding. We are best couple. Running stomach.
24th- 16K in 1:14. Still weak from bout of diarrhea.
25th- travel to Zanzibar. 15K. Recovering from jana's 16k. Zanz is an Island at peace with herself. Fartleks at the end.
26th - 16K. Lots of work at EARATC subcommitee meeting. Ocean view Hotel. Fartleks at the end. Best pace 2:16. 26.47Km/hr - fastest this year. I am trying to get my raw speed going first as I navigate this freakin injury.
27th - 22k. Injury better. 
28th - 12K   
Weekly Total: 81K