2010 Progress Entrant - Jayne Hall

Contents:- -Intro- Report -1- -2- -3- -4- -5- -6- -7- -8- -9- -10- -11- -12- -13- -14-

Report 8 - Week beginning 22/02/10

I've had a fairly quiet running week this week. I decided it would be a good idea to just do a week of easy running after my race last Sunday. To be honest I've been feeling really quite tired, I've been aching in places I don't usually ache and from the waist down my muscles have been really tight..... not good! I can't really say that I'm injured as I can run and it doesn't hurt until I stop but experience tells me that all is not well and I'm currently 'an injury waiting to happen'!

I think my mileage last week was about 30 miles so I thought that this week I'd just do about 20 miles of easy running and see how it went.

I started the week with a rest day after the race on Sunday and then on Tuesday I went out with Portia and just did a four mile 'recovery run'. That went ok but I was still stiff on Wednesday morning. I have trouble with my lower back which has been niggling away for about a month. It's caused by tight psoas muscles, which then cause my glutes and hamstrings to tense as well. A good stretching routine usually sorts things out but being a runner, stretching regularly isn't one of my good points! So this week I have spent a lot of time stretching which has helped.

On Wednesday I ran 5.5 miles at a faster pace with the club. I found it hard but managed to hang on. On Thursday morning I rang my physio to book in for a sports massage and a chat on Saturday as everything felt really tight. On Thursday evening I went out with Dave and Portia and just ran 4 miles again at an easy pace.

On Saturday Dave and I drove out to Carsington Water - a reservoir about 30 minutes from Derby. We met up with four other people from the running club for an easy run around the lake. It's quite a tough run - the first 6 miles or so being very hilly through woods. It was a cold but very pleasant run and nice to get out of the city into the Peak District. We the full circuit of 8 miles and then went to the Pub for lunch which was lovely.

I went to the physio in the late afternoon and had a full-on sports massage. It took an hour and a quarter and it killed me! Kath, the physio had a right go at me about the state of my muscles which were, in her words 'like rocks'. Sports massage is not for the faint hearted - forget aromatherapy candles/oils and relaxation..... it's pretty painful - I wanted to smack her (!) but I knew that it was good for me. Initially she said that I'd probably only need one session but it appears I am now a 'work in progress'! I crawled out after over an hour after discussing various stretches which I need to do twice a day. The next day I was in bits! But on the positive side, today I feel a lot better and ready to take up the training again. I have another appointment with Kath in a weeks time - can't say I'm looking forward to it!