Oak Hill Flyer

on monday 14 jan, i was dealt a cruel turn of events: the onset of patellafemoral pain syndrome in my left knee. the writing is on the wall: that friday i ran 9 miles of hills at at 630 pace; that saturday i ran 21 hilly miles descending from MGP+0:15 to 630s; finally a hill repeat workout that monday sealed the deal.

my quads surely had reached their limit; my hamstrings have been as tight as piano wire for the past two months. i backed off of running immediately, only to be crushed to find that 10 days of rest/cross-training were not enough to shake the pain. it has not been an easy 10 days: this past saturday i could hardly get myself out of bed, incapacitated by the thought of having my wings clipped, let alone having visions of boston suddenly in jeopardy.

i gave myself one day to feel sorry for myself (i don't think k would have allowed for more time than that, anyways) and took to action. i turned to dr. tim noakes's lore of running and designed a new plan for the next month:

• keep the hamstrings and calves loose by stretching and massage
  
• 5.75 hours of cardio (ellipse or swimming) every week for three weeks
  
• 3 lower body weight sessions every week for three weeks
  
• one week of running for week four
  
• a 10-mile pace run at the end of four weeks
  

i'll likely slip some 1-or-2 mile runs in during week three if things are looking up. if the 10-mile run feels great, then onward towards boston. if there's still pain, time to think about fall marathons. no pain but nowhere near goal pace? time to think about 10Ks and 1/2Ms. all will be revealed in three weeks. [...] i recently read crucial conversations: tools for talking when stakes are high based upon a reference from a colleague. simply put, the book outlines why people become poor communicators when communication is needed most, and what we can do about it. one of the chapters--"master my stories"--explains how people become emotional in situations not because of observed facts, but because of stories and assumptions their mind created around those facts that don't necessarily have any basis in reality (example fact: the credit card bill has a charge from a hotel. example story: my spouse is cheating on me). the book stresses that we need to keep our stories separate from our facts when handling conversations.

this injury isn't so much a conversation, but it has been a wickedly emotional experience. why has it been emotional? well, that's easy... let me tell you: i've just lost some of the greatest running i've ever experienced in my life! any hopes of turning left on boylston with a big fat "2" on the clock are dust in the wind! i'll never push myself like this again, in fear of another fall from grace! i've lost sleep, i've been having stress nightmares, i feel myself getting slower...

whoa, cowboy--let's take a step back. what did CC teach me about emotional stories? they're not based on fact. look at what i just typed: there's not a single fact in the previous paragraph. the simple fact of the matter is that i gave myself a bout of tendonitis due to overtraining. period.

there are a lot of other stories i can tell about this injury: it will make me a lot wiser and less injury-prone in the future; the cross training will make me much stronger than i ever have been before; there are many more races in front of me that present opportunities, including perhaps boston 2008. another fact at hand is that i've drafted a reasonable mitigation plan based upon previous experience, industry knowledge, and new found tools, where every possible outcome leads to a worthwhile opportunity.

but that opportunity won't come unless i give myself a fair shot at it. which isn't going to be easy. nor did i ever expect it to be.

Posted by OHF on 28 January 2008 at 21:29 | Permalink