I just woke up shortly after 7am. I usually wake up around 5-6am, maybe 6:30 if I’m sleeping later. I slept a LOT last night, and though groggy I mostly feel pretty good.
Other than slight hamstring stiffness this morning, maybe now if I pay close attention… my leg now feels totally fine. The groin pain from yesterday is totally gone. A substantial improvement!
Last night after work I felt good enough to give the elliptical 45 minutes, then had enough space to also strength train. The groin didn’t bother me at all, obviously, nor did the hamstring (or else I would have stopped at once). I had a burrito afterward, went home and slept shortly thereafter.
Since this is a taper week I obviously don’t want to go too hard, but also don’t want to take it so easy that I rust before this weekend. The plan today is to stick to walking for now, play by ear if I want to perhaps try a break run this afternoon, but otherwise repeat yesterday’s workouts tonight if all is feeling well… then take Thursday totally off from training. I’ll repeat yesterday’s training Friday before flying out, and then probably nothing aside from walking before Sunday’s race.
Some people get what’s called Taper Madness, where they just can’t handle reducing their training load in the week(s) ahead of a race. The easy cure, I’ve apparently found, is to get a lingering minor injury before the event and then the taper becomes a chance to heal up.
Depending on how this half goes, and how much/well I heal up in the week afterward (training will be light that whole week afterward), I’ll be in an interesting position with 8 weeks to go until Indy. How much will I be capable of doing? How will longer runs be able to go? Can I ride easy intervals in midweek training to improved fitness? Will 5 weeks of that plus a long run every 1-2 weeks be enough to get fit for Indy?
But first, I need to get through this weekend. Milwaukee’s forecast calls for a slightly warmer version of the weather expected in Indy for November: 65-75°F, 75% humidity. I’m not going to push things beyond running aid station to aid station, taking fluid at each one, and running however I can in 2 mile chunks. Needless to say, I’m not looking to PR/PB this race. I’m looking to run out 13+ miles, build fitness from the experience, and see how it feels.