Saturday, August 19, 2006
The blame game...
Never have i been more disappointed with myself in a race. The half-IM did not go down well in terms of compliance to my principle of "come off feeling great after every race". Back ached like heck, and the right foot is in pain.
Now to top it off, i'm somewhat injured (yup, the right foot) and taking the whole week off. I've been scaring myself silly in the meantime doing research on what ails my right foot. I'd like to think it is just mere ligament strain, or the odd bone bruise, but other things like plantar fasciitis, nerve pinching, or the dreaded stress fracture seem to crop up in the online literature i've been sieving through in my confinement. The worse thing is that the imbalance is causing my left hip to act up, a much-feared biomechanical imbalance that warrants corrective running technique upon resumption of training.
Every day i sit in this room, waiting for that next training session, let alone the next race, and i get weaker. And every day, my competitors are out there doing the hard yards, the early morning starts, out on the roads and in the bush, getting stronger. I can physically feel the degenerative effects of a long lay-off after a race effort. Who said anything about recovery? I know myself well enough. 1 week of recovery for 6 hours of competition is too much. Is it because it is somewhat more intense? 5 hours plus going at full bore might be too much to hack for someone used to the lower intensities of AR... but then again, didn't i not crack the UMC, also at a rather high intensity, without coming off so crook??
I'm confused and somewhat weary at what this bodes for the rest of my build-up to IM, and CtC.
The only reason i can give for this pitiful performance is the lack of specific training. Not enough open-water swimming, not enough time in aero-position, and just plain not enough running mileage in the legs to come away uninjured. I really thought i'd crack 5:15 easy.
I have resolved this issue: i know myself the best. The nutrition, the lead-up, and the specific conditioning. I probably did more specific conditioning in the lead-up to UMC than any other race, thus the relatively unscathed results. True, more hill work was needed. So that is what i'm going to focus on as soon as this right foor settles down. Now, only six weeks out, is the time for the really focused stuff. I can say i've been hoodwinked into thinking that the training programme would be enough for a half-IM, not realising that it was a lead-up to the full-IM instead.
I can't go on smashing myself in the smaller races and not enjoying it, somehow hoping that i will redeem myself in the big one on Dec 3. EVERY RACE should be cherished as a chance to give a good account of oneself, and the only way to do that is to give some specific preparation for each event, knowing full-well the negative effects that injury and enforced lay-offs can play on the rest of the season.
Now to top it off, i'm somewhat injured (yup, the right foot) and taking the whole week off. I've been scaring myself silly in the meantime doing research on what ails my right foot. I'd like to think it is just mere ligament strain, or the odd bone bruise, but other things like plantar fasciitis, nerve pinching, or the dreaded stress fracture seem to crop up in the online literature i've been sieving through in my confinement. The worse thing is that the imbalance is causing my left hip to act up, a much-feared biomechanical imbalance that warrants corrective running technique upon resumption of training.
Every day i sit in this room, waiting for that next training session, let alone the next race, and i get weaker. And every day, my competitors are out there doing the hard yards, the early morning starts, out on the roads and in the bush, getting stronger. I can physically feel the degenerative effects of a long lay-off after a race effort. Who said anything about recovery? I know myself well enough. 1 week of recovery for 6 hours of competition is too much. Is it because it is somewhat more intense? 5 hours plus going at full bore might be too much to hack for someone used to the lower intensities of AR... but then again, didn't i not crack the UMC, also at a rather high intensity, without coming off so crook??
I'm confused and somewhat weary at what this bodes for the rest of my build-up to IM, and CtC.
The only reason i can give for this pitiful performance is the lack of specific training. Not enough open-water swimming, not enough time in aero-position, and just plain not enough running mileage in the legs to come away uninjured. I really thought i'd crack 5:15 easy.
I have resolved this issue: i know myself the best. The nutrition, the lead-up, and the specific conditioning. I probably did more specific conditioning in the lead-up to UMC than any other race, thus the relatively unscathed results. True, more hill work was needed. So that is what i'm going to focus on as soon as this right foor settles down. Now, only six weeks out, is the time for the really focused stuff. I can say i've been hoodwinked into thinking that the training programme would be enough for a half-IM, not realising that it was a lead-up to the full-IM instead.
I can't go on smashing myself in the smaller races and not enjoying it, somehow hoping that i will redeem myself in the big one on Dec 3. EVERY RACE should be cherished as a chance to give a good account of oneself, and the only way to do that is to give some specific preparation for each event, knowing full-well the negative effects that injury and enforced lay-offs can play on the rest of the season.
