I was excited for the race however had developed a cough or some virus a few days before which always makes for a tough day. The goal was still set for sub 33 minutes however I was hoping to run closer to 32:30. I passed the first 5km in 16:12 and felt great. I thought I would have been able to keep this pace going however my second 5km slowed to 16:41. A couple of factors came into play in the second 5km. First I thought that the course would be pretty much flat all the way however the second half of the course was slower due to three overpasses (bridges) and a slight headwind. Also I feel I lost focus from 7-8km and did not push hard enough. Even though I was very happy with the PR, I was frustrated with myself as I crossed the finish line feeling as though I had not given everything. Overall a good day and tune-up race before New York half.
Also this week I had to listen to my body. Sunday after the race I went for a run and afterwards my left quad was pretty sore and I was very worried about an injury especially with New York half right around the corner. Monday morning I went to see Dr. Lance Mclintock at Greenway Chiropractic here in Houston. He assessed my quad and performed active release. He thought there was a slight strain of the vastus medialis and advised me to cross train Monday and Tuesday. He also advised me that my glutes were not firing effectively and gave me plenty of exercises to help strengthen these areas. If this had happened last year I probably would have just gone and run hoping it would clear up. However I have learnt that even the smallest niggle needs to get looked at straight away to prevent the injury from getting worse. I am so glad I went to see Lance. I went back to see Lance on Wednesday and thankfully the pain has gone and I started running again. Still doing some cross training to gradually ease back to normal training. I will keep seeing Lance every other week to get active release and treatment to help avoid injury.
I am also very thankful that my coach Ian Babe has so much knowledge regarding water running. I was able to switch over all my training in to the pool very effectively for the 3 days. Even though doing a 6 x 1200m workout, (which is normally on the track) or a 90 min run in the pool is not as fun you can definitely work just as hard and get your heart rate elevated.
I am really excited for New York half and hopefully no more niggles or sickness. Also a big thank you to Mizuno for their continuing support. I just received a package of my favourite shoes (mizuno wave precision and wave ronin) and a new racing kit which will be great to wear in New York.
I will end this post with a few photos from after the race. Don't worry we did not have to race in the cowboy hat to enter the rodeo run. The hat was one of the prizes :-)
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