Return to Running Day

Today was my first double run day since my hamstring twinge and so it was a bit of a test day. My leg has been holding up fine in my runs over the last 4 or 5 days, but today has been my first big volume day since I started running again, so I was taking it pretty carefully.

My run this morning went okay; it was a return to the cross country loop that we have been working on for past month or so.

Since this session can be fairly demanding strength wise, this morning’s version of the cross country loop was slightly shorter than I have been doing, just to give my leg a chance. My hamstring has been feeling pretty good since about Thursday last week, so I was surprised that it felt a little tight once I got going on my warm up. Needless to say I took that pretty easy. I am not sure if the cold weather was a factor, but I wouldn’t be surprised. It might be time to find some full length leggings to run in. Well actually I already have some of those, but I think I might look for some that don’t fall down. Once I had some warmth in my legs, the hamstring calmed down, but I kept an eye on it for the rest of the run.

This morning I once again got to enjoy one of the perks of running cross county in the dark, when I tripped over some seaweed (is it still seaweed when it comes from a river) that was washed up on the beach and landed on my face. Luckily it was dark, and very early, and isolated, so I didn’t feel quite so silly. It turns out that other than the tripping over bit, thick mats of washed up riverweed are surprisingly nice to run on. Very soft and quite springy. Not nearly as disgusting as you think when you first see them.  Or don’t seem them, depending on how dark it is.

This afternoon it was back down to the Swan River for my usual interval session. This is the one that had me a little nervous hamstring wise, since high intensity work is what set it off in the first place. In the end though it was fine. The intervals hurt like usual, but the hamstring was all good. The pace for the intervals was pretty okay, not my quickest, but coming along nicely enough. So I was happy to put that session down as a successful one. Plus now I am done for the day, which is a great feeling.

Off to the pool for many many miles of swimming in the morning. But first dinner and some sleep. Which for your average triathlete is even better than dinner and a show.