Tightness

Had a good run tonight. Nice to do a "short" run which left me feeling great. Had the endorphins running wide afterwards and I was feeling great. Oh ya, short was 6.25 miles (my iPod ran out of juice so I estimated the distance and mapped it after I got back and was .75 mile short) or 10 km.

As the miles have increased I have started to have tightness in my left Hamstring. This was OK and I was stretching it but it got to the point where 3 miles in it was starting to get really tight to the point where it has started to throw my gait off. Then on Sunday it really acted up and I ended up with my right knee aching. I have had this, left leg muscles cause right leg muscles to get out of whack before.

So, this week it was off to see Dr. Geoff Outerbridge of The Holistic Clinic. He did some ART (Active Release Therapy) on my left hamstring and around my right knee. I have another appointment next week to see how that helped. I saw Geoff last year during my training for the 1/2 Marathon and it helped a ton. So, here's hoping that with some ART treatments and stretching, I will be able to keep logging the long miles.

This weekend is my first ever 18 mile run (28.8 km) which will be the longest I have ever run at one time. The great thing about training for the Marathon for the first time is that you are pushing your limits on a regular basis and you have to put faith in you ability to persevere. Getting past the mental challenges has been as much a part of this endeavour as the physical aspect.

I expect this weekends run to take between 3 and 3.5 hours. We'll see how it goes with the tight ham, the sore knee, and the mental hurdle of running for that long. I think the mental part will be the easy one this weekend.