Rough Weekend

Wow, this weekend was a rough one.  Really…  I met up with Kelly on Friday for a 90 min long run.  My instructions were to run for 90 min and if I was feeling good and thought it was safe I could push it up to 1:45 or 2:00.  But otherwise take it easy and feel good!  It was a warm one out on Friday and it was nice to be enjoying the sunshine.  We were running nice and easily and running 4:1 intervals.  We ran towards Edworthy and even met up with Tara for a bit.  Around 40 or 45 min we started running at the end of a walk break.  I stepped out with my left foot and all of a sudden there was a shooting pain in my left hip.  I thought it might work itself out as I ran along….maybe I just stepped badly?  It actually got worse so I had to stop and walk.  After walking for a bit it felt like things had loosened up, but as I tried running again it immediately started hurting again.  My gait was terrible trying to compensate for the pain.  That was it, I made it back to the office on a walk, feeling dejected over the pain in my hip, something very new for me.  I had a chat with coach Angie after I got back to my office.  I’m pretty sure it is my IT band, so I have instructions to not run until there is no pain, and to stretch, foam roll and go see my ART provider stat this morning.  Because it came on so suddenly that is generally a good sign (not a chronic injury) and I can tell that things are feeling a lot better in there today on Monday morning than they did on Friday afternoon or even Saturday.

Cut to Sunday, the day of our long ride.  The plan was to ride nice and easy for 5 hours, no distance plan at all.  I had asked if we could start at 8 am so we could get done just a bit earlier.  Somewhere along the way I forgot I said 8 and thought we were meeting at 9.  When I asked Kelly what the weather was like out her way at 8 am, no wonder she was surprised that I wasn’t on my way!  I wasn’t ready to go, I still had nutrition to prep.  I told them to ride on, I’d get ready and ride towards Cochrane and we’d meet up somewhere along the way. 

First downfall of the ride – nutrition.  I had used the last of my Infinit bike formula at Great White North and my new order hadn’t arrived in time.  I substituted with three bottles of my Infinit run formula – made with sugars for a shorter duration workout and no protein.  I also decided to pack along a Honey Stinger protein bar and some Fig Newtons.  I wanted to try out a real food option on the ride.

I felt great riding to Cochrane.  The weather was looking iffy, but I was feeling good.  About an hour in I ran into my riding mates.  From here we waffled on where to ride.  One of the guys in our group didn’t want to ride for 5 hours so he was interested in turning back.  We decided to turn back towards Kelly’s house and ride part of the Calgary 70.3 course.  As soon as we rode south out of Cochrane I was dropped like a hot potato.  This was not an easy pace….  We were also riding into a headwind and I just wasn’t able to pick it up enough to catch up.  Cue the demons in my head and the disappointment over not being able to hang on with the group.

We turned off of Highway 22 and rode east along Springbank Road.  It was lovely and flat and this is where my power is.  I flew down this road, all of a sudden feeling great about my ride and enjoying the scenery.  When we then turned south again the hills picked up and I flew of the back of the group.  As I watched them pedal further and further away I got more and more disappointed.  I thought that maybe I should ride to Kelly’s house and turn around to ride home on my own as this race pace of a ride was not helping me mentally.  My emotions were just as hilly as the course we were riding.  Well, when we made it to Kelly’s house, that is where things got even more interesting….  Stay tuned.