Mark's NOS run hack
Hi Coach P, The NOS run scene hasn't been entirely according to plan and I thought that I would check in with you now that I have a clearer vision for the direction the rest of the NOS is going to shape up. I've been having some problems with the hamstring in my right leg off and on for some time. It flared up again this time last year and I managed it for the season with massage therapy and limiting work in excess of Z4. The Z4 workouts in the HIM and IM plans didn't seem to bother me last season and short strides at 5K pace didn't seem to bother it either. I had a PR in the Challenge Penticton IM run by 13 minutes so things were good at those speeds. During the run at Victoria 70.3 it did start to tighten up a little but eased up a bit during the up hill sections and it did fine. My run was 10/69 in my AG.
So in the first week of the NOS we have this little run test. I did a good warm-up and got to the track feeling good. I started out at a good sustainable pace for me but about 1.5 miles in my hamstring started feeling a little tight. I slowed up a little and breathed into it which has helped in the past but a half lap later it was just getting worse so I shut the test down and jogged home (about 3/4 mile). I put myself into run jail until the following Monday and tried to run again but I had barely run a mile at Z1 pace and it really started hurting so I shut the run down and walked home. I got a referral from my doctor to see a physical therapist. It was about a week before I could get in to see them so I didn't run until I had my first visit. The diagnosis was that I had weak glutes and the right one was weaker than the left. So the prescription was stretching, exercises to isolate the glute and teach me to fire them first and strengthen them. (The bike didn't affect the hamstring so I added a couple of bike workouts while I wasn't running.)
I started running shortly after the first visit and as long as I kept it slow and used my core to stabilize my pelvis I was fine with short runs. the second week of therapy they put me on the TM and did a gait analysis. I started to incorporate her suggestions and lengthen the runs. Everything was fine as long as I maintained good form. She has been putting me on the TM once a week to check and tweak my form. It's one thing to know what you're supposed to do but it's great to have someone actually watch and correct. I have been doing some strides but no speed work, just the TRP work. I've gotten up to a little over 30 miles this week which is the advanced NOS weekly goal! Even today on the long Sunday run whenever my hamstring started to complain a little it would immediately get better when I renewed my concentration on form and technique. I can feel my glutes firing now most of the time and especially when I do strides. I'm still seeing the PT once a week to check on progress and tweak stride and exercises. Now the exercises include a lot of core work and my PT was going to recommend some massage therapy to help loosen up lower back, pelvis and upper legs.
So here's my plan for the rest of the NOS. I'm not going to do a run test this week. After the bike test I'll resume running like it was a normal week but I am going to start testing the waters with some speed work. This past week I did do a mile at very close to my Z3 pace (from the last time I tested with an HM) and I was fine with that. I'm going to do some mile Z3 repeats and then add some short Z4 work. Since I've been doing 30 seconds at 5k pace without problems I figure I'll start at 60 seconds of Z4 (60 seconds rest) and see how that goes. If that's OK I'll begin to lengthen that out over the rest of the NOS until I get to a mile per the Sunday run plan. I did a local HM last year at the end of the NOS where I did a 10k run test in the middle of it because the start is really hilly. I plan on doing that run again at the end of this NOS as a test.
I would like to hear your thoughts and suggestions with the plan and especially if you have any thoughts about injury prevention in the future.
Comments
I don't see the value (risk > reward) for the intensity. We use intensity as a time-saving tool -- it's not critical to our race performance. In your case potentially missing training time makes it off limits.
I like the idea of you getting in the frequency and setting a distance goal for each week across the OS. When we get "in" season you can start to use rolling hills / hills to add intensity without increasing the intentional speed at which you are running.
Feel free to outline some run targets and we can go from there!
~ Coach P
Between then and now I will focus my intensity work on the bike and I hope to get a few bike volume weeks in before we leave on April 1st. After all you said you thought I have a chance to KQ this year and I want to prove you're right.
As for the NZ trip, let's use that as a target for "peak running consistency" and build through the OS and beyond to make sure the miles there are fairly substantial (without impacting the trip).