After three months of training, I gave out again and now I’ve got the same knee injury I had in the fall. This time was different, however. I saw it coming. Naturally, I didn’t do enough to prevent it.
I find that when I get to about two or three months into the training cycle I am at the greatest risk of getting hurt. This time was no exception. I can see the signs, which are mostly just being beat up, but especially small irritating things like sore achilles or hamstring. Stuff like that really sets off the alarm bells that something bad could happen. When I feel exhausted even after a non workout day, I know that something is amiss.
I was about this close to asking if I could adjust my training and throw in a down week last week. This close. But I didn’t do it, figuring that everything would be okay. And then, after last Wednesday’s workout, I find myself limping around the apartment.
Of course, it takes me four more days of running with increasing pain to convince myself that I’ve got a serious injury and can’t run until it’s better.
So, in the meantime, I’ve been sentenced to the bike. It could be weeks until this goes away. It took three last time. On the plus side, it might give me much needed rest so that I will be able to finish my last season feeling good. In the past, I’ve been able to blast a couple good races even with injuries a few weeks prior. Last spring, when I didn’t get hurt, I ran out of gas at the end, most likely because I wasn’t used to running for six months straight.
Spring break has been pretty uneventful. I went home last weekend but am back here at school since I’ve been asked to for practice. Not that I’ll be able to do what everyone else is doing. Personally, I would rather stay home since I wouldn’t have to pay for food. The dining halls don’t open again until Sunday. The weather’s been great at home for biking, but that will change tonight and it will be back to cold again. At least being at school will allow me to get more work done before class starts next week.
At this point in the fall, the halfway point was the marker between no schoolwork and onslaught. This seems to be the case this spring as well. Suddenly, all this stuff I have to do has popped up. It’s going to be a tough finish again, compounded in the short term by my injury (Biking takes more time than running) and in the long term by racing. But, I’ve had tough semesters before and have still been able to work in training and racing. I’ve got to do the best I can in everything because I don’t have much school or running left.
All the internship stuff for this summer is set. I’ve got a reservation at the NASA Ames Exchange Lodge where most other interns stay and I’ve done all the paperwork (that I know of) for the internship itself. It should be an interesting experience and I can’t wait to go, but there is a lot to do between now and then. One thing that will be weird is that I’ll have to cook my own food on a regular basis for the first time.
It’s kind of hard for me to believe that the semester is nearly halfway over in terms of time. It definitely isn’t in terms of work and I have a feeling that it will slow down as it progresses. It will be a challenge to hold everything together, that’s for sure.
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