What to say? After solid base training early in the year, a fast First Half Marathon in mid-February and 4 weeks of strength and power workouts at Challenge by Choice I felt very strong and ready for triathlon specific training and some dedicated running leading up to the BMO Vancouver Marathon on May 5th. This was going to be my first important benchmark race. Things turned out a little different...
Leading up the BMO April Fool's Half Marathon in early April, I tore a muscle in my quad sidelining me for almost 3 weeks. 200 meter intervals on track are too short and intense for me - I will never do anything shorter than 400s again in my life!
There was no way of running April Fool's - I was OK with that. Having had the same injury 8 years ago I knew what to do. The injury was much less severe than back then. However, I did not want to give up on the BMO Vancouver Marathon and ran an easy long run 2 weeks after the injury. It felt good. I chose flat and soft trails. The days after I witnessed a little tightness in my knee but it was nothing major, I thought. By the end of April, I had done more tempo workouts and two longer intervals sessions as the quad injury was gone - at least by feel. I felt great the days leading up to Vancouver marathon and was in high hopes for a solid race targeting the 3-hour mark.
On race day, I was relaxed, legs felt good, no tightness. I ran according to my plan at 4:15 min/KM at very controlled pace. I was meticulously doing an even pace given the warm temperatures that day. At 10K I felt a tightness in my left calf developing and thought nothing of it. Within minutes it got so bad that I was hardly able to put weight on my left leg. At 13K I stopped and stretched but to no avail. It was clear to me at that point: there was something awfully wrong. Another injury! I was mad but then calmed down quickly... I dropped out and that was the end of it!
I got picked up by my wife and we drove back to Squamish immediately. I was not in the mood for watching...
Long story short: Minor muscle tear and slightly rotated knee cap, most likely as a result from the earlier quad injury...
Another 10 days without any workout except swimming. I am running out of time. My first Half Ironman of the season is coming up in less than 3 weeks, and I have hardly done any bike-run workouts nor will I be able to do any major running.
Despite great treatment at Reach Physio in Squamish, I will not be where I should be by early June. The weeks of injury and missed workouts are hard to make up for in an Ironman season.
I am thinking about pulling the plug on Ironman. It will depend on how I perform in the Oliver Half Ironman on June 2nd. I have done the race 5 times now and know what to expect and how to judge the result.
It will be a difficult call to make, but I am not interested in getting to the Ironman Canada startline in Whistler knowing that I am not where I want to be. I do not need to finish an Ironman. I know I can do it. Being told: "You are an Ironman" at the finish line does not mean anything to me. It is about the personal goal that I set for myself.
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