Tempo: Ten minutes easy warm up. 2 minutes sprint, 2 minutes easy; repeat times 5. Ten minutes of easy cool down.
Distance: 4.2 miles
Time: 40:23
Performance Stats (out of 5 ★)
Legs: ★ ★ ★ ★
Gut: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Energy: ★ ★ ★ .5
Mind: ★ ★ ★ .5
Overall: ★ ★ ★ ★
Soundtrack: Disturbed, Indestructible
After running that longer distance over the past weekend, my legs needed a few extra days to recover. So I didn't get out to this week's mid-week runs until today, Wednesday. I found mostly that my quads were sore, which is great. I usually have left lateral knee pain and hamstring issues when I'm injured. This was more that "good" pain you feel after a good workout.
This all got me to thinking about pain and running while out this morning. All five of my sprints this morning were up a slight hill. By the last one, there was some definite pain. I was listening to NPR on the ride in to work the other day, and one of the old cranky dudes was talking about why people like to do things that appear to most other people as painful. The conclusion was that you don't like the pain part, but rather the part when the pain goes away. I think that this is true. The best part of a race is when you sprint through the finish line, and then it's all over. There is a whole infusion of hormones, adrenaline and endorphins right at that moment. It is a great feeling.
Then there is the lasting pain of say a great workout at the gym. My wife talks about this all the time. She'll say, "My arms are sore from working out. This is great!" And I totally get that. It's like the quad pain that I have been feeling over the past three days.
Then there is the pain that you get while on a run or after a run, that isn't the same. The key here is to figure out is this an upcoming injury, or is this just the aches and pains of being a runner. Almost everyone who runs will tell you that your legs have good days and bad days. This isn't just energy, power and endurance, some of it is pain too. There are runs where as soon as I start out my legs are achy in all different spots. I usually say to myself, "just keep running, and this will go away after 0.5 miles or so". And, it usually does. I'm sure a warm up and stretching would prevent this!
Injuries are a whole 'nother ballgame, and really put a damper in the whole processes. There are two kinds of injures, with two kinds of pains. There is the acute injury like a fall, twisted ankle or hamstring pull on the treadmill (yikes!). This pain is sudden and you really can't miss it. Most of the time you are stuck with a long rest and a walk home. Then there is the nagging injury - often a left over from an acute injury. These often come with some form of not-smart training. Wrong shoes, too hard, too fast, too long, not warming up, not stretching. You get what I'm saying. But like everything in life, the key is to learn from your injuries, get back to running when you can, go slow at first, and run smart. In no time, you are back to the good pain, and the bad pain is behind you!