Sitting on Ice!

There are times when being driven is good and times when it can hurt.  Today was one of those days!  I recently read in a swimming magazine the difference between a sprinter and a distance swimmer.  Sprinters want to have fun and they only want to do the minimal work necessary to get the job done.  Distance swimmers (or any sport, I think), love practice for the sake of practice.  They will do whatever work-out is put before them, feel longer is better, and will push through the pain to finish the work-out.  I am not a sprinter.  I'm a distance athlete and I enjoy practice just for the sake of practice.  Today I had to remind myself that the means are a means to an end, and in the end, I won't miss 1.5 miles one Sunday.

I was out for a 9 mile run on a gorgeous, albeit freezing, day in DC.  On a pretty trail next to the Potomac River on which the hotel staff swear I won;t likely be murdered.  Anyway, 3rd grade math tells you that's 4.5 out and 4.5 back.  Well. at about 2.75 miles, I tripped and REALLY hurt my right hamstring.  It hurt a lot!  I've had kind of a chronic hamstring thing going on for a couple of yrs and it was getting better over the last couple of months.     So what did I do after I got hurt?  I kept going of course.  Because the specified distance was 4.5 before I could turn around.  And usually pains get better while I run.  If I stopped everyting something hurt, I'd never get anywhere.  For instance, at the beginning of this run, I jumped off a low wall onto the trail and my foot hurt.  I was seriously considering for about a half mile whether I should stop, but it got better.  See?  It usually works.  Well, after I fell, I kept going for about another mile, and then started thinking about my ultimate goal.  The goal is a Half Ironman in May.  If I rip my hamstring and spend weeks off of running and biking, my race will be in jeopardy.  If I turn around, I miss 1.5 miles of my workout, but will I notice 3 months from now?  I decided caution was in order.  I hated it because it feels like giving up.  But in reality, it's smart training,  So I turned around.  Stopped near the hotel for a sandwich and  discovered a pizza sandwich- oh my, it was yummy!!  And I ate it while sitting on an ice pack.  I have tomorrow off, then a swim on Tuesday.  Then a bike and run on Wednesday.  I'll ice the heck out of it between now and then.  the good news it that it was actually feeling better by the time I got home.  See?!