Indoors: 45 minute recovery run. First thing to say is that I didn’t run 6K - according to the treadmill it was 4.75K in 45 minutes. I don’t know whether the treadmill is accurate or whether the truth is somewhere in the middle but I ran slow because it was a recovery run and my groin/hernia was sore. Every time I cough I feel tightness there and discomfort.
I probably should bail out of my training and get it sorted - but I’m not going to. I think I’ve had this hernia for a while and I’ve been playing football with it and running with it for God knows how long, so I can manage it until September. I’ve made an appointment to speak to my doctor on August 10th and I’ll set the wheels in motion to get it seen to at the hospital. By the time I get an appointment the Half Marathon will be done and I’ll be able to tell them exactly where the pain is and how it affects me. At this point I don’t know if it’s going to get worse but as long as I run a modest pace it seems to be manageable.
Today’s run wasn’t easy. Once again I got to 30 minutes and wanted to stop, but that’s my mental default position. I have it in my legs to run 90 minutes but my mind doesn’t always follow. Tomorrow is a speed hill work out but only over 27 minutes duration so that won’t cause me any trouble (unless the hernia suddenly deteriorates) and then I have a rest day before the big 8 mile run on Friday. I’ve run this distance fairly recently so I know I can do it, just depends how my mind and body are on the day. I’ve been instructed by coach Bennett to take it slower this week, which suits me down to the ground. I would be excited about my progress but I know I have an injury that should really make me stop training but I can’t. I’ve invested too much into this run, including fundraising. I also know my mental health will suffer if I stop training and given that I’m type 2 diabetic, it’s crucial that I keep getting the weight off. A difficult balancing act but if I take it slowly I believe I can still run a half marathon with this injury.
