That ugly bruise on my hamstring has disappeared completely. It didn't give me any problems during my last biking trip either. Both good signs that I'm pretty excited about. I went out for a short run last week, thinking that an easy 5km would be alright. It probably would have if I hadn't changed my mind. The 5k loop that I was planning on doing is 100% flat and the scenery, while a nice wooded area, is the same throughout and I wanted something a bit more interesting. So I decided to change course and follow a trail that parallels the roadway and eventually enters a town that a friend of mine lives in. Having made the trip by car several times I had a feel for the distance and estimated that it would take me about an hour to run out-and-back. This run is much more interesting. I arrived at my turn-around-point at approximately 33 minutes. Right on target. I had taken the pace a bit slower than usual so I could pay more attention to how my hamstring was holding up. It was a bit tight, along with my calf, so I took a few minutes to stretch before making my way back. I knew from the start that there was a well known hill that I would have to climb on the way back. This was what I came for. Still feeling OK, I decided to keep the pace down as I had on the way out. Better not to push it too far yet. Nearly 10 minutes later I was facing the hill. Long and rather steep looking. Short strides, lean forward. No problem. I was up the hill in no time and not feeling beat up at all. I made it back at 68 minutes. After cleaning up and getting dinner I logged the run at mapmyrun.com and discovered that my 5k turned into 12k (7.82 miles) and that my pace was around 8:30/mile. Around a minute slower than usual. Given the mileage and my usual pace, I would have normally clocked in around 58 minutes. How bout that 1 hour estimate?
There's still a small knot lingering in my hamstring, but it's getting smaller and should be gone within another week or so. I'm going to chance it on a bike trip into the mountains on Sunday. I can't wait to kick this plague of injuries. I haven't done much climbing since I've gotten here, but I'm looking to remedy that next weekend in Frankenjura. Depending on how my finger reacts, I may opt to get it checked out. I'm pretty fed up with not being able to climb on it. It's about time to figure out what's wrong with it so I can do what's needed to get back to climbing status.
In addition I'm looking to get back to running status. I've been wanting to get into racing shape for some time and I've got enough motivation built up right now to do it. A friend of mine suggested the Leadville Trail 100 to me and it got me psyched. This ultramarathon is in Leadville, CO and loops around 100 miles of the Rocky Mountains and climbs nearly 3,000 ft. Although mostly known for the 100 mile mountain bike race, they also host a number of shorter races. I'm really psyched on training for the marathon. Not quite as bad ass as the 100, but it still looks awesome. I figure on running it after I'm officially back from Germany, so that gives me more than a year to train properly. I've got good opportunity to run at altitude here since I'm fairly close to the Alps. I plan on signing up for a few road and/or trail races to supplement my training here and get used to racing longer distances again. At this point I'm not looking to beat any specific time since this will be my first ever marathon, and a rough one at that. This will be solely about enjoying the run, the people and the course. I'm looking forward to training at full strength once this hamstring injury lets up.
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