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Saturday, April 6, 2024

Recovery Week

I just re-read my previous post from last Sunday. This week revealed a bit more tightness in my hamstring than I had anticipated enduring. I decided to continue to take it easy this week, to give the leg more time to heal, as I believe it is still compromised. Hind sight is 20/20, but if I could do Sunday's workout over again, I would have stopped after the 4th split. Rounding the last curve on that 6th 400m is when my hammy tightened up. I think this is the "over doing it" lesson. I did my Pilates mat routine every day this week, except Tuesday, when I headed into NYC for an appointment. I had a private studio session on Thursday with Megan. I did weight training at the gym M, W, and F. I will go again tomorrow, Sunday. Yesterday (Friday) I did my fourth acupuncture/cupping treatment with Dr. Aaron at Philadelphia Mind-Body Acupuncture. I do feel like the treatments are helping me heal. The cupping on my hamstring felt especially good yesterday. Maybe it was the 4.8 earthquake we experienced just as I was getting on the table, who knows? (Energy.)

I reached out in an email to Bill Yelverton, the 64-year-old sprinter star whose blog I follow regularly (https://sprintforever.blogspot.com). He had suffered an injured hamstring back in February, and unfortunately, even though he managed to keep running and competing brilliantly for the indoor season, the injury has not completely healed, and it hindered his performance in the 400m at indoor nationals in March. I wanted to know if he had any training advice for me moving forward. He generously responded with great questions that helped my clarify for myself the nature and extent of my own hamstring injury. He also offered what seems like excellent direction for how to train while I also give the hamstring extra "space" and consideration so that it can heal. Here is the advice he gave: 

"Don’t run or stretch aggressively for a week.  Then before doing anything, soak in hot water bath.  Stretch very conservatively and gently (if at all). After a slow warm up jog, do some band work especially eccentric negative ham curls, start light. Then start with running only hills or stairs for the next week or even 2.   Don’t push it or sprint fast.   If it lasts longer than 2 or 3 weeks, that’s chronic and you won’t be able to train through it running.  You’ll have to cross train.  When it feels ready, slowly ramp up your 100m speed on turf.  Start slow, like 19 - 20 sec.  Try to improve one second each time out."

So, thanks to him, I have another plan, one that is sane and doable. In addition, it is a great lift emotionally, as it gives me a clear way to proceed and keep moving! I'm very grateful for this input. 

Here is an image of a cupping treatment on a hamstring muscle. Looks worse than it actually is, in my opinion:



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