Sniper, voodoo doll or poor preparation

So on Tuesday I went to track.

I was planning on hurting myself in the pursuit of being faster at the ETU Aquathlon Championships.

The set was 4 reps of 1600m with a 2 minute rest between reps and 4 reps of 400m with a 30 second rest between reps.

I drove to track after work but unfortunately traffic seemed denser than usual.

I left at my normal time and the usual 30 minute journey took 40 minutes. This made me late for the 6pm start.

By the time I had clothed properly and tied my laces, I had enough time for a 600m rep before 4 100m reps of strides.

Usually I run about 1600m or 2000m before completing 4 reps of 100m strides.

Tonight however I only did 600m and moved straight into strides.

By the 3rd stride something didn't quite feel right with my vastus medialis muscle. For those querying where this is, See the diagram below.

I persevered through the 4th stride and made my way to the start line for the main set.

I was making good pace at the start of the main set but then disaster..........................

I suddenly felt like I'd been stabbed in my quad with a knife. Red hot pain was searing behind my vastus medialis. Needless to say I immediately stopped running. I was gutted about this as I had been looking forward to the session.

At this point all sorts of panic (and a lot of expletives) flew through my head.

• "Would I be fit for my race on Sunday?"

• "Would I be fit for the ETU's?"

I eventually put on my jogging bottoms and hobbled to my car to go home and lick my wounds.

I managed to go swimming later that night albeit in mild pain and followed that up with functional movement and 30 minutes on the turbo on Wednesday night.

I've been in constant contact with #runboss Dave Tune over this injury and kept him up to date with any developments.

After two nights having a hot water bottle fixed to my leg, this morning my leg felt ok.

Tonight with a great sense of relief I can confirm that I managed to run 5 miles pain free.

Thanks to Dave for the support (including answering texts for the last two days)

There are three possible reasons for the pain.

1. There is a sniper in existence near Doncaster Athletics Track (unlikely)
2. Someone has made a voodoo doll of me. (improbable)
3. I didn't warm up enough (highly likely)

So another lesson has been learnt on my journey. I am glad this one had no lasting effects.

Thats all from me and thanks for reading,

Michael

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