September Studs make November Duds

Hi all. My bad on not keep my promise to update the situation after last-last Friday's time trial for the cross country team, things have been rather busy lately. So first off even though it seems weird talking about it well after the fact, Friday night went pretty well. My leg was hurting badly through the warmup and I was very nervous for those opening few strides when I would be forced to put full weight on the leg, and drive off of it. The horn sounded and we were off. The hyped up pace said to be 2:40/km pace did not happen. The big group of guys were running a pretty modest 3:05/km pace for the first few hundred meters, and I thought to myself let's take advantage of the pain killing adrenaline now while it lasts, and I took over the race pulling well into the lead bringing it down to 2:40/km pace and hovering just around 2:48-2:53 until passing the first kilometre in 2:59. Eased off a bit after that and hit the second k in 3:08 and tucked in behind now the pack of leaders (me and 3 other guys). I won't describe the entire race but basically I stayed this way until about 5 k when we got strung out a bit, probably thanks to the +40 degree heat and finished the 6.2 kilometres course around churchill park (course was a bit long) in 19:30. So I made the team and was onto the long run on Saturday. The whole team met up at 8:30 at the track, and then we went off. After about 4 k of running as a whole team we split off into our different groups based on how long everyone was going for. I went in the longest group with 6 other guys and we went for about 2.5 hours through super hilly and awfully slick set of trails after the Friday night storms. All in all a pretty great run. After a decent run on Sunday, trouble struck on Monday. My leg was in extreme pain once again. After a 60k bike ride Tuesday Morning in place of running, went to see the Sports Medicine Doctor here at Mac. He referred me for a bone scan, and said that based on my previous history, and the fact it was a similar spot to where it had heard before, during, and after Around the Bay in March, it was most likely another stress fracture. Fortunately, he also said that since there was also considerable pain on the tibialis posterior muscle which follows the length of the tibia on the medial side, that tibialis posterior tendonopathy was also a possibility. But I decided to keep on running, because well, that's what I do. After all, if it's a stress fracture and took off 4-6 weeks I wouldn't be available for the team until the Canadian Championships at the beginning of November, and I highly doubt that after 4-6 of not running at all, I would be in any sort of race shape to be in the Top 7 on the team chosen to represent McMaster in Newfoundland. So basically, I'll keep on running on it, if it completely breaks (compound fracture) I'll be out a little longer, but either way whether it's a stress fracture or progresses to complete fracture (like the Kevin Ware injury last year when he innocently went to a three-pointer and on the landing snapped is leg is half - and yes he did have a stress fracture leading into that game) I'm out for the season. Wednesday came along and our first speed workout was on tap, and I was feeling pretty good considering the strength and conditioning session the night before called Get Jacked. I won't delve into the details of the workout because I don't think the coaches would appreciate if I released details to other possible competitors about how we work here at Mac. But I'll just say I was an interval style workout at 10k pace - 3:10/km. Thursday me and my fellow runner roommates headed out for a 75 minute run at recovery pace, and up a technical portion of trails called ankle breaker, and after some physiotherapy in the afternoon with some ultrasound, and another strength and conditioning session in the evening + core, the leg was actually feeling okay, not nearly 100%, but better than Monday. On Friday, did more strength work in the morning, and then smoked a tempo run with the team in the evening. Was supposed to be running in a group with 4 others, but felt so good left them and ripped it up the trail. That was the first time in a while I thought recovery was close. Saturday, we went on our team long run doing another 2.5 hours on a seemingly endless set of hilly trails, then had a well deserved team pancake breakfast at one of the girl team member's houses. On Sunday, the leg was not great on my run on my own, and was feeling frustrated once again. But this Monday, absolutely destroyed our toughest interval workout yet. Leg still hurt during the workout, but having a team around me kind of helps to distract myself from the penetrating waves of pain and unstable feeling landing on that bone gives me. The coach called me on the weekend and essentially told me that even though I wanted to, he wanted to give my leg one more week before competing. I gave in because after a good talk, I understand that these early meets are not critical, and that he needs me to be ready come championship season at OUAs and then at CIS. I need to believe in the process, put my faith in our coaching staff and understand that all they want is for me to succeed. They have expressed numerous times to me that they are amazed at how I have been able to accomplish everything that I have with no coach and no team around me. But now, I believe that these coaches can really take me to an even higher level. They really are a great groups of coaches, and with phenomenal running backgrounds themselves from the college level, to one of them competing in the 1992, and 1996 Olympic Games. So 12 of our runners (about half) will be competing at Western on Saturday, and myself and others will still be travelling with the team. Me and two other guys are planning on tempo-ing the course before the races start. Then next Saturday I will debuting in Windsor. From there we will see if I also race in Waterloo the following weekend, but definitely in Kingston on the Thanksgiving weekend. Here is our Men's Team Picture: