Day 25 May 31, 2011 Middle of Nowhere to Middle of Nowhere (83km from Plaster Rock) 44km
31 May
I had to get up a number of times in the middle of the night to use the washroom. This is starting to look less like food poisoning and more like straight gastro.
I got up at 5:30, thanks again to my numerous alarm clocks. I had decided over the past couple of days to try and change the way I broke up the running. For the most part I have been breaking my runs up into 3 legs. I’ve alternated between 20km x 3 each with a 2-hour break in between. I’ve also tried 23km, 22km, and 15km to make the last run a little easier. The 2 problems I’ve found with this though are first, that I am often running later in the evening, around 6-8pm because my 2 hour breaks are almost never 2 hours, more like 2.5 hours, and second, that I don’t really feel like running after the second break. So my new strategy is to run 30km in the morning with a 20min break at 15km to stretch and eat/drink and then 30km in the afternoon again with a 20 min break at 45km. So that was my plan today.
My hamstring held up well during the morning, although I had to frequently stop running to use the washroom thanks to this gastro. It also made staying hydrated more difficult. I had a moose and her young calf cross the road in front of me at some point during the morning run. I stopped for 20mins at 15km and carried on to 30km and was done just before 11am. So far so good. I still had the tape that Stephen had put on my leg from physio and it felt like it was doing a good job of easing the work on my hamstring.
I felt really nauseous after the morning run but managed to force down a sandwich and some more Gatorade. I iced my hamstring and did some stretching and then it was time to start running again.
Almost all of the afternoon run was uphill and my leg only lasted about 10 km before I had to start limping and by 14km it was starting to buckle so I had to stop at 44km. Definitely disappointing especially when it had felt good all morning. We were still in the middle of nowhere with no cell reception so we drove 83km to the nearest town, Plaster Rock. We filled up with gas and took a photo of a statue/carving that the sign said were the world’s largest Fiddleheads. We asked at the gas station if there was anywhere in town that we might be able to watch the Canucks game tomorrow night but we were assured that was no such place and that our best bet would be to drive 25 mins to Grand Falls.
I don’t know what to do about my hamstring. If I was back in the city I would simply stop running for a week, stretch and get some physio and let it heal. Unfortunately, I don’t really have the time to do that. I think the best I can do is continue to stretch and ice it and see how it feels. I really don’t want to push it too much though because at the moment I think it’s just strained and I really don’t want to tear it or I’ll be in a lot of trouble. Hopefully having 3 days off while I’m at Yale for my reunion will be enough time for it to rest and once I’m back near civilization I should be able to get more physio.
We’ll see what happens tomorrow.
