I was struggling. I was in my competitive running days, in the best shape of my life, knocking out workouts I couldn’t imagine, but races were not going well. I just couldn’t put it together. I gave myself one last shot before packing in the bags for that season. In two weeks I was going to fly out to California for 1500m race and see what happens. Then, things got worse.
During a speed workout, I strained my hamstring. The next day, I couldn’t even jog. Maybe it was a sign to throw in the towel and call it a season. But as a twenty something who’d dropped too much money on a non-refundable plane ticket, I decided to wait and see. I threw everything I had at the dreaded hamstring and it slowly began to improve. After a few days I could jog slowly. Another day or two passed and I could run easy. With each passing day, I could run a touch faster. The problem, though, is that I was running out of time.
As the race drew nearer, I’d commence the same ritual. I wasn’t training, just hoping to heal. So every day, after a slow warm-up, I’d do some 100 meter strides, gradually getting faster to see when the hamstring clamp down. Seven days before the race, I could run 20 seconds for 100m. Five days before, I got down to 18 seconds. Three days before it was 16.5 seconds. I flew out to California. The day before the race, I ran a 100m in 15.5 seconds without pain. When I tried to go any faster, my hamstring clamped down.
Nevertheless, I decided to race.
More here – The Growth Equation
