Turns out a month is a pretty long time period. Looking back, a lot has happened in October. It started well with pretty strong test results (vs previous me), good clean & gym weights. I squeezed in a good amount of resistance sprints and speed work in general. Unfortunately, in the last ~1.5 weeks of the month I started feeling too much pain in the upper left hamstring. On one hand, that got me really upset because I was trying very hard to create momentum and training consistency. I think the true way to get better is by stacking good track sessions upon good track sessions back-to-back consistently. On the other hand, this pain encouraged me to work even harder to find a solution. The last workout of October - I was back running and long jumping.
There were a lot of mood swings this month. One good session gets me fired up! Bad sessions though... can suddenly make me question doing this whole sports thing (as it is consuming a huge amount of my weekly free time). Those downs won't really drive me away, consistency > motivation every time. I won't quit because some hamstring issue. But just in case I am actually good when competitions arrive - The start of the season was a true bump in the road.
Well, let's break down this eventful month:
Note: I'll write about 5 weeks in this month. First week starts on Sept. 28th.
Stadium & Equipment
Almost all of my track sessions here were on a rough 200m stadium track (not that I ran on the curve...). Very few were on good ground. The gym sessions were with fine equipment, can't complain. Sleeping & recovery was decent overall, even when I was waking up at 6am each day in the last week of the month. Next month for the first time in my life most of the track sessions will be on a good track. The grass sessions will be on relatively soft grass (this might be taken for granted for some but in Israel, Beersheba there isn't always soft and straight hole-less grass and there is an at least 20-year-old rough track.
Week 1
The first week was a very good one. Had 5 good sessions. Sunday - Hill jumps and sprints (on grass)
Monday - Gym & abs
Tuesday - Agility (sprinting with brackets), short sprints
Wednesday - Gym (explosive/power workout)
Friday - LJ (particularly take-off), 120s, gym again
I remember feeling GOOD through this week. Did most of the training pain-free. Weights were going up. I ended this week already feeling some pain. That pain stayed with me until the 2nd week's Sunday.
Week 2
This week I couldn't attend track 3 of its days (closed due to holidays).
Sunday was a relatively painful training session on grass & stairs which I finished (did a smaller number of reps).
Monday & Tuesday - decided to rest because of the hamstring's pain & holidays.
Wednesday - gym.
Friday - light track/gym session. To sum this week up, almost didn't touch track. Pain held me back from training more.
Week 3
On the 12th of the month (Sunday) I did tests:
October's tests
| Exercise | September | October |
|---|---|---|
| Standing jump | 2.91m (iPhone) | 2.88m (tape) |
| 3-bounds | 8.75m (iPhone) | 8.88m (tape) |
| 5-bounds | 14.40m (iPhone) | 15.10m (tape) |
| 60m (Hand-timed) | 6.84s | 6.84s |
| 100m (Hand-timed) | 11.31s | 11.06s |
On Monday, I went to physiotherapy!
Started physiotherapy
I went to try and figure out that weird hamstring/outer hip pain. I told them how I feel the hamstring mainly while running. My opinion was that it was actually flexibility/mobility issue in my left hip that was causing that pain. The reasons for that are: 1. because there certainly is a mobility imbalance and 2. because I had something similar in the past. They insisted that the main issue was that my hamstring didn't heal rightly from some past injury and that I should focus on stretching and strengthening it. Because it's a longtime (chronic) issue, they said it'll take some time (maybe even 6+ weeks) to fully recover and that I need to be patient. I was skeptical but I started working on my hamstring with one-leg deadlifts, single leg straighten & bend on a yoga ball, stretching, stretching with resistance, etc. Four needles in my hamstring later, I was let go. Wednesday - had a good session Thursday - Broke my clean PB - 95kgs (210lbs)! Friday - did another LJ workout.
Week 4
The hamstring pain arrived just in time for Sunday! I had a decent but painful session.
Monday - gym & physiotherapy again (No. 2)! Another 4 needles.
Tuesday & Wednesday - Mainly rest and my hamstring routine.
Thursday - Trying to come back to running, did a tempo 100×5×3 workout. 2 sets on grass, last one on track.
Friday - Good LJ session but can't say pain free.
Week 5
I'll begin by saying that each day in this week I spent 6-8 hours traveling daily (train, buses, car rides). My life doesn't really spin around track and field so don't think that these previous weeks weren't packed with activities... But that week was really unusual. Because of that hamstring pain coming on & off I decided to rest this week. By rest I mean - active rest. Even had an almost pain-free session on Friday. It was a consistent 6am wake-up-time week with daily morning stretching (something I only recently picked up and will continue to do in the next weeks)
Sunday - Rest
Monday - Warmup and then physiotherapy no. 3! For the first time in a long time I did Nordic curls. I did them earlier this season but stopped as I got afraid worsening the pain. With their recommendation though, I got back to doing them. It turned out they make me feel great. Focusing on pushing my hips forward (preventing an angle between back and hips) while doing Nordics - targets exactly that upper hamstring. That might be close to where my issue is (or should be according to physio. I am still not bought on whether the injury is hamstring or hip related). This week, I did Nordic curls 4 times: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday! Also, I got an approval to basically try and keep training like usual. As they told me, because a lot of time passed from the date the injury started, there is nothing dramatic that can happen to my hamstring. My body just healed wrongly and to fix it we need to get that hamstring working again. It means - stretch and strengthen it to rebuild the bad tissue.
As I write this (Nov 3rd), it really seems like Nordic curls might be the cure to my pain. I am doing a lot of stuff simultaneously so it's hard to point on a single thing, but Nordics seem to be doing me good. Only time will tell.
Tuesday - 20 min run + strengthening
Wednesday - rest
Thursday - run + strengthening
Friday - Felt pretty good so decided to test how my body feels. Some explosive work, then a couple of short runs with increasing speed. Did LJ focusing on jumping leg and finished with one 60m and 80m fast (no spikes) runs.
Training amount summary
| Week № | Track sessions | Gym sessions | Days trained |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 2 strong heavy sessions & 1 "bonus" (unexpected) session | 5 |
| 2 | ~0 | 2-3 | 3 (there's 1 session that I can't remember) |
| 3 | 3 | 1, clean PB | 4 |
| 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
Way too many sessions were limited OR changed due to pain.
Oh, and I searched for and finalized a contract for a new apartment I moved in on 11/02 this month.
Next month
It is already the 3rd of November! I feel like my hamstring finally starts to feel well (though it's too early to say). I will keep pushing and putting everything into recovering from this injury. This is the month's first priority. I'll break November training into points, as I see them currently:
- MOST IMPORTANT - Recover from upper left hamstring injury (= achieve painless training)
- Long jump - start jumping a lot more, 2 sessions a week at least. In ~1.5 months there'll be already competitions, and I need to get used to doing my sport.
- Gym - the majority of the month I'd like to keep lifting heavy. Focus on building strength. In the last 1-2 weeks I'd like to start doing quarter squats and mainly explosive work in the gym as competitions time arrive. Gotta get that 100kg clean and push further (which is totally possible).
- Sprint - start sprinting more. In-and-outs, sprinting hurdles, sprinting with resistance, overspeed, etc.
November must be the month I leave my hamstring pain behind and get back to regular consistent training.
