Injury, Auroville and Running Bug

Of all things I happened to hurt my groin during the run on Sunday. A seasoned marathoner and a friend, Arun Krishnan says, “Groin injury has to be treated with a lot of respect and care”. It is simply an overuse injury that has stemmed out of too much running over the last 16 weeks. This week’s plan is to rest the entire week, buy a new pair of Bowermans, stretch, and strengthen the inner thigh muscles. I will also start tapering from next Tuesday which means that I run only when I feel like and run only short distances like a 5-7k run. The marathon in Auroville will be the next real long run which is a huge gamble because I am not going to stress test the injury before that. It will now be fantastic to finish the run within 4 hours as opposed to aiming for a 3:30 finish. The 3:30 will have to wait until Australia or some other marathon towards the second half of the year.

Injuries make runners feel a little depressed just because they are exogenous in nature. You really cannot factor in injury while starting a training plan. Especially if something happens after 14 weeks of sacrifice, you really lose it. There is not much you could do though…you just need to patiently rest and pray that they don’t resurface during the run.

My best friend from Hyderabad, Abhishek Rao, has been bit by the running bug after some drunken talk on wednesday night. God save him.