I reported after the triathlon on Sunday that I was feeling good, however some pain creeped up on me on Monday morning … its odd, but both sides of my groin area (left thigh and right thigh) became very sore throughout Monday morning, and I thought it was just because I did alot of work around the house this past weekend, plus I helped my father move back into my mothers house this weekend (and moved alot of stuff around my house as well, straining some muscles), so I guess i’m not sure what brought the pain on. After the initial soreness started to subside, the soreness on my right leg groin area didn’t subside as well as the left side did, and I can feel where it was kind of tender … it still felt sore like the other leg, but a little worse ….

I guess you can say that the pain is weird though, and after 2 days, I have no bruising or consistent pain, so at the worst, its a level 1 injury (although I feel its minor). I did run on it yesterday (5 miles), and it didn’t make it worse, however I feel that pushing the mileage on it (9 miles today) would have only made it worse. I’d rather follow Hal’s advice (and everyone elses’ on the internet) that if you need the extra day off, do it, i’ll make up the miles. I have learned to train smart and that if I don’t nurse my leg now, it can knock me out for good. I still have 8 weeks until Steamtown, theres plenty of time to get out the long runs. My goal at this point is to GET the long runs in, because thats what I need, so i’m hoping my 18 mile goals this weekend won’t be disrupted, but we’ll see. If we have to skip them, cut them back, etc, we’ll do that, for the sake of staying healthy. I’m also feeling VERY tired, which is a sign that I need to take some time. I’ve been doing 6 days a week training for just over 9 weeks now, so it is taking its toll. More importantly, its the early morning runs that make me tired …. because i’m up at 5am, out to run, then to work by 7am, then home by 4pm, then by the time I get to bed, its after 10pm …. that doesn’t help!

So I sit here on a Wednesday (btw, a beautiful wednesday at that, in the lower 50’s, sunny this morning), and its painful to not have that workout, but I know its for the better. I did lift weights this morning, and did stretch, even my groin and I felt no pain when I did the groin stretch, so thats a good thing. Yesterday it was quite tender, today its still a bit tender, but not too bad … again, another 24 hours of rest should do it alot of good.