Thanks, guys.
Well, it turns out that for the past few months, I've been running on a torn hamstring.
My bout of plantar fascitis on my right foot last fall caused me to alter my stride and not push off with my right foot. This caused the calf to become pretty much a dead weight. Little motive power was coming from it as I was pretty much just picking it up and setting it down each step. The bulk of the work was being done by my left side, namely the hamstring. It had been bothering me the whole time I was training for the River Bank, and I new something was weird with my stride, but I didn't imagine this.
Anyways, physical therapy is on the docket, though I plan on doing 10 or so this morning. What the hell, I've been running on it all this time anyways.
I won't beat myself up so much now because of my disappointing 25K. The PT I saw said I was using at least 50% more energy to run the way I was and could expect a 10-15 sec/mile increase in pace when I starting running correctly again. I don't know where she got these numbers, but I'm bound to speed up some after correcting.
She watched me run and, other than my calf and hamstring issues, said I had a great stride and form. She also said this could have been much worse if I wasn't as strong. Now, I haven't been in the gym in a looooong time, but I imagine all those weights I used to lift done me some good. Because of this deal, I'm sure I need to get back in to hit the iron. Maybe I should revive this log to keep me accountable. We'll see. Life is crazy as hell with school and work.
