Tuesday 18 February 2014

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)

When I commented in my last post that Jillian Michaels kicked my butt, I wasn't joking.  Yesterday, I could not move!!!  There was no running, there was no yoga, there was no Jillian Michaels...there was me....laying on the sofa...not moving!  It hurt to get up, it hurt to sit down.  And yes...I'm aware that I should have stretched it out yesterday...but I was a WIMP!


Darn the DOMS!!!  If you don't know what DOMS is...it's the soreness you feel 24-72 hours after a strenuous workout or activity.  Of course I pushed myself during the workout...it's what I do.  And yes....having the soreness of DOMS allows me to know that I did push it and that I need to do it again!  I know you can all relate....you love the feeling that a great workout can give you.

Today I am still VERY sore but decided to do a shake out run to ease the pain.  My hamstrings were yelling at me as I started.  I settled into a nice pace and soon I began to push it.  So much for a nice easy run!
Excited to see if I can push this pace in my first 5k race in April.
As I was running something occurred to me.  I have come a long way since September 2013.  In my training/running last year, I avoided hills at ALL costs!  I would stay on the trail for all my runs as I knew it was flat and would give me a consistent time.  Today, I purposely ran a route that would give me some rolling hills and challenge my pace.  That's right...I purposely did it!!!  How can I expect to get better if I don't challenge myself with what I'm not good at??  This weekend, Gaetan explained to the kids that he knew someone that hadn't gotten into the NHL, despite being an amazing player, because he couldn't turn right properly.  It was a weakness that he never worked on and his coaches never pushed him to work on!  Imagine not reaching your personal best because you are ignoring a weakness.  I'm here to say....you know you have them...we all do....WORK ON THEM even more than on your strengths!!

I'm excited to run race courses this year that have hills that have slowed me down in the past...I plan on tackling them strong this year!!!!!

As for my DOMS, I am rolling and plan on a llllloooooonnnnnggggg epsom salt bath later.  The Frostbite 5 Miler race is this weekend and is the beginning of race season for me!  Bring it!!!

What are your weaknesses? How do you work on them?

5 comments:

  1. My weaknesses ... let me count :) My mobility sucks so I am trying to stretch more. Mental toughness is a big one! I am still trying to figure this one out.

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    1. I find mental toughness to be so hard. I am encouraging others in the group, but when it comes to myself...well it's do what I say, not what I do.

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  2. There’s not enough space here for all of my weaknesses but I will admit to still avoiding hills, not rolling as much as I should and not doing enough cross training. Ooh, and mental toughness too! (Thanks Crystal for mentioning that one above!) My hamstrings are killing me right now but instead of stretching or rolling I am sitting at the computer…go figure. :)

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    1. I ignore rolling and stretching too...it's probably the easiest to do...I mean we could do it watching tv for 20 minutes...but I don't. Bad runners we are!!!!

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  3. Have a great race this weekend! The weather will be awesome :D

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