best RHR 37 10.5k reps in 48.59 and hammy soreness

Best RHR 37 this week, have struggled to recover from City to Surf marathon, been busy with work stuff, had a lot of soreness from hammy towards the end of the week, and feeling unwell on sunday with headache, blocked up head, and so on. Decided I needed to concentrate on work stuff a lot this week.
Rant time;
Had general soreness especially quads and calves from the city to surf marathon for 2-3 days, which is to be expected given the fact that 4.15 was a solid hitout for me, and the hills were a lot tougher than what I've run for awhile. The hammy and hip soreness although minor at this stage, and didn't stop me from doing intervals session on Saturday, has been a big concern the last few days. Hopefully its just a minor niggle I can get past, but its come at a critical time in my training program for Melbourne, when I want to maintain mileage around the 50-70km per week mark at least if not increase it, and also pick up the intensity with lots of short high intensity work in the next few weeks time. Still have a week or so to get it right, but I am very reluctant to risk the epic Stirling Ridge hike unless it improves a lot, and I think its time I saw a chiropractic or physiotherapist professional. So will be trying to raise enough money for that, plus my wife is struggling with knee pain also.
Have a few important things to catch up on, and as usual finding everything a bit daunting to deal with. Money is tight and bills yet to be cleared and still havent finished my tax return, although a lot closer than I was a week ago... The hammy/hip thing is scaring me, and I hope it doesnt rule me out of Melbourne. Also have the big dilemma of whether to do this 7-10 hour hike with friends on the glorious but extremely tough alpine Stirling Ridge walk on Saturday (1000km drive to get there and back, so a tough day, and more than a tank full of petrol), and/or back up for a 10km race the next day at the Fremantle fun run. Not sure, one part of me says;
POSITIVES; adventure opportunity of a lifetime, and go for it, be careful and make the most of an incredible alpine opportunity, that will help my general fitness with some altitude advantage, and put some good exciting variety into my training and general interactions, and achieve one of the goals I have wanted to do for many, many years...
NEGATIVES;
Other part of me says I will probably struggle to be well prepared for it financially and logistically, the demands of family life with a 3 year old and a ***3 MONTH OLD*** with very limited resources a tricky one to get right here too, and the risk of tearing my hammy and destroying any racing chances just as I am possibly approaching PB form with best ever resting heart rates (by 4-7 beats)...Plus the fact that this a dangerous hike with a lot of potential risks along the way and I think my friends overestimate their abilities, underestimate the dangers and time likely for it to take to do it, plus underestimate how hard it will be for others. One of the toughest decisions I have ever been faced with this one....Just not sure what to do, the easiest thing is to just say too hard too dangerous, I'm too injured, too broke, and family to look after, plus I have Melbourne to focus on, so give it a miss and try again some other time.
But I know I will be kicking myself mentally for a week or so for not taking this incredible opportunity if I do that, plus it will be another no-show, which I really hate doing. Plus maybe the hammy would be ok, and the training, social and fun benefits would be incredibly good. Maybe I should just give it a go, and take it very easy if hammy plays up. Thing is if I get severely injured its a very difficult and dangerous nightmare of a place to try and exit from...so should I take the risk or not...oh the dilemma...I felt similiar about whether to do city to surf, and that was awesome experience..I think I have avoided major injury with that one...maybe I should take the risk with the stirlings too...???? Or maybe the C2S has flared my hammy up badly, and the ridgewalk would destroy it....just not sure, maybe see chiro/physio see what they think then decide what is the way to go...
I'm leaning towards giving the ridgewalk a miss though (with great regret, and hopes to have a go another day)...
rant done I think...

Sunday; slept in, but managed to combine social visit with a minimal long run.
Jogged about 16-17km in 2hrs 14min (HR 120) from Wel to War Train stations, plus a bit of exploration of a salt lake near the end. Very low key, some tough hilly terrain, and some hard work on a very sandy dirt trail, a bit like running on soft sand at the beach. Carried hydration pack, and intended going for 26k, but the first 12.5k or so took much longer than expected (1.45) and as I didnt start til about 1515, wasn't keen on running through difficult hilly trail at night, in tiger snake infested area...especially as my hammy was tender throughout...
Found that running on the soft but firm surface of the salt lake felt pretty good though. A lot of stops, walk breaks and generally taking it easy, and felt heaps better afterwards. Decided to catch train back instead of running back in the dark. So not the long run I was supposed to do, but better than nothing, and I was due an easy week after the City to Surf Marathon, so thats a resonable recovery week.

Saturday;
Ran 10.5km of long intervals in 48.59. (4.39.9 per K average or 46.39 10k pace).
Heartrates at end of intervals 174-183. A 14 second, (session PB) improvement on last time....
Pleased with it, felt like I was holding onto my speed a little bit longer although the last rep was very hard to hold together. Hammy was pretty tender in warmup, but I held back a little on acceleration, and my fastest 700m split of 2.41 was 4 seconds slower than last time as a result, but I made up the 14 seconds by running a lot more evenly and holding pace in the first 7km of intervals, with the last 3.5km being a lot slower and a real dogs breakfast of go hard, then slow up stuff, but I already was about 40 seconds ahead of last times effort, so was able to minimise the slide in the last 3.5km so as to hold onto a 14 second advantage. A breakthrough session, but a hard one, and I think with some shorter intervals to finetune things I can improve greatly on this... Very good to get this one done. Hammy very tender before and after this session, but hopefully it pulls through ok, and comes good in the coming days/weeks...
Week 5 (of 10);

Volume; 203min . Sessions;2 Best RHR;37 Sleep;44.5 *4
1. OD/LSD/LFD;About 17K in 2hrs 14min. Target not achieved, too slow, too short, and most of all not out there long enough. hammy misbehaving.

2a. REPS;Long reps; 10.5K @ 4.39 per K.Target achieved. yay.

2b. REPS;short reps; NIL

3. MEDIUM run (tempoish or TT); FAIL
4. SHORT run (tempoish/or TimeTrial); NIL.
5. RACE; NIL.

In summary;
I needed a chance to recover from Perth City to Surf Marathon as that was a bit of a last-minute alteration to things last weekend, but I am hoping that will help rather than hinder me...
From a periodisation point of view, after two hard weeks, (especially last week with the marathon making the week a whole lot harder than I originally planned)I was due for an easy week this week (week 5), or next week, and so an easy week or even 2 easy weeks, is not necessarily a bad thing. Could be a blessing in disguise from the Most High. I hope so.

However; I am keen to snap back into it either in week 6 or at the latest by week 7, because week 10 and to a lesser extent week 9 are taper time, so Hammy as I feared has been very touchy since, and its not psychosomatic. Whether the hammy/hip soreness (hip still tender but not as bad as it was last week) is caused by city to surf marathon, or other things maybe my metering work ramp-up,safe shoes in mosman park etc etc, I am not sure, but I know I had pain issues before the city to surf marathon, so could be either way. Its a problem.

Its halfway in the program, 5 weeks to go, I am in a good position, best I've EVER been in arguably, the question is, am I about to step it up for the final 3-4 week training charge, and head towards a glorious PB in Melbourne, or will my injury and money worries destroy my chances...the next 2-3 weeks will be crucial...so I can see 3 options at the moment;
1. Time to strap in, and go hard!!!! or if the hammy doesnt come good to consider
2. how I can get to Melbourne on a reduced program with some cross-training to try and get the injury to heal, or
3. to pull out of the Melbourne plans altogether.
I'm hoping its option 1 or 2 and I won't consider option 3 unless several medicos expressly advise me that option 3 is required, and i agree with them. Because I am confident that sub 3.55 is there as long as I can maintain my current level of fitness. City 2 Surf Marathon in 4.15 carrying my own drinks and hydration pack, on a very tough course with a sprintish start, and a fair bit left in the tank at the end, confirmed to me that a PB should be possible in Melbourne.

If it is option 3 I will be bitterly disappointed, and not sure where that would leave my running future. If 12 marathons and a few short ultras is the end of the road, I can't be too disappointed with that. Its been fun and while timewise I haven't got to where I wanted yet, I have a tried very hard for 7 years, and my life and others lives has been enriched along the way. Plenty of people have had the opportunity to consider where they are at with God and be challenged or encouraged. Thats the ultimate goal of my life, so thats a job well done in my book. Sure I'd love to obliterate the PB's and maybe make an Australian team, but I should not forget they are secondary goals to the primary purpose which is to honour our Triune Creator, and encourage others to do the same.

So hopefully its option 1; and hopefully I can ramp up the intervals, and maybe 2 more weeks of the medium runs, which I failed to do this week, but figured I deserved the rest from after the City to surf marathon hitout, where I ran the first 21.1km in 1.53 while carrying 4 drinks!...and holding something in reserve for the second half...I think its go ! go! GO! time!!! Just hope my hammy can make it...God willing things will go well...

If its option 2 well its time to start crosstraining, and saving/putting aside money for Physios and Chiros, to try and ensure I get to the start line in as good a health as possible even with non-specific, non-running based preparation like the swimming based training my friend Jeannie did for some of her 4 marathons in the last 2 years...

Hope to fire it up in the coming weeks like the Dockers did in style on saturday with a rocking demolition of the Hawks!!!!