Time to pull it together. An injury week can either kill you... or, if you're very very lucky, you can trundle on forwards, starting several steps behind where you used to be.
L toe feeling almost back to where it used to be, feeling like it may be possible to resume some running. Rolling out my arch actually helps a lot more than I thought it would. Going to try the new PT regimen, to see if running can be managed without accumulating damage. Gotta focus on making good decisions this week.
Sunday 01/27: 38:41, short, very very chill run to test the waters. 4.4 mile loop around the neighborhood, made the call to deal with some pavement over the mushy mud that is likely to be in the Arroyo. Also tried a new shoe, an older model of the Gel Nimbus--while Asics and I haven't always gotten along, this shoe was so nice and cushy, I thought it would be better than my aging pair of Triumphs. Mostly a good run, the L foot had some rough patches, but felt alright by the end, otherwise very nice and easy, but felt surprisingly smooth and light on my feet. Was also pleased to see that easy hasn't reverted back to like 10 minute miles.
Monday 01/28: 41:27, Huntington back via Virginia. Rolling out my arches and looking forwards to this run all day. Not sure what the inspiration was, but did a real run for the first time in what feels like years... with a real "running" stride instead of a joggers shuffle like I've been doing for the past 3 months. Felt SO GOOD, just like heaven. Legs just felt so free, it felt like I was running for the first time ever, the movements felt so unfamiliar after so much trundling.
Felt good. Core strengthening at the gym afterwards. Then weird new PT for the toe, rolled out my arches some more. Hoping that nothing hurts tomorrow.
Tuesday 01/29: Off. Resting foot, lots of work. Kind of feeling like a stress (basket) case lately. Still waiting on the verdict for the new PT, though I have to say that the part that Andre worked on last week feel... really great. Arches are feeling not stellar bc I ran without the foam orthotics on Monday. The squishy spenco ones have considerably less support. Brought a tennis ball to work to roll out my arches during the day, but so busy it didn't get much use.
Wednesday 01/30: 41:49, 3 x Arroyo Tempo Loops (14:00, 11:53, 14:39) plus jog back to car. Tried the short segment of higher HR running again today, and remembered why I didn't want to leave the jogging only phase. No one likes to confront their own incompetence... my characteric "trundle" is currently optimized to about a HR of 165 and corresponds to 8:45 - 9:30 pace depending on the surface. Excursions too far from that range result in a disproportionate amount of cardiovascular discomfort... which is both unsettling and demoralizing. It's like one day you wake up and realize that you're a running "baby" again... everything's hard and consterning.
I pushed harder against the discomfort than ever before in the past few months, getting to about 185-195 range depending on uphill or downhill for the middle lap for a whopping 7:45 pace across about a mile and a half. Piece of cake for my legs, but the rest of me was feeling very "whoa, wtf?". It can't even imagine how I used to run 10, 12 miles at this pace. I've become this weird, slow, blobby thing that I don't really want to recognize as myself.
The former approach to such situations was to put my head down and grind through as many grueling sessions of ultra high intensity mileage until the paces started to come more easily... but such things are no longer possible for me, nor are they really the best way to gain fitness, as I am now told. I think that the reason I used to do things that way is because I AM mentally equipped to handle those physical battles lasting but a few weeks, but right now the majority of what I'm facing are psychological battles... making good choices for my sub-optimally healthy body in the face of slow progress and training discontent. And that, I'm not so good at doing.
Thursday 01/31: 43:09, Sierra Madre to an abridged Eichenlaub Grassy Special. Did not get out until pretty late, felt averse to running around the field, so drove out to Lombardy and Sierra Madre grass median. Felt pretty tired and not really enthused about this run, cold and stressed. Had a lot of trouble with footing early on in the dark, but managed an epic tumble off of curb at Oak Knoll, turning the right ankle (the good side, argh!) pretty bad. Lucky to have avoided doing a faceplant into oncoming traffic, but took a few minutes to get back on my feet again. Jogged really slowly back, but coming back up Sierra Madre, fell into rut in the grass and hyper-extended R knee. At this point did not care about pain, HR or form, just hurried back so as to make this godawful run end as quickly as possible.
Friday 02/01: 53:06, Huntington, the real one up Oak Knoll. A new month, time to re-group. Iced the ankle, get the swelling down as much as possible to be able to shove back into a shoe. Right side rubs a bit uncomfortably against the sore part, but mostly okay. Didn't feel that great overall, but ran comfortably for my longest run in almost a year. Felt better towards the end coming up Oak Knoll, was mostly pleased with 8:30's on low effort. Could have been worse.
Saturday 02/02: 30:12, around the CMS fields with Carl, then a few more laps on my own. You'd think a couple of races would tire Carl out, but not so. Felt pretty beat, L foot didn't feel great either. Watched CMS alumni meet with Peter. Good to see everyone, but wished I could race. On a positive note, the sprain continues to improve.
Target Training this week: 3 hours? Basically anything I can manage without deteriorating the condition of my left second toe is fine for this week.
Actual training: 4:08:24 (not too bad, actually)
1 comment:
Yay Megumi good job on becoming a "real" runner once more! I remember the first Huntington I did after coming off my stress fracture/neuroma and it felt soooo good. I think on track I will still concentrate on the mile/1500 but I'll have some 3000s in there (perhaps of 5k?). Just no steeples. I am pretty sure I would break. Have you thought about racing this season?
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