Two in Rehab

I felt pretty good this morning, and I managed to get to two miles; it’s funny how that’s difficult when running in the neighborhood. It winds around and seems like it’d be longer than it is.

The best thing this morning was that I feel fine having run. It’s slow and short, but I don’t feel broken when I’m done. That’s a plus. On the other hand, it’s proven to me how easy it is to just quit once consistency is broken. I didn’t run on Monday because I was exhausted, and getting out the door this morning — even though I consciously wanted to — was a bit of a struggle.

Today’s Stats:
2.0 mi
0:23:19 h:mm:ss
11:39 avg pace

A Peaceful-Morning Run

I really wanted to push it to two miles today — because I’m already struggling with the rules of rehab I set for myself Monday. Go figure.

I kept it to the neighborhood again to give myself more options on routes — with the price of more hills, elevation changes. It’s a small price to pay; and I think it’s good since the uphill segments are where I can feel the leg tighten up.

I did manage to get further today, though, without causing any relapse.

Today’s Stats:
1.88 mi
0:21:56 h:mm:ss
11:39 avg pace

Rules of Running Rehab

The first rule of running rehab is: you don’t talk about running rehab.

Oh wait… Wrong club.

I went out for a tentative run this morning, after walking two of the three running days last week. I won’t say I’m 100% better, but my leg didn’t start acting up. So I’m feeling mostly confident.

As I ran, I thought about how I was going to handle this setback, and I came up with the following guidelines for myself. Feel free to add any suggestions I may’ve missed out on:

1. Distance isn’t important — I’m not going to worry about minimum distance while I’m doing this. Although it’s going to be hard to convince myself of this.

2. Stop running before I hurt — It’s pointless to push myself into further/another injury.

3. Walking is not defeat — I am stubbornly (and somewhat hypocritically) convinced that if I have to stop to walk, I’m not doing it right. But like the mental struggle stretch in the park, I’m going to have to get over this block, especially since I’ve given this advice to someone else… who will have absolutely no problems pointing out my hypocrisy because she’s that sort of friend. Which seems like a long rule, but mostly it’s just the first part.

4. There’s no real timeline — But I hope to be back to fighting fit by the end of September. If I can run my 3.5/5K route at an 11-ish minute pace by the end of September with no unusual leg twitch/muscle pain, I’ll consider myself ready to return.

Today, I just ran around the neighborhood. Nothing too special. I ran what felt comfortable, so I’m pleased with the pace I managed. And I quit before I started to hurt, though I struggled with quitting so close to 2 miles. (See I’m already struggling with the rules I hadn’t even written down at the time).

Today’s Stats:
1.71 mi
0:19:22 h:mm:ss
11:19 avg pace

Another Stroll

So another stroll this morning; I walked the same route as the other day, but I didn’t feel anything untoward. I will probably continue slacking off recovering this week, and try to run a slow mile or two on Monday.

Fat Guy… Limping?

I’m kidding, I’m not limping. I opted to go for a walk this morning — sort of see if my Twinge Collection tweaks in my leg. I didn’t track anything, but I walked about a mile. No major misbehavior from my hamstring, but it was close.

I haven’t had a chance to try the epsom salt soak yet, but I’ll get to that.

No run route since I ran from my house walked.

Back to Rehab

It pains me to admit this, but the thing I’ve been trying to avoid since March has happened: I’m broken again. I’m not sure what happened; but my hamstring got a knot in it on a recent run, and it’s still got a hold on my leg.

I got about a quarter of a mile in before it started whining, and I tried to stretch it out some; but I only got a mile and a half in today. That’s disappointing. Today, I’m going to be more deliberate about icing and stretching it out; I’m going to hit the foam roller once I hit publish on this post.

I’m going back to my running rehab rules I started the year out with.

After my unscheduled rest day on Wednesday, though, I did wake up this morning feeling pretty good. And even though the running news is a downer, I also have broken through the 220-lb mark where I’d been plateaued for a couple of months. So not all is rotten in Denmark.

I hope your runs fare/fared better than mine did.

Today’s Stats:
1.5 mi
0:16:32 h:mm:ss
10:59 average pace

No run route since I ran from my house.

Unplanned (But Necessary) Rest Day

I wouldn’t normally write about a rest day since it’s not a run and 0 miles is quite a bit shorter than the 2-mile minimum I’ve set for myself.

Lately I’ve been feeling close to exhaustion and burn out on running. My legs are tight and don’t seem to want to loosen up at all. My run felt good the other day, but toward the end I could feel the knot in my hamstring starting to tighten up.

The big factor, though, is sleep. Over the summer, I’ve become a bit lax about getting enough sleep — I think it’s a combination of warm temps and this is my favorite time of year and just daily schedule. But I’ve noticed a marked performance hit…

Ultimately, it comes down to following The Wisdom: be kind to yourself. I’m the only one pushing myself here.

I’ll lace up again on Friday.

New Shoes Help

Friday’s Disappointing Run (yes, it deserves proper noun status) continued to affect me throughout the day, and I recognized the sore legs indicating a need for new shoes. I picked some up on Saturday.

It definitely made a difference today, though I felt my hamstring tightening up at the end of the run again. That’s not great… but I’ll keep it easy for a couple of more runs to see what happens.

Does it sometimes feel like things are going backward?

Today’s Stats
3.12 m
0:33:02 h:mm:ss
10:36 avg pace

No route map since I ran from my house.

Minimums

Normally, when I run the 2-mile minimum distance, I like to run fast to make up for the shorter distance… but today, it was all I could do to get out and run at all. A combination of dehydration (physical) and lack of sleep this week (mental) contributed to today’s underwhelming performance.

Today’s Stats
2.07 m
0:21:54 h:mm:ss
10:33 avg pace

No route map since I ran from my house.

Taking It Wheezy

The smoke in the air here from west-coast fires has got to me, and I ran a wheezy 5K this morning. I tried to keep it easy like on Monday: my hamstring’s not as tight, but I can feel it’s not entirely fixed either.

It was a day I almost decided to give in — I didn’t get to sleep last night and getting up to run this morning was difficult. Add the smoke, and well… some days are just harder to overcome the obstacles than others.

The important bit is just overcoming them, right? Ugly wins are still wins.

Today’s Stats
3.15 m
0:34:31 h:mm:ss
10:56 avg pace

No route map since I ran from my house. It’s weird though: I ran the same route I ran on Monday and it’s .03 miles shorter? Global warming? Let’s blame Global Warming.