Running Again

Apologies for the lack of updates. I was out-of-town for a week on Phish tour, and I am now quite busy with the start of work. Or at least those are my excuses.

During my week away, I managed to give my recovering leg all the work it could handle via vigorous dancing. In fact, I'm pretty sure I strained my calf while away. Nonetheless, I began running last Tuesday.

Tuesday, June 9 - 2 minute jog, 1 minute walk for 15 minutes for 10 minutes of running total. As I said, my calf was pretty sore. It wasn't at its worst yet, but it was definitely what hurt me most.

Thursday, June 11 - repeat Tuesday. This time my calf was a bit worse, but I still felt better running. This is all about just getting my legs under me, so I'm focusing on my form. The walk breaks are meant to make sure my recovering leg does not begin to hurt. That would be bad. And even worse if I continued to run on it.

Saturday, June 13 - 2 minute jog, 1 minute walk for 21 minutes followed by 1 minute jog for 15 minutes of running total. My calf was really about at its worst. I've been icing and stretching and massaging, but it feels really fucking tight. However, it's a different kind of tight than I started with. More like it's recovering than freshly strained. Gonna continue to run through it.

Monday, June 15 - 2 minutes jog, 1 walk, 2 jog, 1 walk, 3 jog, 1 walk, 3 jog 1 walk, 3 jog, 1 walk, 2 jog, 1 walk, 2 jog -- that's 17 minutes of jogging followed by a couple of strides at a fast run. My calf is feeling a lot better, I'm feeling a lot better. My feet are under me a bit more, and I'm not coughing up a lung when I run thanks to my cross training over the last few weeks.

I've been cross training as well, just didn't log it. I need to start doing that. I now have a notebook to log my training, and I'm usually more consistent writing down my work.

I'm confident now that I can run a few miles without too much trouble, so the rest will be cutting out. Next week I want to run 5 days and hit maybe 20 miles, so this week I will build towards that. Then it's July, and I should be cleared to hit the trails a bit. Thinking if everything goes well in that 20 mile week, I'll add in a 6th day and increase to mid-30s over the next two after that. I think I can hit 45-50 per week by the end of July. Cross training will remain heavy of course.

Shit, I might actually get to train in August if all goes well.