By Steve Peterson
Shortly after I started running again a friend told me to sign up for a race. Put them on your calendar. "They keep you honest", he said.
For someone like me who was slowly building to some adequate level of endurance, they also put a goal out there. I'm not looking to win anything, but do I wish to enjoy myself? If so, then I need to be fit enough to cross the line running, preferably with some wind in my lungs and a smile on my face.
I started with a local 5k road race. It was meant to be a simple goal. Short enough that I could sprint at a decent clip, build my confidence a bit as I got my head around a longer one later in the summer. In my preparation an injury popped up two weeks before the day. I rested some (a forced taper), then hobbled my way through my first race. I loved every painful second of it.
That is why I signed myself up for the Mountain Madness 25k, thinking that this huge jump in distance would definitely keep me on the up and up. I would have plenty of time to train as the race is not until the end of September.
As I am about to enter August, I'm terrified. My injured knee has played out longer than I would have liked. I work and work to get my ITB issue under control but pain still creeps up around the second mile. So my miles went down significantly in July. I got out onto the trail once in the month and it went okay. This bumped my confidence up, but I still have many more miles to go before I get through 15.5 miles of up and down.
This future race is keeping me brutally honest.
As I recover from some necessary surgery, I hope that my knee gets the necessary break. When all is well and I get back to the road and trail, there will not be time to rest and monitor, to break from the path that will get me through 15.5 kilometers of woodsy loops.
I am looking at a fairly motivated ramp up. I will have to force patience on my routine as best as possible so I don't aggravate the leg, but I will have to get my mileage up to a point where I can be confident on the start line. This will all be logged and analysed until I feel like I can finish running. No march of death for me come the 29th of September.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Setting Goals
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Laid Up and Waiting
By Steve Peterson
When I started running again about 5 months ago after many years off, I dealt with all the beginner walls, and got over each one; the first full mile run (no walking), hitting 2 miles, getting off the mill and out onto the street. I picked up miles each week, keeping pace fairly consistent.
I pushed it. I found a few of those "run forever" moments, where it was a time commitment or the possibility of a growing hotspot that kept me from an otherwise epic run. One day, about 7 weeks back, I decided to stay out. I kept going longer than I thought I could.
Two days later on my pre-sunrise route along the Jersey City waterfront, my right knee became a hot flash of pain that would not let up. My form fell apart and I hobbled home. Stairs were torture over the next few days. Each additional run brought the pain back.
I let up for a few days, then pushed again, finding the same aches and pain around mile 2. I started physical therapy. Things seemed to be getting better.
Then I chose to have an old anemia issue resolved with some uncomfortable surgery. Just when I wanted to be pushing again, I'm laid up and waiting for the pain of the surgery to subside. The pain is making me nuts, but worse is that I haven't run in 5 days. These 5 will most likely grow to 10. And I wait.
When I started running again about 5 months ago after many years off, I dealt with all the beginner walls, and got over each one; the first full mile run (no walking), hitting 2 miles, getting off the mill and out onto the street. I picked up miles each week, keeping pace fairly consistent.
I pushed it. I found a few of those "run forever" moments, where it was a time commitment or the possibility of a growing hotspot that kept me from an otherwise epic run. One day, about 7 weeks back, I decided to stay out. I kept going longer than I thought I could.
Two days later on my pre-sunrise route along the Jersey City waterfront, my right knee became a hot flash of pain that would not let up. My form fell apart and I hobbled home. Stairs were torture over the next few days. Each additional run brought the pain back.
I let up for a few days, then pushed again, finding the same aches and pain around mile 2. I started physical therapy. Things seemed to be getting better.
Then I chose to have an old anemia issue resolved with some uncomfortable surgery. Just when I wanted to be pushing again, I'm laid up and waiting for the pain of the surgery to subside. The pain is making me nuts, but worse is that I haven't run in 5 days. These 5 will most likely grow to 10. And I wait.
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