Saturday, May 8, 2010

Recovery progressing well

I started running again on April 15th, starting with 1.75 miles at a time. I've been running 4 days at one distance, then increasing the distance by .75 miles, so 1.75, 2.5, 3.25, 4, 4.75, and now 5.5. Since 4/20, I've only missed 2 days where I didn't run. I've been running most of it barefoot. All of it has been barefoot on grass until 5/2 when I ran 4 miles in dirt wearing shoes. I did my first trail run today which means the first time with any vertical (probably about 1000'). I did get hurt one more time when I tripped while running stadiums and really bruised my left shin (on 4/27). This hasn't affected my running much. I only skipped one day (on 5/4) when I rode my bike 23 miles and my leg looked pretty ugly - ankle swollen, a lot of discoloration from under my ankle to above my knee. The bruise has been improving recently as I've been trying a number of things to get the bruise to clear.
Today was the biggest deviation from the plan because I accidentally ran 6.25 miles instead of the planned 5.5. I did an extra out and back which accounted for .68 miles.
I'm planning on sticking with the increases until I get up to 16 miles per day. I'd also like to run a lot of it at 8:48 pace and try to run the Hotter Than Hell 6 hour on 8/14 in Cameron Park at that pace. I'll continue for a while at least to run about half of it barefoot and rotate surfaces between grass, dirt, track and pavement. But most of all I'm intensely listening to my body. If I get a little tingle in my soleus, I stop and massage it. If I start getting sore by the base of my heel, I make sure I warm up with a bike ride before my next run. And I've been doing plenty of cross training with core exercises and bike riding. I just got through a 16 count Pedestal core routine for the first time - woops - forgot the crunches. Actually, Trey Hardee and Diana Pickler really make these look easy - and they are TOUGH!

No comments: