Saturday, August 8, 2015

Summer Running

It has been a decidedly up and down summer of running for me. 

I kept mostly to a low-heart rate training plan for much of June and July, gradually adding in some more intense efforts as my training progressed. During a family vacation at the beginning of the month, which corresponded to a low-mileage week (by design). After the down week, I jumped straight back into it, running 41, 37, and 42 miles over the next several weeks as I tried to ramp my training up for the 50 miler in September. And it felt pretty good over all. 

The next week, however, I was out in Pittsburgh for my job. I had run twice the Saturday before, totally 21 miles with a 13 mile night run, but was feeling pretty solid over all. I had a slight twinge in my right leg (ankle and glute) that I was hoping would shake itself out with an easy run on Monday. This twinge had first started a couple weeks before after a 9 mile hard effort in Duluth. 

Unfortunately, though I managed over 20 miles in the course of my three runs in Pittsburgh, the twinge just got worse and, on what was planned to be a 20 miler the Sunday after, I quit after a mile and a half. 

This past week I have not run at all.

My belief is that this stems from the ankle I severely tweaked in the Superior 25k this spring, and subsequently did not n any way rest or allow to heal. I've heard before of this sort of issue causing misfiring in the glute as well. So this past week I have been focusing on rolling out my legs, doing low-impact strength work, and generally taking it far easier than I have been. I'm hoping that, with a week's rest, I can return to training over the course of a week. 

I'm somewhat wondering if I want to. 

I love running, and I love racing, and I fully intend to keep doing both. But I think I've focused to much on training for races, and not enough on running the way I like to: freely  and for the joy of it. This was easier to do in Colorado, because I could just run up and down a mountain (something I dearly love to do) and that would double as training. 

I think I need to find something similar that I love to do while running here. Even if that means (gasp) running lower mileage over all. I think I will be better for it. I also want to mix in other types of movement with my running. I've been doing that somewhat, stopping to do pullups and other exercises during my runs. I think I need to take it a step farther: driving to the river if necessary and playing down in the woods. I have been doing a little more climbing lately, and hope to continue that. I think if I find the joy I have in movement again, and mix that into my running, I will be better off than I am now, simply running to get the miles in (even if I still enjoy it).