Boldly running where I've never gone before

It’s been a great week!  I feel like a phoenix arisen from the ashes.

The half-marathon is 9 weeks from today, and I finally feel like I’m back in the game.  I will NEVER EVER EVER talk on my cell phone while walking around in the dark in a strange city again!  I guess I can’t walk and chew gum after all.  But what I can do is this:  I will make it my business not to have another dumb injury like that ankle sprain between now and January 9.

After my 5-mile run last Saturday produced no ill effects, I embarked upon a week of full-on training for the Half.  I had to modify my plan to account for lost time, but I feel like I can be “just about ready” by race day.  And every runner knows it’s better to show up 10% undertrained than 1% overtrained for the race, so “just about” will be “good enough.”

Last Sunday, I rode my bike about 5 miles and had intended to do some weight-lifting afterward but my ancient shoulders thought otherwise.  I definitely need to focus on cross training though, and will make a dedicated effort over the next week to do so.  Lack of balance can produce an injury just as much as anything else.

On Monday, I worked until 1:30 pm and then took the dogs to the I&M Canal Trail in Channahon where we did somewhere between 5 and 6 miles of speed intervals.  Well, as much as Molly would cooperate with….

Tuesday was cross-training day, and I rode 8 miles on the bike in 45 minutes.  There was a pretty strong headwind, so my thighs were burning by the time I finished.

Wednesday was my Long Run day this week and I went 7 MILES.  Woohoo!   I started out tired, felt great in the middle and then had to push a bit to finish—-but I finished.  It was slow, like 1:40, but that’s okay.  I did it.  I pretty much had to drag myself through the 9 hour workday that followed but I’m so glad I got in that run. 

Thursday was a 13 hour workday, therefore no training.  I was exhausted and felt like crap but got through it.

On Friday, still tired, I ran 4.5 miles.  This was supposed to have been my Tempo Run, where I run at race pace.  I couldn’t do it.  My legs felt like lead and my body didn’t want to put forth the effort.  I went at the same pace as Wednesday instead.  Right now my goal is just to do the miles and get the body back into the swing of 5 days every week.

Today is Saturday.  It’s a beautiful fall day: 68 degrees and the sun is shining.  It feels almost like spring, when all things are reborn.  I’m sitting here feeling somewhat reborn too.  I don’t exactly have a warp drive like Zefrem Cochrane’s ship, but I am just as ready to challenge limitations and stretch boundaries.