Back in the game

Today: Core, pullups, and back - calisthenic workout

Fun recovery workout in sunny 60 degree weather with a breeze!


Yesterday: 22 mile run (3:37)

This was a great run for me.  The time and pace were much slower than I was targeting when I created my training plan months ago - rather than shooting for a PR in the upcoming marathon I will have to struggle to bring it in under 4 hours -- but in light of my trick knee and the painful last long run I had, it was a blazing success.  (And now, ladies and gentlemen, the reprisal of "Jeremy's injury blog").   As you may know, for the last three weeks I've been trying to let my knee heal from the mysterious acute-on-chronic intraarticular injury that has ranged from annoyance to show-stopper.  This has probably been my most successful such "forced rest" period ever, both in execution and in result.  I limited workouts to yoga, upper body lifting, and fairly light cycling, running only once early this week to test out how things were going.  So in three weeks I've run exactly once.  I also took a good anti-inflammatory course of ibuprofen, and have been icing at least once daily.

So, yesterday I ran with a group of about six people whose pace was a bit slower than mine but who made great company.  The weather was in the mid 40s, and as the sun rose the temperature stayed cool, making for ideal long-run conditions.  I ran a mile or so to the park where we started (good old Westside park!), then about 10 miles with the group, 3 miles with a smaller subset of the group, and then 8 miles on my own.  Ever since Thanksgiving I've really enjoyed the format where I run part of a long run with a group, and then more on my own.  With this group and the outstanding conditions, the first half of this run felt like an easy and carefree stroll through the park.  There is nothing like good conversation on a run, especially when it involves a friendly but vigorous debate -- I admit that I took the bait and jumped in on this one.  Although my knee hurt on the downhills, for most of the first fifteen miles I didn't feel it at all, and it didn't really hurt until the last two or three miles of the whole run.

The second, alone, part of the run was equally nice, complete with a nice loop, cool weather, and a fruitless search for water at an elementary school.  I guess they have to keep a fence around the whole school these days, but it sure isn't good for us runners...  During the last few miles I took a loop around the neighborhood I grew up in, and I thought about the story of each house and the family that inhabited it.  I have to admit that, physically, I felt really good for the vast majority of this run.  The last few miles required a little pushing and my knee did ache, but this is familiar territory.  Beyond sheer good luck, I hope this has something to do with the base-building I did back in October and November.

The really remarkable part of the run was the mental calm, and the lack of struggle.  Despite a multi-loop run which passed nearly by my house three times (a setup for early bail-out), I didn't once think of stopping, walking, shortening the run, or not doing the upcoming race.  These thoughts are the norm for me in any run longer than 15 miles or so (and many runs shorter than that!), and part of the satisfaction and challenge of running is dealing with them and continuing.  If I were to try and explain why this one was different, I suppose I could come up with a few concrete things:  a virtual taper because I was resting my knee, careful attention to nutrition/hydration/salt, starting the run with friends, perfect weather.  But, I won't try to over-explain, and will count this as one of my favorite long runs in recent memory.  The pace was slow (and looking over my splits I really can't blame this on the group I ran with!), but it felt so good.

The happy day-after note is that my knee still feels good.  Good is, of course, a relative term, but I think it is getting better regardless of what I do, and I am looking forward to a good marathon.

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On a side note, I have to mention that I have been struggling quite a lot with not only my professional direction but the whole notion of who I am, how to live my life, and how to truly place my family first.  I suppose we all entertain thoughts and doubts periodically, but this has been a time of particular up-and-down emotion.  I have to wonder how this intersects with running and training, considering that it came to a head shortly after a very nice holiday break (that culminated in a challenging long run) followed by two weeks of fairly hard work with absolutely no running.   There is always something of a let-down after a good race or even long training run, but the effect was amplified many times by life and emotional substrate.  Food for thought.