I’ve had some tenderness in my achilles this week, a little calf tightness, some ankle twinges that might be the result of the ART on Monday, a weird bruised feeling on my right instep that I think was from the heels I wore on Tuesday, etc. In other words, I spent the week obsessing about every little thing, but generally felt like I wanted to, and could, run on Sunday.
We were scheduled for a 2:20 trail run in Redwood Regional Park, one of my favorite spots in the East Bay. It was foggy and chilly, ideal running weather. I approached the run with the following agreements with myself:
- I would closely monitor when I felt pain to better understand my symptoms.
- I would run 9:1 intervals (run 9 minutes, walk 1 minute), and focus more on form than on speed.
- I would walk as soon as I felt actual pain. Twinges are okay, and tightness should be monitored, but when the tightness becomes painful, walking commences, even if I’m only 30 minutes into the 140 minutes of the run.
Oh, what joy it was to be out on the trails! It took a little time for my body to loosen up, but when it did, I felt so happy. I felt little twinges in my achilles occasionally, particularly when climbing hills, but I learned to shorten my stride, and focused on my form and this helped tremendously. It wasn’t until 1:30 that I started to feel calf tightness, and I took some salt tabs and they loosened right up.
The run was HILLY! We had a 15-minute core stop in the middle, which counted into our total time, as did the slogging up muddy mountains at a crawl. I didn’t get very far on this run, but that wasn’t the point. My ankle started to feel a little weird toward the end, so I stopped at 2:15 (2 hours of run time).
I was exhausted! Utterly pooped! It was wonderful. I was wiped out because it was a long weekend, and we had ridden a challenging course the day before, and the run itself was intense, and I hadn’t been running much recently. It made sense to be tired. I felt great because I ran and ran and ran and it was only the hills forcing me to walk, not my achilles.
I still have a lot of work to do to loosen things up and continue to heal, but this run, this wonderful run, was the quickest way to strengthen my hope, boost my mood, bring me joy.
Week 21 Mileage
Tuesday, April 2 Spin – 1 hour 30 minutes (with the team) Wednesday, April 3 Swim – 1 hour, 2664 yards Thursday, April 4 Bike – 2 hours, 26 miles, 3200 ft. of elevation gain Friday, April 5 Cardio – 1 hour (elliptical) Saturday, April 6 – Coached Workout Swim – 1 hour, 3000 yards Bike – 4 hours 30 minutes, 70 miles, 4300 ft. of elevation gain Intense climbing going out, brutal headwind coming back, spectacular scenery all around, all-in-all a very good ride. Plus, In n Out. Sunday, April 7 – Coached Workout Run – 2 hours, 9.25 miles Core – 15 minutes | Totals: Swim – 2 hours, 5664 yards Bike – 8 hours, 96 miles Run – 2 hours, 9.25 miles Cardio/Core – 1 hour 15 minutes Total – 13 hours 15 minutes |