The Little Runner Who Almost Could

two little runners ~Kristen 

For the last two weeks, this has been a regular scene in my office. 

Professional, no?

Even though our firm’s San Diego office is very California casual, the foot up on desk with frozen pea ice pack on the ankle was probably taking it a step too far. So I invested in a little Velcro ice pack doohickey. Now I’m icing like the consummate professional that I am.

Why yes, that is a foam roller under my desk. 

After two weeks of NO RUNNING – I was itching to get back on with marathon training. I checked Hanson’s, and after taking two weeks off, one is advised to ease back into training slowly, as a lot of fitness gains and neuromuscular adaptations are lost with this much time off. This advice was especially applicable, as my ankle, while having improved immensely, was not back at 100%.       

Sat. 5/4

Easy run in Balboa – 3 @ 8:30. Ankle felt mangled.

Sun. 5/5

Easy run in Balboa – 4 @ 8:30. Ankle improved from mangled to sore.

From my weekend easy runs, it was apparent that I would not be able to transition back to the Hanson training plan’s tough runs – longs, tempos, intervals – before the marathon. My best chance at running it would be to continue aerobic training primarily with cardio machines, supplementing with running when I felt up to it.

Mon. 5/6

Stair climber 60” (365 floors/7.8 miles)

Easy run on treadmill – 3 @ 8:30. Ankle okay.

Tue. 5/7

Rest

After a rest day, I ventured out for another easy run, and felt surprisingly good, so I upgraded to a tempo run.

Wed. 5/8

Tempo run in Balboa – 7.5 w/ 6 @ 7:15

And there were no consequences! I continued to feel great. Maybe I could pull off this marathon after all . . . So staying conservative, I trained on the stair climber again, followed by a few miles with tired legs on the treadmill.

Thu. 5/9

Stair climber 60” (350 floors/7.5 miles)

Easy on treadmill – 4 w/ last 10” @ 7:30

Fri. 5/10

Rest

Success! Still feeling good. Soooo, time for a real test. An attempted long-ish run. I set out on Sat. morning, tentatively planning 10 miles. I headed for the trails near my house, thinking the ankle would appreciate a soft surface. But the trail, normally smooth, flat, and lovely, had been torn up in places by construction trucks. It looked like it had been plowed, and by mile 5, my ankle was back to feeling mangled. Then it was 3 more miles back to my house.

Sat. 5/11

Easy run in San Dieguito Lagoon (trail) – 8 @ 8:00

Nail in the coffin – no marathon.  In fact, the ankle continues to feel unstable and sore. Sat.’s trail run set me back in my recovery by at least a week. Without a looming marathon, hopefully, I’ll exercise self-restraint and stay off the damn thing until it's all better!

Acceptance? 

two little runners ~Kristen