Todays run was awsome! I have some hope for SGM again! I was considering canceling for gauranteed entry next year. My recovery the past 2 weeks has been at a standstill [partly due to reinjuring my hamstring early last week]. I was still running 3 or 4 miles at 10 or 11 min. pace with 1 min. breaks once or twice per mile. It has been almost 5 weeks since my injury and it's hard to even call what I've been doing running. My Wednesday run was encouraging at 5 miles but if I tried to run faster than 9 min. pace I would get discomfort in the hammy. This morning I ran 7 miles. I ran the first mile in 8:53 and I pretty much felt normal other than a slight discomfort in the butt area but even that was less than it has been. I told myself I didn't want to risk going any faster but every time I checked the garmin my pace was gradually picking up without me feeling like I was running faster. Everything felt fine so I went with it. By mile five I was at 8:11. Mile 6 at 8:03 and mile seven was 7:56. Overall ave. was 8:23. My running and stride just felt more normal than it has since the injury. I felt I could have run farther. It has been several hours since I finished my run and it still feels great. This is the first run that resembles a normal training run [ even though it would just be a recovery run ]. I know there is a long way to go but today I can see more of a possibility of making the start line. I won't have a taper since there is nothing to taper from. Instead I'll still be building mileage those last 3 weeks. After today I feel confident I should be able to run 10 or 15 miles by next week. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed though. Running every other day seems to be helping so I'll probably skip running tomorrow.
I did 20 miles on my mt. bike and took it easy. I felt pretty good after yesterdays 50 miler. |