Slowly Getting Faster

Leg is still soar so I did another bike session.  I only managed 15 miles today because the resistance was really high.  The legs keeps getting better and better but it still hasn't made it back to good yet. 

I have 2 goals for the next year. 1) run more than 1,000 miles (which is 600+ more than I ran last year) and, 2) run or bike 6 times a week. 

I injured my leg on December 22 and haven't run a mile since.  I originally signed up for the 1/2 marathon version of this race but due to the injury downgraded to the 5k.  I would have just bagged the whole thing except it is one of two races I need to complete for the runners series so that I can run the St.George marathon this year.  

I thought I would be walking this thing because my leg/foot aren't completely healed yet.  So I opted to just go out as slow as was comfortable and see where that got me.  I started at a 9 min mile pace but within a few minutes my leg warmed up a bit and a faster pace didn't hurt.  I ended up running this race in 25:33, or 8:13 per mile. 2 of the 3 miles were even faster than an 8 minute mile. I thought this was pretty good for having a bad leg and not running for a month.

 I think my "success" here - and I am considering this a success - is due to my continued training on a stationary spin bike for the last month.  I think this allowed me to maintain, if not improve, my aerobic capacity even though I couldn't work the specific muscles required for running. 

Did 5.46 around sugarhouse park today.  I'm getting pretty sick of my leg still being sore.  It started off a sore and stiff and loosened up a bit as I got warmer.  Still, it never got to the point that I could actually jog with very good form.  I don't know what else to do but I can't wait around forever. 

 The effort this morning was a decent rest pace but after it was over I didn't feel like I had really given my cardio a good workout so I decided to hit the bike tonight.  The bike felt really good.