Slowly Getting Faster

The next iteration of ankle recovery running. Since the last two days I've been able to increase my time spent running up to 20 minutes I figured I would just try running for 40 minutes today and see what happened. It went well. Pain only once, and I think that was because my form got sloppy. I walked for a minute and started running again and there was no more pain.  

It was slow but at least it was a consistent run, mostly.

Avg. Pace: 9:22, flat 

So it appears that I'm doing pretty good. I went to PT this morning and the therapist told me not to come back. I'm at 80%+ function on the bad leg, and he usually only keeps people until they have reached 80%. He gave me some exercises and sent me on my way. With that in mind I decided to try a 5 mile run. I wanted to get it in while it was still kind of cool outside. I started at 9:50 and it was already 80 degrees. I also decided, for some reason, to try and run a more hilly course. I hadn't had anything to eat all morning so I took a GU shot and set off.

The course I took is not nearly as hilly as I was running prior to the injury but I felt dead.  The hills were brutal and even the regular, flatter parts didn't feel easy. I'm hoping its a combination of the heat and the lack of proper nutrition. I could have run this in sub 8's back in May or early June. I think some of it is the lack of running over the past few months as well. I've done 16 miles since Friday, which is 16 more than I've done in more than a month and a half. 

The way I figure it, I've got to get myself to the point that I'm running close to 20 on the weekend by the first week of September.  The plan is to get to 6 tomorrow and run that for the rest of the week.  Then next week go to 7, then 8, then 9, and 10 a day by the first week in September.  That's probably pretty lofty, and I might miss the mark a bit, but at least if I'm close I will feel ready to finish 26 by October 6.  

There was no pain in ankle today. 

First attempt at 6 miles. It went pretty well.  My legs were very tired by the time it was over.  It's crazy how much fitness I seem to have lost in the month and a half I had to take off. My average pace for the run was close to 9:20 per mile, which is really slow.  It also didn't really feel good/natural until the last mile or so. Hopefully I can get my stride back soon. 

There were some hills but I'm not sure what the elevation gain was.  I took the lagoon trail on a meandering loop over to Glover's Lane then down the Legacy trail, up to the pond, down the canyon road and back to the start of the Lagoon trail. Not a ton of vert but a little.  

In keeping with yesterday's performance, this one was slow. A bit faster than yesterday but still pretty slow.  9:14 avg pace today instead of 9:20. Hopefully that is a good sign.  Legs still exhausted by the time I finished. 

This run was a bit more difficult.  I started at the junction of state street and 200 east in Farmington and ran up the canyon to the firebreak road. From there I cut back down and took what has become my typical route through lagoon trail, across the frontage road, up to 200 east and back to where I started. There is some vert on this route, probably close to 400 feet (I haven't synced my watch yet to check).  This is some pretty mild vertical gain compared to what I was doing in May.  I hoped that I would be able to get there without it killing me.  It was not easy but it was not as hard as I expected it to be either. I ran all the way to the road and averaged sub 12 for that mile. Legs still pretty sore after the run, but my ankle is fine. 

I ran into Woody Whitlock on Lagoon Trail. For those that are unfamiliar with this guy, he is an 80 year old marathoner who ran more 20 mile races last year than I have run in my entire life. From the time he turned 70 he has run 22 marathons.  Pretty impressive.  And he is a local guy, lives just down the street from me. Its good to see him out there, it gives me hope.