Winning Back What I Lost

Began the long road back with a short, slow run. So slow that I'm almost embarrassed to have my neighbors see me plodding along. I like to think that this is the moment i begin in earnest but I hesitate to make any commitments given the on again off again nature of my post-surgery recovery. Back actually felt fine, it was that darn piriformis/high hamstring tendonapothy that continues to plague me. That's something I feel like I can manage though, I've dealt with it for so long. I've been doing a lot of strength exercises and I even lost 7 lbs in the last 3 weeks of April after beginning my conversion to veganism and with very little exercise. So I'm hopeful that as I work myself back into running shape and run 6 days a week, running will feel normal again.

I can't believe I could run so slow, but at least it's two days in a row. [/slow clap]

3 days in a row and slower than ever. Don't remember being this slow even when I was just starting to run and much heavier. Learning to run all over again.

My eldest had a bad mountain biking accident and ended his track season. Feel bad for him. He had already qualified for districts in the 800m. At least he has his senior year.

4 days in a row. Today felt better than the 1st. Small victories.

Plan: Run every day in May, if you can call it that, and see where my fitness Is at. If my back and legs feel ok then I start training with actual workouts.

Early morning run. Lots of issues but it gets tedious to keep naming them.

Short run after another little league baseball game. Win and win.

It was hard. I could barely run. But I did it.

Didn't run yesterday. Dealing with a lot of issues right now and I felt like chit. That's usually when I need to run the most but I curled up in bed and slept 16 hrs instead.

I made up for it tonight by going for my longest post-surgery run. Felt relatively strong and mentally in it. Also, one of the benefits of running so slow is I can really focus on form, landing on the midfoot and really pushing off on the forefoot, without worrying about pace. I still can't get any extension but that'll come as my pace increases. There have been very few bright spots thus far, today was one of them.

Back to back 6 milers. Very warm today, temp around 90. In the 80's when I started around 830pm and I started to bonk by the end. Made it thru. Learning to how to suffer again.

Another easy run on a VERY windy and hot evening. I may be pushing it too much, too soon because my legs felt like concrete blocks. HHT/ piriformis flaring up again. It seems to come and go.

The good news is that the excess weight continues to fall off me. Yesterday, marked 1 month of no-meat. Not quite vegan yet but getting there.

Muy lento. Me siento malisimo. Quizas necesito un dia de descanso.

Couple days of rest didn't make me faster but it did help me get back on the road.

Stretched it out a bit. Longest run since last fall. Doesn't seem like much but in the relative shape I'm in its roughly equivalent to a marathon.

Spent the day looking at the results of the Great Potato and Ogden. Made me really long to be a runner again

Easy run after little league practice. Last practice of our short season and tomorrow is the last game. Gonna be sad to see it come to an end. I love my little team but it takes up a lot of my limited energy, free time and, the way I coach, adds to my stress load.

Back at it now that little league is over. Noticed a little numbness and tingling in my left foot yesterday which has me a little worried. Nonetheless, I was able to run a few pickups, nothing fast but enough to run about 30 secs/mile faster than I have been. Baby steps.

Easy run in the rain. Had planned on extending my long run but got sick over the weekend. It never stops being a struggle.