Late this morning, I jogged over to Big Cottonwood Park and ran four times around the park’s parameter trail before heading back to home. My goal was to knock out five laps, but my left hamstring went from stiff to painfully sore as I finished my fourth time around the park. Consequently, I did not want to risk a setback in order to accomplish one more lap. The total distance of this run was 5.1 miles at an easy pace. Also, I was able to accomplish an 8:37 and an 8:49 mile, which is pretty fast for me these days and probably brought on the discomfort. The objective of this run was to get some experience running off of the road because my Xterra National Trail race is less than two weeks away (yikes). For this race, my goal is just to run the entire course without reinjuring myself.
In order to get in some extra miles, I biked over to the Holladay Lions Recreation Center in the early afternoon and completed 12.8 miles on the elliptical machine I a total time of 2:02:29.
As I biked home through Big Cottonwood Park, I noticed a runner cruising around the softball complex which not only got me motivated to run, but also made me think about how I left some unfinished business in the park this morning by not being able to complete that last lap. Consequently, after I got home, I jogged over to the park and completed a single lap around the softball complex before heading back and calling it a day. The total distance of this run was 1.3 miles.
Overall, I’m continuing to make progress with the rehab of my hamstring (i.e., feeling less sore compared to a week ago and I’m regaining flexibility). Also, considering that last week I could not even run without a severe hobble and this week I ran some miles off of the elliptical for seven consecutive days, progress is being made!
Besides my 3.9-mile bike ride to the Lions Recreation Center and back, I completed 300 sit-ups and 30 push-ups for my non-running workout. | 