Training Summary: 9/20 - 9/26

Mon - 4 miles on the Hanging Rock Trail
Tue - 5 miles in Salem w/ Andrew
Wed - 5.5 miles at Greenfield
Thu - 6.5 miles from the Ramada w/ Andrew & Matthew
Fri - 7 miles in Salem w/ Andrew & Matthew, mostly track and golf course
Sat - 4.5 miles on the roads from my house
Sun - 9.5 miles, Goat Farm Loop (backwards) w/ Andrew
Total: 42 miles

After a week or more of basically suffering through each and every run, followed by a week where I only ran one day, I had one simple goal this week: be able to run again and feel ok doing it. When all was said and done, I accomplished that and then some, so I’ll actually say this was my best week since starting back. I had a couple weeks towards the end of August and first of this month where I ran more miles, but I was pressing to do it. This week it all came natural, and while I wasn’t completely pain free, everything was very manageable and continued to head in a positive direction throughout the week. In fact, at this point I’m fairly encouraged, but having been there so many times before, I know better than to get my hopes up.

As will continue to be the case until I actually start doing some workouts, there’s not much use in going in to any details for any of the specific runs. Instead, I’ll move on to what’s next. It’s been almost two months since I began my “comeback” with a mile and a half walk on August 1. I got a little over-aggressive after a couple weeks and paid the price the middle of this month, but I feel like I’ve been able to build some fitness and now have things headed in the right direction. In other words, I’ve got something to work with and some momentum to go along with it, so it’s time to start accomplishing something.

Obviously I have to be careful because I’ve already seen what pushing too hard will do, but I think it’s time to start mixing things up a bit. I hope to begin that process this week by adding strides and drills. I might even throw in a 10 min “push” somewhere late in the week if everything is going well. As simple as it sounds, the key to everything will be listening to my body, something I’ve been horrible at for a long time. Slowly but surely I think I’m getting better though. All my mistakes and overtraining have been related to a desire to run as fast as I can, but before you can run fast, you have to be able to just run and enjoy it as well, so that’s what I’m going to focus on for the foreseeable future.