Catching Up

Having fallen off the blog scene for quite a while, I thought I would do a catch-up post. I’ve actually spent the better part of the past year injured and therefore without a lot to talk about when it comes to running. It started with some hip issues, which took me out for most all the first half of 2018, then, just when I started to get on top of that problem and make some progress with my fitness, a knee injury struck me in early August and I’ve been fighting that ever since.

I finally seem to be at a point where I’m ready to train again, and I’m excited to give it a go. Over the past four weeks, I’ve hit mileage totals of 48, 57, 62, and 31, with the 31 being a somewhat planned cutback week. I’ve learned a few things over the past couple years and even the past few weeks, and I think I’m ready to put that newfound knowledge to use.

My one race this past fall, the Salem 8k (4th OA, 1st Master)

That said, I’ve got a couple priorities I’ll be focusing on. First and foremost, I need to stay healthy. That’s going to involve doing some consistent strength work, mainly focused on my hips, hamstrings, and glutes, and also doing the little things right like stretching, massage, sleep, and nutrition/ hydration. Second, I need to become a runner again. For far too long I’ve been obsessed with hitting a certain mileage total, feeling like I wasn’t working hard enough if I didn’t. That’s out the window going forward. Instead, I need to focus on getting some speed back and learning to run fast again. Shuffling through a lot of miles might have its place occasionally, but when that’s all you do that’s all your body knows how to do. As my friend, mentor, and extremely fast runner, Steve Taylor, says, “If you wanna run fast, you gotta run fast!”

At this point I have no immediate race plans, although if things go well I’d like to do a rust buster or two in June then go from there. An ambitious goal would be to get fit enough to compete at the USATF Masters National 5k Championship in Atlanta in mid-August, but I don’t know if I can get fit enough by then to justify the trip. I’m not ruling it out, so we’ll see. I know I can’t force things, though, and have to let the fitness come to me rather than press too hard. As Masters superstar, Pete Magill, says, Masters running is a mistake free zone where there is basically no margin for error. It’s a challenge, but that’s something I’ve always been up for. Onward!