Sorry about the knee lucKY. Don’t forget the retro-running.
To expand a bit on lucKY’s “easy†pace mentioned by Allen, we’ve had some discussions on this topic before. Specifically, that running too slowly takes you so far out of your normal and natural cadence/rhythm that you don’t feel smooth and the run feels kinda herky-jerky (to use a scientific term). The debate was just where that cut-off lies and how how unique it is to each individual. Correct me if Iâ€m wrong lucKY, but once you start getting into the upper 8’s it does not feel good. Previously, we both had agreed that anything slower than 8 felt did not feel smooth. But that was some time ago...
My great beginnings and horrible endings week:
Mon = 4 miles and 875 feet of climbing to Mt Rogers, Virginia’s highest mountain, hard
Tue = 3 miles 780 feet of climbing rocky trail, hard
Wed = 3 miles, mixed trails, sore heel
Thr = 3 miles road, sore heel
Fri = 1 mile walk, 1 run, sore heel
Sat = 3 miles elliptical, weights
Sun = 3 miles elliptical, weights
No sooner had I extolled to benefits of trails that they jump up and bite me. Monday and Tuesday’s super-rocky trail runs helped push my heel over the edge and I’m going to back off a week and go for reboot #100 of trying to figure out how to train without injuring myself. Feet and knee problems have plagued me since my college days when PF ended my college career. In March of this year I was on track to get my times into somewhat respectable numbers but a rather severe case of vertigo scared the heck out of me and left me wondering if pushing too hard was a factor. Actually, I still don’t know. I’m still not 100% actually. So I slowed it down and went off road out of fear. I don’t like to run slowly but I chose to make compromises to keep on running: go slow, and run trails. So now, I am not happy at all that despite those compromises my heel is once again hurting! But I am not giving up because I know their are so many different “recipes†for training and I am willing to experiment and just keep on trying different things.
Sorry for the long post but I wanted to share the bad news, that, despite all that, is not really all that bad since I can still move and formulate a plan. It’s still a first-world problem that pales in comparison to people with real problems.
Have a great week folks!