S-L-O-W-L-Y Building Miles After a Running Injury
Rebuilding after an injury is almost more difficult than when I began running. In the beginning, I didn’t know what to expect. I was being blindly led by a group, absorbing all the information I could, wondering why I was putting myself through it, and crossing my first finish line euphoric and ready for more.
Being a more hard-core runner for a decade, getting faster, knowing the “why’s” and learning to love it was wonderful. Taking a break due to injury was frustrating. I had no way to tap into that physical release, the emotional decompression, the time to be in my zone. Now that I’m rebuilding the miles, I know how fast I was, what distance I could cover. Although I DO know logically that as I consistently build my mileage, the speed will start to come and I DO know that it’s a process and I AM grateful that I’m running, it is discouraging.
In the past, I was a half marathon junkie pushing for a PR of a sub 1:45. I rarely ran a 5K because it was hard to justify paying for what was essentially a “short-run” that I could do in my neighborhood. Humble pie isn’t very tasty. Now I’m building to a 10K where I may hunker down and stay indefinitely. I have 5K races littering my calendar and I impatiently wait for the next one, trying to build my mileage to 6 (I’m currently at 4 miles) and increase my speed. I’m running in heart rate zone 2 which is essentially an 11-minute mile when I’m really wondering how long it will take to run a 7:30 minute mile.
Logic and emotion aren’t good bed buddies — they don’t play well in the sandbox. Logically, I am exactly where I should be. Right where I want to be. I am now healthy, running happily again, not over-training my body, still uncomfortably stretching out the tendon in my foot. Emotionally I just want to run a freaking 10K or half marathon at a sub-8-minute mile pace and WHY AM I NOT DOING THAT RIGHT NOW?
Running 5K’s is far better than not running at all!! In the meantime, while I’m waiting to increase speed and get more consistent on my training, running in my heart rate zones and attempting to drop the ten pounds that continue to follow me, I’ll sign myself up for some 5K action.
Humble pie, once eaten, can give you a much better outlook on life.
Originally published at https://www.momof18.com.
Jenn is Mom of 18, Transformational Coach for Christian women, host of At A Crossroads with The Naked Podcaster, Author, Runner, Minimalist, & Healthy Lifestyle Advocate
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