Injury again?

Ok, last week I was running on Monday, did a Tempo (3 miles) with each mile in the 6:20s...I felt good and strong--not like I was overdoing it...

When I first had the idea, I thought of doing 6:45s...But once I got going it felt really good and so I pressed the pace to hit the 6:20s...

Bad idea.

Later, when I got back to the office, I had a sharp pain on my lower outside of my left knee--something was wrong...It only came for a few seconds and then faded away, but it was sharp (not dull like in the past). It would happen several times that day...

So I decided to take a week off. With ice and rest, it did get better over the last several days. Today is Saturday--I hope to run on Monday. But I'm going to reset the clock and start small again.

This is how I have learned to be patient though. In the past, I would try to start running too soon, and impede the healing process. Now, I'm not afraid to take a week off if I need to. I know that this is part of being a mature runner--taking the injuries when they come, and learning from them.

EZ runs never felt so good!

Wow---I wish I had really tried this before. Sometimes I'm just an idiot. The running is going better, my leg is showing some real signs of healing, and the EZ runs at about 8:00 per mile have been really helpful.

I know--I've preached it for years--EZ runs should be about 80% of your weekly mileage...but it's so hard to do! I get out there, get crankin', and the next thing I know I'm popping out fast miles...But if you keep doing that over and over, you're not really building--you're 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' and you're asking for trouble.

I'm up to about 6 miles per day--and really trying to slowly build back up (to around 12 per day). I hope to run the Memphis marathon this December, but we'll just have to see how I feel around October and November. I really hope so.

Learning to run slow...

I've been running for the last few weeks (after a good 2 week block of rest). And now I'm really trying to discipline myself to run my EZ days at a true 8:00 per mile pace.

It sounds silly, but it's so tough! When I run my body just wants to go--zip! zang! zip! zang!

But it's been a new emphasis that I need to do--to let my EZ days truly be EZ days--and research seems to show that 80% of your running/training needs to be EZ. Maybe that's what got me into all sorts of injuries that I'm slowly recovering from....

I know--some people gotta learn the hard way...