Newsflash! It’s challenging to write a blog about running, when you can’t actually run. My injured foot has kept me out of commission for six weeks now. ARRRRG! Anyway, I thought it would be fun to look back at the last real week of running I did, which was the last week of September. It was a great week, other than the fact that I mangled my foot. Here it is!
Monday- I lifted weights. Not really sure what I was thinking here because Monday is typically my rest day. Lifting weights on this day meant I went for two weeks straight with no true day off. Hmmmm.
Tuesday- 4 easy miles. And I got a massage! At least that was a good idea.
Wednesday- 8 miles with a workout: 2 miles warmup, 4 miles alternating 400@5k pace/400 easy, 1 mile at tempo pace, 1 mile cooldown. I didn’t write it down in my log, but I remember my foot was bothering me on this run.
Thursday- 4 miles easy, with some light strength work afterwards (planks and pushups).
Friday- 5 miles easy.
Saturday- 4 miles easy, plus strides.
Sunday- the famous long run of 16 miles. In retrospect a terrible idea, but it felt great at the time, except for my foot.
41 miles for the week! I really miss this schedule- I was loving running six days a week! Moving forward… eventually… when I can run again, I’m thinking of running five days a week and reserving the sixth day for weights. I was having trouble fitting in quality strength training, and at my age (54) it’s not optional. But first I have to get running again.
My foot still hurts when I get up in the morning, and on and off throughout the day. It’s better than it was, but I’m afraid if I run I’ll aggravate it again. I did walk today for 40 minutes and it felt good! It just felt nice to be outside moving forward. The test will be to see how it feels tomorrow morning. In this podcast, they talk about coming back from an injury. You might run a bit and feel fine, and even feel good after the run. But they said if you wake up the next morning and it hurts, that means the muscles, tendons and/or ligaments weren’t actually ready to handle that load.
Anyone have a good balance of running and strength training? If so, please share it with me! Any advice is appreciated.
