from mile to marathon

The journey of a thousand leagues begins from beneath your feet.
Lao-Tzu

Monday, January 11, 2016

distraction

I was out of town for a few days around Thanksgiving and again in the first week of December. By then my average weekly mileage was in the high thirties.

Not that much when training for a 100, but serious enough for me. I have never done consistently so much before. Aside from a lingering pain on my right side, sometimes radiating downward (I had a tight muscle in my buttock), I got to be comfortable doing 22 miles or so every other weekend, a little bit under 20 on the weekends in between. As a rule I still ran only three days a week, with the leisurely intent of adding a fourth day at some point, which would propel my weekly mileage in the forties.

I didn't want to interrupt this nice streak while I was away, so I used the exercise room in the hotel. I usually shy away from the treadmill - I started on one, but once I ran my first mile outdoors I didn't go back. This time the treadmill was convenient. I didn't need to negotiate distances, traffic, and weather in foreign cities. I could monitor speed and incline and experiment with it. I ran faster than I usually, just to see how fast I could go. I even played with the elliptic, which I had never done before. It was almost fun. I certainly had a few solid workouts.

A day after I came back I ran a slow 6.5 miles before work, not pushing too hard. The rest of the day I limped while walking. It was then that I understood that I don't have a tight muscle - I have an injury.

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