Less walking, more running

My body vs the run. It’s been a battle for months. Mostly lows, very few highs. Every time I thoughts I was finally on the mend, I’d do something to set myself back again. Half marathon, half Ironman, 10K, running 40 minutes slow. It took less and less to piss something off. It wasn’t even one issue. Once one injury would finally start to heal, something else would pop up. For 4 months my runs were mostly less than 3 miles. For weeks at a time it was less than 2 miles. I tried, hard, to be patient. To let my body heal before I did any more damage. In the past I would always push through the pain but I didn’t want to make that mistake this time. If nothing else, I hope I’ve learned from my various injuries what to do and not do. I taught myself the hard way that green boxes are not the number one priority. This has been a bigger struggle mentally than physically. The pain I can handle. The moments of freaking out that I have an Ironman in a few months and I’m barely running became harder to hold at bay.

I spent months learning what my body needs to be healthy. It’s been an interesting experiment. I’ve taken advice from multiple physical therapists, my coach, other coaches, articles, books, personal trainers, other triathletes/runners. I’ve sorted through it all and figured out what works for my body. I’ve learned that it takes time, not only to heal, but to protect my body from further injury. I’ve done more clamshells and monster walks than I care to count and I have a larger ass to prove it. My husband loves to point that out.

About three weeks ago, the magic finally happened. I had another short run and I was able to complete the whole time on the schedule and with almost no pain. Then I ran again two days later and the same thing happened. Then again a few days later. And now for three weeks I’ve been able to complete my runs 100% as intended feeling the best I’ve felt since February. I even completed two runs on Saturday which included some harder efforts and my legs are still a-ok.

The last piece of the puzzle I’d been searching for was speed. Not drugs, but maybe that would make running feel less tiring. The natural assumption is to run slow when dealing with injury. The problem is my already marginal form falls apart when running slow. So instead of running slow to keep my HR down, I run faster and walk when my HR gets too high (aka up every hill). This has been my method for a few weeks now and that seems to be what has allowed my body to finally get better (along with lots of mobility work and clamshells and PT of course). The best part is the consistency. I’ve seen before how consistent training is the best way to get stronger and faster. Consistently running 3 miles for a few weeks is already showing improvements. I’ve gone from being forced to walk constantly to wishing my HR would go up so I’d have an excuse to walk. Less walking and more running… and more importantly just plain old running, has brought a level of joy back into my life. I’m trying not to get to wrapped up in the happiness of being able to finally run again and to be able to finally run over 3 miles. Something could happen to set me back again. But I’m very hopeful. Less than 12 weeks until my IM and it’s time to start ramping up…carefully!