My primary goals this week were to run 3 times and extend my “long” run to 7 miles. A secondary goal was to commence running every other day. I accomplished both primary goals … ran on Tuesday and Thursday … but again took a 3 day break before running today.
Today’s run was tough … rain was falling right from the start and the temperature was only 8C so on my warmup walk I was cold even though I am “over dressing” for the temperature (trying to get somewhat ready for Honolulu temperatures in 18 days … if I had been in Honolulu the temperature at the start of my run would have been around 25C or higher.
Once I started running I did warm up to a degree but right form the start my legs were feeling tired and complaining with the odd ache. However I started slowly and was able to keep a fairly consistent pace throughout the run. I had two water stops plus one short recovery stop at 6 miles and then my stubborn streak kicked me in the ass and I ran the last mile.
At 7 miles this was my longest run since November 25, 2017 and while a lot slower than that 2017 run today was a good step forward on my return to running.
Hopefully next week I will make the transition to every other day running and be able to extend my long run to 8 miles. Tuesday’s run will be an easy recovery run of 3 or 4 miles and Thursday’s run will, hopefully, be a 4 or 5 mile run at a faster pace (not quite at tempo effort or distance yet).
Total mileage this week … 13 miles, same as last week. Hopefully next week’s total will be 15-17 miles unless I do transition to every other day in which case the “weekly” total would be higher but would then drop down the following week.
I am trying to be very cautious with my running return. While I don’t want to limit myself due to my age I do have to remember that recovery takes longer when you are older … so each run I assess how I feel at the start of each run and make adjustments (to pace or distance or hills) depending on how my legs and mind feel. I also have to remember that warm up takes a lot longer!
In some ways the hardest adjustment to accepting in your “later” years is that while running feels exactly the same as when you were younger, the pace you run is significantly slower.
Now back to the Seahawks game and my beer!
Rick Horne 