Getting the ace in the hole back
Every triathlete seems to have a strength, a discipline that they can rely on. Mine is normally the run but after getting hurt early this summer I’m having to work to get it back. I didn’t run at all for 12 weeks and then very little for another 8 weeks bringing me up to a hurtin’ for certain’ 1:22 half marathon run at the Longhorn 70.3.
Finally in the past few weeks I’ve gotten my normal stride back and feel strong running instead of running with a constant ache throughout my body from being out of shape. Surprisingly it was some faster paced running that finally cleared the last phases of my summer injury. Since my knee area was hurt for so long it became second nature for me to protect it by never extending my knee and engaging my quad and IT band constantly. All this caused my leg to move and foot to land awkwardly. I was at the point where I was starting to think I’d never run normally again.
With all this I was cautious to tackle my first harder workout. My buddy Matt Kempton and I went out to Waterton Canyon on a Saturday morning for 6×5min hard with 2 minute breaks. I felt incredibly out of shape and my right leg usually didn’t move normally but there were glimpses of hope. When I was running hard and really focused on the running there were 10 second spurts where all the sudden I felt normal.
Tuesday I hit up a tempo on Highline on my own. 6 miles at 6min pace. Much improvement. This time the 10 seconds spurts were of the awkward form and I generally felt normal.
Thursday was a 5k Turkey Trot. It turned out to be a strong field with Michael Aish who has competed in the IAAF T&F Championships in the 10k, along with my teammates Josh and Dan. I had to run cautiously on the opening fast downhill but then was able to lay it on and run hard. It felt fantastic to run fast and fluidly again. Picture not eating chocolate for a year and then getting some. All those great feelings come back, even the ones you somehow forgot about. I didn’t have to think about what part of my foot I was landing on, I just did it. I was 15:39 (the course was actually 3 miles but 5:13 pace is still good).
Now I’m into some good run training with about 3 runs a week between 1:15 and 1:30 plus some short maintenance runs. I’d do more but I’ve got to keep the focus on the swim to improve that. This time of year I’m trying to get in some good training, but what I would describe as 90% training. I’m ok with skipping those extra workouts or that extra bit of effort that are the key of hard training.
With the snow lately I’ve been forced onto the ol’ treadmill. I don’t normally run on the treadmill and will run in some very adverse conditions like our run up Waterton during last weeks snowstorm. But bad footing kills quality, measurably workouts and for those the treadmill is excellent. So I’ve been hitting it for some 6 mile tempos to get in some decent but not killer quality. I learned during college running that I need quantity but can never completely ignore quality. I made the mistake of spending two summers just shooting to run 100 miles a week without any quality. My race performances were lacking and it took me months of workouts to get my race ability back.
Some bits of treadmill advice. Bring a water bottle, it’s a great way to get used to drinking while running and you don’t have to put up with actually running with it. Headbands make you look like a hipster but they do serve a purpose on the mill’. To account for the lack of wind resistance at faster paces: set to incline to .5% between 6-7min mile pace and 1% between 5-6min mile pace. Sometimes sacrifice accuracy for leg speed by keeping the incline at 0%. Warm up and warm down outside to maintain sanity. Weight yourself (with your water bottle) before and after to get an idea of your sweat rate.
With this I’ll be running to Austin 3M Half Marathon on January 24th. I’m looking for a good but not great performance there, I want to be in shape but have to keep it in check as it is early. Looking for something in the 1:10 to 1:13 range.
