Another step...

I have been very delinquent in updating the blog, but as one of my favourite races is tomorrow, I thought it time do so (and I have to wait for my Garmin Forerunner 405 to recharge before I go for a run).

Things have been good recently. This past week saw my first back to back days of running since the injury (Monday and Tuesday) and also my return to VFAC workouts. I was surprised with my workout as we ran 2 x 2.95k at Stanley Park. In my runs leading up to Thursday, I had felt decent, but not great. I definitely had not had any faster pieces during my runs, although that is not entirely true. The thing I find most interesting about coming back from time away from running, whether as a result of injury or otherwise, is that I lose "gears". When I feel fit, I feel comfortable running, as though I am walking. There is a smoothness that I feel (whether or not I "look" smooth is another question). There is also the ability to run at different speeds comfortably. Whether I need to run tempo, steady state, base, or race pace, I can pick and choose from amongst the varied efforts and speeds and be pretty comfortable. Coming back to fitness is another story. I have two speeds - walking or fast. There is no gradient to the speed - either super slow base or race pace. As you can imagine, the race pace doesn't last long and is usually a result of a longer downhill section of running. The base pace is everything else. So it was with this concern that I approached the workout on Thursday, not knowing if I would be able to sustain a tempo pace for more than 3 minutes.

It was great to be back with the group. Jay is running super fast as usual and Graeme is back out which is great. Wanting to be smart about my first workout back, I settled in with group a little ways back and ran comfortably. My breathing was never really strained, but my HR was very high (180+) and there was very little room for running faster. I completed the first of the two intervals in 10:19, which wasn't bad for the first time back. The second interval I ran with Kristina Rody and we went through in 10:09, which was great. Negative splitting a workout is always a good thing, and to be smart enough to come back controlled pleased me. So, another step back toward fitness.

With that said, I am going to run the Times Colonist 10k this year and see how it goes. It will be a good baseline for how I am doing after a month of training. Then it will be the Scotiabank Half-marathon in June before hitting the trails and prepping for the ENDURrun in August. This is all tentative still on how things feel as I get back to full training, but I am hoping that things will work out.