Saturday, March 04, 2006

Running Again - Finally!

I had a bit of a setback with my breathing on Thursday, but Friday was hugely better-- I felt almost normal again. Normal for me, at any rate. So I decided to try out my newly healed lungs today with a "long" run. Or rather, a long event, consisting partly of running.

The plan was to alternate a half mile of walking with a half mile of running for as long as seemed reasonable. Good thing I got the battery in my GPS watch replaced recently! Everything went very nicely. I wore my new shoes from the Marathon Expo, and they felt very springy and comfy. I did a bayou loop/River Oaks combo and ended up doing ten miles, of which five were running, five walking. I could've gone a little farther, but I felt pretty tired and I didn't want to push anything. It's been what, more than two weeks since I've run at all? Three? Whatever the number is, it's scary.

I figure I'll be sticking with run/walk combos for a little while, at least on my longer ventures. I highly recommend it to anyone getting back into distance running after injury or illness. It's how I've always returned to the road, and I've always been able to get my form back within a few weeks without mishap. I know there are folks out there who sneer at "Gallowalkers," but to them I say that run/walk combos absolutely have a place in the sensible athlete's training plan, not as an end result but as a transitional stage. I look forward to being back to my usual run-only mileage by April, if not sooner.

My plan for tomorrow is some weight training and moderate spinning. I'm hoping to get my bike legs back in shape soon, now that the spring bike series is here. I've already missed the Gator Ride in Baytown, which I haven't missed in a few years. Bluebonnet doesn't look too good for next weekend, either. I doubt I have the legs or the lungs for hills right now. But maybe I'll be ready for a good metric century by the end of the month. I need to quit being such a pessimist about these things. If I'm slow for a little while, well, I have a good excuse. It's hard to train when you can't breathe.

Recent Workouts
Today: 10 miles, alternating walking/running

2 comments:

Born To Endure said...

Sounds like you are back on track, good luck!! Just in time too, for spring is almost here.

Rice said...

I think walking is very under rated as a form of cross-training for runners. I put in two power walks a week to mix up the workouts. I had to incorporate a run/walk into may workouts to get myself to slow down to a run that was slow enough to keep my hart rate down for my endurance training..

Good to hear you back out there.

cheers.

Rice