August 3, 2021
I knew this would happen.
I was being very smart, and have been smart, but I had a feeling that I’d have a set back or two along the way to the NYC Marathon this November.
After my first 30-mile week, things started to go south a bit.
Continue reading “Running “With” Meb (Keep Moving Forward)”
Whew.
I did it.
It wasn’t easy, but it was easier than I thought it would be.
Continue reading “Chronicle of a Comeback (vol. 28): Back-to-Back-to-Back-to-Back-to-Back!”
Progress.
That’s the word. Progress.
Two steps forward.Â
I am hoping there are no steps backward as I continue to build strength in my comeback to running following Achilles surgery in January. I will hopefully get strong enough to run the New York City Marathon in November.
A few thoughts on all of this before I share the updates on my progress.
Slow and steady makes the race.
Here was my weekly mileage for the first three full weeks of May 2020:
I was getting there.
The operative word is “was.”
19 weeks ago today, I walked in to have surgery on my right Achilles tendon. Â
I walked out on crutches.
I was on crutches for about 7 weeks. Â
And then I started running, step-by-step. Slowly.
Today, I powered through a three mile treadmill run staying between 5.5 and 6.0 mph for the duration. Â
I broke 32 minutes, finishing at 31:51. That’s a strong effort – my best effort to date since the surgery.
I was once a marathoner. Â
I will be one again.
Friday.
FRIDAY.  A big day. A HUGE day.
16 weeks and two days after my Achilles surgery, and, with the permission, dare I say the encouragement, of my physical therapist, I set out for my first two mile run. Â
I just had my most enjoyable run yet.Â
I am back again.
A week ago, I shut it down after I woke up with pain, probably better described as discomfort, just above the area where I had Achilles surgery. I had been pushing it a bit, just a little, with some “boxing” at my in home boxing gym (in my garage), some long (virtual) PT sessions, other stretching, and the advent of a short, but steep, hill into my runs. Â
Yesterday was supposed to be my last one-mile run before ramping up to a run of 1.25 miles as I steadily progress…
But progress, or success, and even life itself, doesn’t always go in a straight line. Progress is not always forward. Sometimes, in order to go forward, we need to take a step back.
Well, I am falling onto a nice pattern, running every other day, just like when I first became a marathoner about 18 years ago. Back then I strictly followed the marathon plan in the great book The Non-Runners Marathon Trainer. That plan called for three or four runs a week – basically every other day. In the years since then I became a sometimes every day runner and other times a five-day-a-week runner. In my prime, when I set my marathon PR in Chicago (2006) (boy, that was a long time ago…) I was peaking at 50+ mile weeks.
But, for now, I am an every other day runner and my distances don’t compare.
It’s all part of the process.
It’s a good process.
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