Long Runs 11/20 - 11/26

[suzieqtwa]

I ran 7 miles today which is good considering I haven't been able to run in 6 months due to ankle injury. I did a few 4 mile runs last week...it just felt good to run again. Ill never be able to do more than 7, or so cause the injury is life time (something in my tendon) ,and PF in both feet.

[Grog]

Wow! That was hard!!

Soon after my running partner and I took off, my first thought was: why didn't I offer her to go for a swim instead? Just walking to the pool would have been hard enough!!!

Snow dumped on us as we ran haphazardly on a medley of our regular routes, sometimes on the sidewalks, sometimes in the middle of the road (where the very rare cars were driving at 10 km/h, giving us ample time to move back to the side!), sometimes on a running trail. Those were the worst, uneven, deep snow terrain making it hard to pull every step out of that mixture. It's not that cold out, about 1 degree celcius, so the snow is very wet and quickly turns to slush. The worst part was when lots of freezing water suddenly rushed in my shoes. After three minutes or so, the water would warm up and my toes would regain some of their mobility, and then swooooosh! again another unexpected freezing puddle. My strength is usually having short strides but a high cadence. Today it was not very useful, I could only do the short stride!!

We ran like that for one hour twenty minute. My running partner hugged the lampost that constitutes our finish line and said she was not going to go further. I couldn't have been more grateful to be home.

So instead of 16 km, we ran 12.5 km. The pace was obviously slower than usual but it definitely was a good workout. I remember thinking after I was done: am I really supposed to ice my legs now?

Now I don't know if I'll do that again any time soon! Thankfully the snow never lasts long in Vancouver...

[yellow]

Wow! That was hard!!

Just think...if you ran in conditions like that all the time, how fast you'd be on dry, flat ground!

Re: the cadence thing, I was just reading some stuff on coolrunning about it. The elites seem to run at 170-180! Yikes! Not that I'll ever be elite, but I am trying to speed up the turnover. I definitely notice a huge difference with fatigue (that is, less of it) on the trails when I go light-and-quick with the feet.

[yellow]

I ran 7 miles today which is good considering I haven't been able to run in 6 months due to ankle injury. I did a few 4 mile runs last week...it just felt good to run again. Ill never be able to do more than 7, or so cause the injury is life time (something in my tendon) ,and PF in both feet.

suzieq, if your PF has been with you longer than a year, ask your doc for an MRI as it could be something else! I have a friend that had what she thought was PF, went through PT, quit running (continued to cycle) for two years and it didn't go away. MRI showed a muscle fiber tumor that manifested itself as PF pain. Short story: something else could be causing/contributing to the pain.

I know that only being able to run what you once thought was really "not that tough" can be so hard when you are injured (wheher it be a temporary or more permanent injury). I'm with ya there. I would love to be able to train for and do an ultra distance event, but my knee is shot. So I have to be happy with half marathon distance. I have to keep reminding myself that 13 miles is better than 0 miles.

[seychelle]

I ran 7 miles today which is good considering I haven't been able to run in 6 months due to ankle injury. I did a few 4 mile runs last week...it just felt good to run again. Ill never be able to do more than 7, or so cause the injury is life time (something in my tendon) ,and PF in both feet.

Yay ! maybe I'll be able to run 7 miles in the next 12 months too. You've inspired me