Return of the Weekly Log- Weekly Log: February 1 to 7

Returned to running for good this week. Still dealing with lots of discomfort and not at the level of the healthiness to train but a small victory to be able to just run, especially on roads as I was sticking to trails only last week.

Monday: 7 Miles, 8 miles bike on zwift

Did an out and back on the oyster river trail (awesome, non-technical singletrack from college woods) with Andrew. Felt a bit tight and my mechanics were off. The tight calf from the last few days was a warning sign- achilles flared up and got really sore halfway through, getting worse through the end. Have unfortunately created a new problem to deal with, but at least my foot has improved a lot which is the more pressing issue. On the bright side, I ran 7 miles.

Foot pain: 1/10

Achilles pain: 6/10

Tuesday: 5 Mile Run, 12 mile bike on zwift

Ran roads from the apartment with Andrew. Split off after 2 miles as I am on limited mileage right now. Foot good again, achilles really sore. Fortunately I could run through it without it getting worse but very irritating and uncomfortable. Would have been tough to get to 7.

Foot pain: 1/10

Achilles pain: 8.5/10

Wednesday: 6 mile run, 10 miles on zwift

First practice, got thrown in the injured/recovering group but since I just started running I'm way less fit than everyone else. This group (Vose, Yassine, Zach, and Nick Brown) went fast dropping a 6:05 4th mile and me. Felt a lot more comfortable after getting dropped and slowing down. Short rose into a gables for 6. Last day biking as I can run more now and bike is super creaky.

Foot pain: 2/10 (think I tied my shoes too tight)

Achilles pain: 7/10

Thursday: 7 Miles

Nice run, same group but they took it a lot easier (7:10ish) which felt much better. Achilles not bad today and foot perfect. Discussed white mountains stuff with Zach.

Foot pain: 1

Achilles pain: 4

Friday: 6 Miles

Few loops with more guys. Uneventful. Achilles worse at beginning but foot still fine.

Foot pain: 1

Achilles: 6.5

Saturday: 8 Miles

Newmarket bay road-dame road loop with Aiden. Felt good but my achilles is getting worse and hurts pretty bad for a few miles before improving. Unfortunately my left achilles also now is sore but doesn't bother me until halfway in and is much more tolerable than my right. Annoying issues to deal with. Fun to run with Aiden again who is having similar issues with his ankle (hurts to run on somewhat but is tolerable/isn't making it worse).

Foot pain: 1.5 (felt it a little maybe?)

Achilles: 7

Sunday: 9 Miles

Portsmouth-newcastle loop with my favorite group- Matt Adams, Kenney and Aiden. Nice loop over to newcastle which is an island then into portsmouth downtown. Really great scenery and cool historic buildings, downside is the roads are somewhat busy/the shoulders aren't that big. Snowstorm began right before the start which was fun but the traction in the second half wasn't great so I found myself working a bit as I'm terrible on slippery surfaces. Achilles probably the worst all week except tuesday, first few very uncomfortable and hurting. Foot pain irritated after but not bad at time of writing so I'm not worried considering I jumped from 4.5 miles to 9.5 in the span of 10 days.

Foot pain: 1.5 (felt it a tiny bit at end)

Achilles: 8

Weekly Total: 49 Miles, 30 bike

Weekly Highlight: Major improvement in my foot to the point where I'm not seriously concerned about it. I'm expecting occasional discomfort or pain when increasing the intensity and volume especially in post-run walking, but the fact that I had no pain all week and minimal discomfort is really encouraging. Even if it hurts or is uncomfortable down the road, it should be manageable to the point where I'm not altering my training much (once I get past the point of building back slowly post-injury).

Weekly Lowlight: Chronic achilles pain has resurfaced. I wouldn't be surprised if this pops up every few months for the next 5 years given how often it has occurred since the initial mid-2019 incident (although it's chronic in both achilles, not just the one I injured badly). It's not too surprising now, considering I went from 3 weeks off to normal 7-10 milers. Feeling much tighter on runs, likely to do my lack of fitness and not being used to running. Fortunately I'm at a low enough mileage that I can just run through it. The unfortunate side is that it isn't improving much, it hurts quite bit the first few miles and I'm going to have to hold back on workouts/racing until the pain decreases significantly. It hasn't hurt walking recently but feels sore to touch. It's definitely manageable, but I'll be in easy run mode until it gets better.

Next week, the goals are 50-55 miles with some longer runs, maybe a few 10-11 milers. I'd like to increase the pace just a little, 6:50s and 6:40s shouldn't be too hard but I need to get used to that range again before I'm running in the 5:00s. I was hoping maybe to do a really light workout next week, but I don't think my achilles will be ready for that. Hoping to at least do some strides to feel out some faster stuff again. It'd be nice to race on the 20th (home 7.5K on roads), but I don't think I'll be able to get in enough workouts by then. If I'm going to race terrible, it probably won't be worth it. Even if I could start doing workouts right now and didn't have this achilles issue, the 3 weeks of running still wouldn't bode well (might need 5ish?). 

For the long term, I'm looking to be really fit and strong coming into outdoor. 8 weeks, even if I'm still injured now and hurting in areas, is plenty of time. Whatever workouts and hard efforts I get in by then is great, but april and may are absolutely the focus areas where I want to be blowing my old PRs out of the water, specifically in the 5K and 10K. I haven't really performed at a high level since 2017 (2018 and 2020 both showed promise, but no breakout performance), but a really good 5k and a my outdoor 10k debut have been delayed long enough. Until then, I'd like to get back into the 60s by March and be healthy enough to get in moderate workouts + hard strides. 

January Recap

January has come and gone and while others I know have been busy hammering trails (Border Patrol Challenge) or getting fit/building mileage (XC/road race season), I have been sitting around getting fat doing nothing. At the end of the year, I ran an easy Ninigret run to recover from my Cockaponset FKT, then went hard the next day for Narragansett Trail Border Patrol challenge. It was a decent effort, but certainly not my best due to not pushing hard enough in a few sections, wet rock I had to jog on, some poorly marked areas where I either went off course or had to stop to figure out where I was going, and having to pick up Brady and lift him over a scrambly section. Then came two days for wisdom teeth removal. Ran a pretty standard 10 mile with Keith on January 1st, had some pain/discomfort in my foot at the very end. Suddenly super painful as soon as I stop and more or less had to limp on it all day. 

The next day came and I noticed I barely felt it when walking barefoot. Convinced myself it was nothing and headed over to Carter to do that border patrol challenge. Yet as soon as I put a shoe on, really painful to take a step. Ran through it anyway for a warm-up, absolute no go. Maybe a 5-6 pain for first mile then really excruciating the second mile. 

Tried to be smarter about it and waited to do anything until Monday until seeing a Physical Therapist. Physical therapy basically said there was nothing to do but not run and it should get better in a week. I was disappointed because 1) I'd have to cross train and I hate cross training, 2) I thought a nerve was out of place and someone could simply put in back in, and 3) I had no timetable of when this was supposed to get better. I tried running again Thursday, barefoot on Ninigret fields. Was encouraged at first to have no discomfort and then only slight discomfort but it was unpleasant to run on after 3 miles or so. I stupidly carried on wanting to do 6 on the day and really forced it, the last half mile I was pretty much limping. Once again really painful to walk, shoe or not. 

Waited again, saw physical therapy, acupuncture and a podiatrist that week who all recommended time off and not much else (obviously the acupuncturist performed acupuncture but seemed really confused on my issue). Patiently waited for someone to give me the okay to run again, which was on January 26th.

Headed back to NH a few days early for the semester and got in my first run. Zero pain or discomfort through 2.5, then discomfort for half mile, fine for a mile, worsening high amount of discomfort for half mile. Irritated but not terrible walking after. The next day walking was worse immediately and my run only lasted .4 miles before I started limping and walked back. Worked hard on stretching and keeping calves and was sore from the first run as I went way too fast and probably wasn't used to running then. Friday I tried soft surfaces on the rail trail, about the same as Monday. Not as bad at the end but a decent amount of discomfort and probably unable to do a lot more. 4 miles then. Saturday a lot better and sunday also great, did 5.5 and 6 with very little significant discomfort.

Have had 2 good runs since the end of the month, so I'm feeling a lot better about this issue (Plantar Fasciitis according to the podiatrist). I think I probably only needed a week off and that the first few runs were going to hurt regardless of what I did. Unfortunately, I've messed up my achilles somewhat but it probably just means a day off or some uncomfortable runs. February won't be a high mileage month, but shooting for around 200 or more then back to real training in March to get ready for outdoor.

Generally, I've really struggled with cross training when injured. It takes a lot of exercise to burn the same amount of calories as running especially when most of it is not as fun as running (make it seem longer). Normally, I'd do the occasional 30-40 minutes stationary bike session or the occasional 12-20 mile outdoor ride, and sometimes swimming or pool running. These two options hold little interest to me and I normally do the equivalent of running 20-30 miles a week. I did better this time. After the usual single outdoor bike ride, I completely gave up and whined about how I didn't want to exercise. I found a solution pretty quickly in stationary riding with zwift. I got bored of zwift before long and kept zwift running in the background while watching TV. It still feels semi-hard, and I check the time a lot but it's the only way I can get to an hour. Did an hour a day until running again, now I'm doing 20-30 minutes to supplement my runs. 20-30 minute rides are easier than the full hour. I got zwift for a month which expires in a few weeks, so hopefully I can be at 55+ miles or so and not have to do much extra biking.

Anyway, a dull January. Disappointed to miss out on another season and trail runs, but I was much more patient this time around and did a lot better with cross training. 2019 was a miserable year for me where I was angry and depressed much of the summer, I almost didn't get to that that except after the half mile run where I questioned how long this would last. Feeling much better after the last 4 runs.

January Stats-

Running Mileage: 39 Miles (still higher than 4 months in 2019)

Biking Mileage: 510 Miles (almost certainly a massive PR, although stationary miles are obviously a significant amount more than outdoor)

States Run In: 3 (RI, NH, ME)