R4R Level 9, Part 1

Today was Sunday Funday and I took my workout to the track, after a few past runs on pavement. Bone needs variety to keep from getting bored. Running is a boring sport for bone health, so it’s important I find every advantage I can in supergluing the skeleton together.

It was a cloudy morning but by the afternoon, the sun came out and temps heated up to the high 50s. I opted for shorts and a tank top under my warmup clothes, which was the right choice. I did get a little chilled on my last interval as the sun went down, but it felt refreshing like diving into an ice bath.

I thought I was well-keyed up on sleep (9 hrs worth!) and nutrition, but actually I was still catching up from the 14hr workday yesterday. Today’s workout was a total of 70min (5min WU, 9min run:1min walk, 5min CD), which was my longest one in quite awhile. I hit the first interval with a little punch, but then soon realized I wouldn’t be able to sustain that without bouncing out of my goal HR zone because it was warmer. I just adapted and peeled back a tad. The rest of my intervals were decent, no stamina problems and no pain ninjas. I kept telling myself that these slow roll days are building little mighty mitochondria. It will all payoff, eventually.

I do feel a little life coming back into my endurance game, albeit incredibly slowly. To get my mind off what feels like forever, I simply kept visualizing my Return-to-Competition next year. I am looking forward to making all of it come true in a few months, after some deep-focused training work. The visualizations really helped to pass the time, as I was running 20+ loops around an oval by choice. Who does that?!

I was lost in my peaceful visualization world when the quiet track became THE hopping place to visit. It started off with two border collie show dogs and their owners who let them onto the turf to run around. They didn’t seem to bother me, so I kept at it. Next was a husband/wife couple with their toddler, kicking around a soccer ball. Their ball occasionally came onto the track, but it didn’t seem to impede my workout in progress. The final distraction was a family with three kids on bikes with training wheels who decided to bike around and eventually onto the black-turf track. I never expected them to come onto the track, but they did. I was in Lane 7 and the kids rode in every lane possible. The parents had no control and didn’t seem to care that I was hanging out in Lane 7. Whatever thoughts I was thinking of my future racing season came to a halt, as I was now dodging wild kids. One of the kids even rode his bike into the fence of the track. What a circus! I was glad for them to leave for my last interval, so I could find peace and quiet again.

I wrapped up my workout, as the sun had dipped behind the clouds and the wind was starting to gust up. Shorts and a tank top now was a little daring and I had been sweating, so quickly chilling off. I headed to my bag and got greeted by a pack of three corgis and their owner. It certainly was a nice day and evening to be outside.

All-in-all, nothing special happened with this workout other than many distractions. It was a good lesson in maintaining focus when things try to thwart your plans, which is a bit symbolic of life, too. “Just keep your eyes on the prize,” I told myself after today. And that prize for me is finishing up this phase of Return-to-Sport, coming to an end soon. I’m ready for consistent running, even if mileage will be low for awhile in this pre-training season phase while I still emphasize strength work for my robust hip.

R4R Level 9, Part 2

Somedays, you have it and somedays you just don’t. You can do everything right, sleep, eat, rest, refuel and sometimes it just doesn’t matter. For whatever reason, some days are more difficult than others. Today was that day. You can’t have good days without the tough days, but tough days build more support to tap into in the future.

Yesterday was a rest day. I slept eight hours. I went out to brunch. I made a gigantic dinner. I took a long nap. Yet none of that seemed to matter, even though it’s all very important. My workout itself was just okay today, sometimes tough due to the rolling hills. The metrics accompany the run were not so fine, but you win-some and lose-some. That’s just how it goes. I was rather warm despite 47° and 12mph winds with that ungodly humidity at 85% for 9am. To be honest, I’m more than ready for winter – it’s the best time of the year and the frigid weather is my favorite for endurance activities.

Today’s run was a repeat of Level 9, which also brought my final run:walk progression that is part of this Return-to-Sport phase. In some ways, it’s bittersweet. I know I’m going to miss those walk intervals, when things heat up spicy. It’s a nice time where my heart rate can reset and I can cram in as much nutrition as possible in 60 seconds. In other ways, I’m ready to see those walk intervals take a backseat as I build, consistent mileage soon. The last level coming up, Level 10, will be consistent running and I’m pretty sure I can handle it if I find a nice comfortable effort level and don’t overexert myself unnecessarily. It really is all up to me!

For today’s workout, I took it to my favorite park, but it also meant I had to get up early. I set my alarm to eat my breakfast and get the dog all squared away before I could leave. I honestly haven’t done a morning workout in quite awhile but I needed to get moving early because I have to give my skeleton 6-8 hours of bone rest between my run and lifting double-workouts today. After a bottle of Gatorade, a bagel with strawberries, applesauce, and an energy bar, I was off to the park. I did not skip my warm-up drills, but I was for sure cooking after they were done. I shed one layer and dropped off my gloves before heading out to do the workout.

The one thing I enjoyed today during my run was jamming out to my playlist. After my second interval, I stopped to take off my shirt, cranked in another gel, and tied my shoelace. By the time I got to interval five, the natural hills of my favorite park had caused accumulating fatigue, but I knew interval sixth would be downhill so I pushed through the discomfort of feeling like I am not even close to my expected aerobic fitness.

Somewhere, also in the middle of interval five, somebody yelled my name. I turned to wave, having a clue as to who it could be. However, if there’s one thing, I am not going to stop my workout to chitchat when I am on a mission and that mission is improvement. I used to do plenty of group runs but through recurrent injuries/rehab cycles, I’ve learned to really value my run time as time for me – nobody else along for my success and failures. It really opens your eyes to who should stay in your “circle” and who should get the heck out.

During the last interval, the wind decided to gust a little stronger, yet I pushed back even harder. Today, nothing was going to stop me from finishing the run. Stubborn and resilient, strong and powerful, that is the way of the feline (Lion) who is feeling fine.

Ready or not, here I come, Level 10. I’ve been here before and I’m ready to do it again. It’s time to put this Return-to-Sport in the rearview mirror and put my eyes on the future ahead. If there’s one thing that I am confident about, it’s that the Lion will roar after the bones have been restored for 2024. “Believe in the impossible is the only way to make it possible.”