Running Shorts

Ok wow, it's been a while. I have been running, I promise. Last fall I got so frustrated with my nagging Achilles injury that I just had to completely shut down. I got stuck in a cycle of: start running again, feel good, slowly feel that goodness deteriorate, end up back at square one needing more time off. Nothing seemed to be helping, so I finally just checked out of running entirely. After a few weeks in a walking boot, I decided to give it a cautious go one more time (this is around the beginning of November). I played it very safe, running without a schedule and entirely by feel, and by the end of December I was able to hit 60+ miles per week. Most importantly, though, I was simply enjoying running again. My goal for January and February, then, was to work in aerobic base training while gradually increasing my mileage and re-establishing some semblance of consistency.  I mostly succeeded -- my mileage didn't make it up to where I wanted it, but my base training went ...

Well, this has easily been the worst training stretch of my life. Four months of constantly off and on running, never more than 45 miles in one week. No workouts, no races; no summer or fall season at all for me. But you know what? That's okay. I've been very lucky to (prior to this) never have missed more than three weeks at a time for injury. I suppose I was due for something more serious sooner or later, and I'm at least happy that it came immediately after  the Olympic Trials instead of before . Now that I'm slowly getting healthy and returning to jogging (not quite running yet, and definitely not training), there are a few lessons I've taken from this experience that I want to share. Listen to your body. When you feel something wrong, stop running -- don't try to run through it. My threshold for something wrong is this: does it change your stride? If so, then you're injured and you should not run. If not,  then you're probably just sore or ach...

"You're really bad at being injured," my wife has been telling me on a semi-regularly basis this summer. It turns out that she -- as wives usually are -- is absolutely, 100% correct. I'm bad at being injured. But now, for the first significant time in my running career, I'm trying to be good at being injured. What the heck does that mean? But first, let me explain the title of the post... In dealing with runners for the better part of 15 years -- as a teammate, coach, running store clerk, and internet message board lurker -- a common refrain crops up across the spectrum: how can I avoid getting hurt? The short answer: you can't. Sorry. The long answer: running is a sport, and athletes who partake in sports get hurt; that's what you sign up for. If you are training right, then you're constantly pushing your boundaries; trying to train right up to the edge without going over. The paradox is that you never really know where that edge is until ...

"Connective tissue is what gets all runners in the end ." Bruce Denton, Once a Runner It may not be the end, but connective tissue is what has laid me up for the past month. After the disaster of the LA Trials, I just wanted to race again. I did; four races in five weeks: two 5ks, one 10k, and then a 10 miler. All of it was leading up the Flying Pig Marathon, redemption day. That all unraveled at the end of March with a tight Achilles that just got worse the more I ran on it. For most of April, I was down from running 95 miles a week to running just three days per week: one normal run, one workout, and one long run. I was trying to do just enough  to get to marathon day okay. But if there's one thing I learned for good (which I knew already, but chose to ignore), it's that you can't fake a marathon. You're not just racing against yourself and your competitors; you're also racing against the distance. On that day, the marathon won. Flying P...

Last week, I didn't run one step. It was fantastic. Actually, since the Houston race 11 days ago, I've only run three times, all this week. Like I said, it's been amazing. Usually runners are pretty obsessive-compulsive, Type-A personalities. We'll do anything to get in the prescribed mileage for the day, including getting up crazy early or running late at night. Sometimes we even plan our day around the run...or two, if it's a double. And then, when we're injured, days off make us neurotic and paranoid. I can't run which means... I must be losing fitness. I'm getting out shape. I've gotta find something to do. Yoga. Swimming. Walking. Something. Anything... Being forced not to run is worse than the actual grind of daily training. But every once in a while we need to take a step away from running. More importantly, we need to take a step away from training . Going into Houston, I was starting to feel worn-down during my runs. Worse, I was...