Back to running - healed I hope

There is nothing more irritating to a runner training for a long race or goal than having to slow down (or stop) running.

Just ask anyone who is tapering for a marathon what time it is and you're liable to get a response more persnickety than the one you are expecting.

I've now taken a week off of running in order to heal my problems in my legs brought on by over-training.

I've been... grouchy to put it mildly.

Now I am back on the wagon. I am back running with zeal but also with caution. I am remembering that not every run should be a "tempo" run. Tempo runs being those that you run near your race pace (which forces you to operate at about 95% of your maximum heart rate constantly). You can't possibly run tempo runs all the time without injury. Difficult lesson to learn but I've learned it now.

I am running most runs now at 85% of my max HR or lower (below 80% for my long run). This is helping my legs greatly.

It is very frustrating that my cardio capacity is very high but my body can't withstand the pushing and pounding ALL the time.... getting older i suppose. Must allow a little more time before getting extreme with the training.

Having run a couple middle-of-the-road runs this week around 85% max hr (4 and 6 mile runs), one long run at 75% max hr (13 miles) and a recovery run very slowly (3 miles), I'm hoping I am getting over these injuries. Running on nothing but flat surfaces has helped greatly as well.

I look forward to making many more posts on this blog where i run and run and stay injury free for a while. It would be nice to get back into my 5 days a week of running rhythm.

Stay tuned as I continue training for my next major race (the nyc marathon)!