Fall Feebleness
Over the past few weeks I’ve started ramping back up from nearly zero mileage to around 20 miles per week. My normal week until this spring has been around 50+ miles per week, or roughly 7 miles / 1 hour per day.
I had an OK easy 6+ mile run this morning. This is the longest distance I’ve gone in weeks now, after a self-imposed cutback on running over the summer to ward off some impending injuries. The good news is that all the moving parts are feeling a lot better than they were at the beginning of the summer, I haven’t picked up any weight, and the heart rate monitor shows that the cross training and shorter runs have kept me from turning into a total slug. The bad news is that I’m having a hard time getting the mental groove back together. I think taking a break has thrown off my running routine more than I anticipated.
I’ve been logging a lot of 3- and 4-mile runs lately. In the past, I often take at least 20 minutes to warm up and start feeling comfortable, and sometimes take as long as an hour before everything has seemed like it’s working OK. So all these short runs mean that I’m spending all my runs feeling a little off. It also takes me a while to mentally tune everything out so I can just think and run. No shortage of interesting stuff to think about these days, but having the impulse to go fire off a quick search isn’t helping running concentration at all.
It’s hard to be excited about cracking 6 miles, but that’s where things stand at the moment. I need to go re-read Lydiard or something and get some motivation going.
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