Rest is OVER

Yesterday marked 4 weeks since the TC 10 Mile (and the end of the Loony Challenge). I didn't run for a week after that, and that easy run 3 weeks ago was still a little painful for my achilles. So I took the next 3 weeks off. No running. No swimming. A few SHORT easy rides. Just mainly core work, leg exercises, stretching, and rolling.

Here's what the last 3 weeks look like in my training log:

The 2 short bike rides were trying out bikes before getting my new ride,
and then the 14 miler was when I just HAD to go for a ride
and try out my new bike (as seen in Saturday's post).

I didn't foam roll, PVC roll, or stretch every day. I feel like there are days I just need COMPLETE rest - I think that ALWAYS stretching isn't good for me. My heel sometimes feels better when I just let it rest for 2 days. (But at other times it needs a lot of attention, so I try to balance it out.)

After a week off, my sacrum injury from 2 years ago started to get achy. It's like that NEEDS some attention all the time. Total rest makes it hurt a bit.

My achilles (as expected) slowly felt better during the 3 weeks off. It wasn't constantly an upward slope - some days it felt a little worse, and some days it felt a little better. I wore 1 calf sleeve on it on days I'd be on my feet a lot, and that helped.

AND THEN I RAN 2 DAYS AGO! I did 4 miles easy, and my heel felt 100%! I know it's NOT 100%, but I was happy it felt so good and had to tell myself to quit while I was ahead. I'll use this easy 31 minute 4 miler as my base for where I start thinking about the next few weeks/months...

GOALS/PLANS FOR THE NEXT FEW MONTHS:

• Run easy, 3x/week, running the same distance all week while building by about 3-4 minutes each week. This was essentially what I did after my sacrum injury 2 years ago, and after spraining my ankle 18-months ago. It worked. I need to remind myself to just run easy for 2 reasons: first, building a good base will help keep me injury-free next year. Second, as I pointed out in my 2014 Waseca Triathlon race report, running a lot of HARDER workouts DOES make me faster, but not too much. So why not ease up for a bit, stop abusing my body, and just build some distance? Sounds good, right?

• No running on the track at the Y. I'd LOVE to be able to do this because it's easy to do when I drop the boys at the "Kids Care" at the Y. But when I went on an shorter, easier run on the track a few months ago, it made my ankle upset. (From the sprain 18-months ago being aggravated by all the turns on the 6-laps-to-a-mile track.) No need to be dumb with that.

• No weight lifting or swimming until the elbow heals up. I'm getting really, really, really. Really. Really. REALLY. REALLY. Pissed off at my elbow. I'm contacting my orthopedic elbow Doc again today to see if there's something more we can do. That's all I want to say because I don't want to get upset by this.

• Eat better. I've had a lot of junk in the last few weeks. I LIKE junk, but I need to eat it a bit more in moderation. I ate an apple yesterday after my ride, so we'll call that good for the week.

• Hit the bike/trainer when possible: maybe 2x/week all winter? I'm in a good spot with my biking; I'm not annoyed doing it. So I want to keep pushing that, but making sure I don't push myself into getting bored on it. I'll bike outside on my new bike while it's dry for maybe the next month, then put my old bike on the trainer and sweat all over that for the winter.

Speaking of biking, I did my "go-to" loop yesterday (the final ride shown in the calendar above). I went out KINDA hard on my new bike Eiffel, but wasn't time trial or tempo pace. I eased up once I got up Ramsey Hill, and then did a little extra on my way home. I realized once I'd climbed Ramsey that I had a 20.7 mph ave on a route were my PR ride on that route ridden ALL OUT had a 20.5 mph average! And this was a route with some rollers, and I haven't ridden hills since August 4th. This was all the new bike. I may have to go for an "all out" ride on this loop later this week to see if I can set a route PR.