March 2012 Summary

*forgot to hit Publish a few weeks back.  Oops.  

Runs -12
Workouts -7
Injured - Too Many To Count
Avg Miles per Running Day - 5.6
Vert - 2,300 feet

I can't tell you how tough it is to publicly post these number above.  Not that I'm embarrassed.  Far from that.  It just hurts.  Hurts cause of the high expectations I have for myself from a running perspective this year.  Hurts cause if I'm to have any success in my races, I need to be more productive on a consistent basis. 

The Bad:

Physically Low - From a pure running perspective, I haven't felt this low since I jacked my patella tendon back in 2008.  14 or so weeks before I was to run my first ultra.  The Bighorn 50K.  That injury prevented me from any type of running for almost 6 months.  This one only shelved me for a month but felt like an eternity. 

The Good:

Running - As I stated in my last post, there thankfully was no muscle issue with my injury.  The running may have been minimal for most of the month but I at least saw some productive steps during the last week of March.  6 runs, 40 miles and 1,500 feet of climbing.  Not much but a huge step mentally and physically going forward.


Weight Lifting - Thinking I had strained a muscle and would only be out a week, I decided to hit the gym hard one last time before focusing all on running.  Went old school for about 6 workouts. It felt great and then I got sick.  One more visit to the gym near the end of the month was all I could muster as running and resting were much more desirable. 


I've hit a plateau in my weight lifting.  I either do hell of a lot more and try to put on 20 pounds of muscle.  Or I back off and visit the gym from time to time as a nice diversion from running.  This is a good place for me to be at and thankful the running is coming around.   

Time Away From Running - While not running has sucked, having such an amazing family at home has made it easy.  My wife has kept me positive during this stretch always saying the right things and listening to me bitch about the injury.  My little one just crawls around smiling making me realize that my time not running and being with her makes me the luckiest dad around.

Looking Forward:

I realized this long ago but running consistently is easy.  Just takes a little focus and dedication.  What's damn hard is running consistently with a goal in mind.  That all the runs one is taking on has a reason.  And that is what I'm looking forward to in April.

However this wont' be easy.  Muscle memory will take a few weeks to come around.  All those stubborn tendons and ligaments will take even longer to respond.  It'll get a lot harder before it gets easier.  Both mentally and physically.  But to be honest, I'm so looking forward to the next month of consistently challenging myself to be a better runner each and every day.  I may have lost a month of training but I sure as hell haven't lost my desire to put myself in the best possible shape as Leadville comes near.