June 6th, 2021

Whelp, I got excited and hurt myself. Took all of a week after my first post here to decide it was time to spin the legs up and see what a little bit of speed felt like. 6 by 200 and one strained left hamstring later, I can report back: Slow. With a 5k time trial on the schedule for Saturday, I thought a few 200s on Wednesday would warm up the legs to sub-6 minute mile pace. Nevermind that I ran a hard 7+ with about a thousand feet of climbing the day before, and at 90 degrees it was the hottest day of the year so far. No problemo. Considering that, the little workout went surprisingly well. 6 minute pace to start, down to 5 minute pace on the last one. But I knew I was working too hard, and could tell right afterward that my left leg wasn’t right. (I may be slower, but my dad jokes are really coming into their own.)

I’ve strained my hamstrings before. Many times. Starting a run and stretching out the leg feels like the muscle fibers under your butt are ripping apart. Eventually it loosens up. Then it’s mostly fine. Until you stop moving and can't walk again. And then you do the same thing again the next day, and the next. And eventually, after a couple weeks of this, the leg feels mostly normal. It’s not a cycle that I look forward to revisiting. Which is why I’m pretty encouraged while writing this, four days after tweaking my leg. Because I actually listened to my body this time, and took it easy. Easy Thursday, unplanned day off Friday (gasp!), easy Saturday, and a very easy 8.5 on the trails today. And after all that, I can barely feel the strain. Didn’t notice it at all today, so I think after my standard day off to start the week, I should be good to go come Tuesday.

I’ve tried to get back in shape before, and made it pretty far a few times. The honeymoon period of the training goes great, and I remember why I love to run. Then I start to get tired and keep pushing, intent on hitting my goal mileage that I had only decided on a few weeks before. Then something gets strained. Usually my hamstrings are both already tight and painful by this point, and it’s not until a quad or calf starts screaming that I’m forced to slow down. Maybe I keep pushing through the accumulating strains, and a knee starts to balk. Then I roll out one time, maybe take one easy day, figure that’s good enough, and hit it hard the next day. Finally some battered body part will say enough is enough, throw up the white flag, and I’ll find myself walking along the side of a road with passers by wondering why I wore such small shorts. A few weeks, and a string of zeros on the calendar later, and I’m officially not training and trying not to think about it.

As I said in my last post, I want this time to be different. And in a way, this little setback has actually been encouraging. I deviated from my training plan and hurt myself, yes. But instead of pushing through it I listened to my body and took it easy for a few days. Now I’m back up and running only four days after the injury, with both legs feeling fresh and pain free. My training plan calls for an easy day after every hard one, at least for the next few months. Hopefully I can stick to that, listen to my body, and show that while I’ve lost some leg speed since I last tried this, maybe I’ve gained enough wisdom to make up for it.

Talk next week, and keep running!

-Kyle