I'll Be Back (Eventually)

 

This morning I had another physical therapy session. My leg continues to feel better and better. One thing that is different than before is when I stretch my "bad" leg does not feel any tighter than the "good" one. My hamstring also doesn't hurt at all when I squat, which it definitely did as recently as a week ago. All that said, I am STILL taking the rest of this week off from running. I just want to make sure I am 100% healthy before I start running again. It definitely helps that we are in the dead of winter, and all I am "missing" at this point are treadmill runs. God, I can't wait for Spring. The only other noteworthy thing to mention is I bought a massage stick, which I think is really going to help when I start running again. I had a pretty high end foam roller years ago, but I just find rolling around on the ground with that thing super uncomfortable and unwieldy...

Getting Healthy

So my left leg is still not feeling right, and so I have decided to shut things down for awhile. I ran once last week (Monday), and I am probably going to take this week off. I just feel like I need to get my leg back to 100%, and trying to run through this just seems foolish given the fact the marathon is nine months away. Obviously I will lose some fitness, but given the fact I got my five mile runs down to 6:50ish pace (the fastest I have run in well over a decade), I am confident I can get back there in a few months once I am truly healthy. I have a physical therapy session tomorrow and will then take it from there.

Still Slightly Off

On Wednesday I ran a little over five miles at 7:30 pace, had another physical therapy session on Thursday, and then ran five miles yesterday at 7:19 pace. My left leg is still just a bit off. It feels much better after my runs than it did a few weeks ago, but it is still a bit tight and out of sorts. I also wonder how much of this is psychosomatic. I am planning to take the weekend off as usual and then see how it feels after I run Monday. I am glad that I already have another physical therapy session scheduled for Wednesday.

The other somewhat noteworthy news is I received my new Garmin Forerunner 35 GPS watch in the mail. I definitely feel like I made the right choice—it's relatively small (about the size of an Apple Watch), fairly intuitive, seems like it has pretty good battery life, and wirelessly uploads my workouts to Garmin Connect. I haven't tested the outdoor GPS functionality, but the indoor functionality seems fairly accurate (although it said I was running 7:30ish pace on both my Wednesday and Friday runs—supposedly it gets better calibrated once it records a few of your outdoor runs).

Back To The Treadmill

After a full week off from running and two physical therapy sessions my leg was feeling much better. Thus, I decided to try running again this morning. I ended up doing three miles on the treadmill at a nice and easy 7:30 pace, and my left leg actually felt pretty good the entire time. Right afterwards the back of my leg was definitely a bit tight, but felt WAY better than after my last run. I made sure to get a good stretch in (including this one really good stretch with a rubber cord my therapist recommends) and waited anxiously to see if my leg would tighten up during the work day. I am happy to report that did not happen—it actually felt even better as the day went on. Needless to say I am breathing a big sigh of relief. That said, I am still planning to ease my way back into running—I am taking tomorrow off and currently planning to do just four miles on Wednesday.

I'm Back (To Physical Therapy)

On Monday morning I felt like my jacked-up left leg was back to 100%, so I decided to go for it and run five miles at 6:49 pace. While the run itself went perfectly fine, afterwards my leg felt HORRIBLE—significantly worse than last week. So that day I called my physical therapist and made an appointment, which I had yesterday. I am already feeling better today, but I am definitely taking the rest of this week off from running and maybe even longer—there is just no good reason to risk a serious injury, particularly given the fact the marathon is still nearly ten months away. I have another physical therapy appointment on Friday, and will then decide whether I need to keep going. I also got the list of core/hip strengthening exercises my physical therapist recommended earlier this year, which should help.