I am finally getting pretty consistent in my running. As I was trying to get out of the Crohn's flare I finally broke up with forcing myself to run. I was being stubborn until January or so when I finally abandoned it. Every run was miserable and I think it was stressing me out even more which was definitely not needed. So I turned to stair climbing, elliptical and spin for a while.
The same week I started Remicade I began to feel better and eased back in.
The past couple of weeks I have finally been able to hit 20+ miles!
But, these runs are all easy and pitifully slow. 10 - 12 minute miles. I will do some surges and add some speed but not much. I still feel awfully out of shape and just slow as heck. I can't remember the last time that 10 minute miles was not my easy pace. It makes me sad but I am also trying to respect that my body is healing and just be happy that I can run.
That being said I decided that it is time to get down to business and integrate speed work back in if I have any hope of returning to the paces that I once was at. So this week I threw down some 400's!
I have no idea WHAT my goal paces should be - and I did this on the treadmill so I just started sub 9 and worked my way down:
8:57, 8:52, 8:49, 8:41, 8:37, 8:34, 8:32, 8:20
I am not going to lie towards the end I was feeling it, but that feeling of pushing and more importantly being able to push, oh how I missed it. So the goal is to continue to keep the mileage at least at 20 per week and also have one speed session. I am not training for anything. I am just building a base at this point. I might go do some races just for kicks but there aren't any goals at this point, I have a lot of work to do.
Before I really got "sick" my half marathon pace on a weekly basis was in the 8:30's one day I will get back there. Just kind of sad to see how hard the speed work was at those paces (indoors) and to know I used to bang out 13.1 miles at that. Sigh.
Next up...working up the courage to run outside. It scares the shit out of me (haha see what I did there?!) and I need to get over relying on the treadmill if I do ever want to regain the speed in general. I have my eye on it happening this week. Wish me luck!
When I took a break from running last year, it sucked so much to see how hard my easy paces are. But it WILL come back, and you're going to get back to those paces and faster! :)
ReplyDeleteLook at you go! You are progressing so much, mentally and physically. You are seriously gaining some of your speed back, and I'm glad that you are pushing yourself without FORCING yourself to push yourself. Speed will come as you continue to work at it, continue to regain your strength, and before you know it, you will be whizzing past us all! Just keep building that base.
ReplyDeleteNow, about running outside--work on just shorty short runs first. Even a mile. Then work your way up. Plus, that will be a great way to get your body used to running outside again--different muscles and all that!
Yay! You'll get back there. I'm feeling super slow lately too with all the long, slow marathon runs. I'm itching to get speedwork in as well!
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