Running Comeback!

Graph of weekly running mileage showing and increase then sudden decrease with some periods of no running. The graph ends with the same mileage as it begins with.

It’s been a long 12 weeks, but I’m back!

Last week, I matched the mileage I ran in the first week of 2024. I feel stronger and am running with better form.

After CIM in December 2023, I dabbled with running with better form, and I finally got my tight calf issue controlled with the massage ball.

In January, I went full-throttle into running with better form, and my body paid the price with injury. I let off the gas a little in February to heal. I eased on the accelerator pedal again, but my injury came back. Towards the end of February, I took some time off. After seven days off, I took a test run, and like Punxsutawney Phil, I saw my shadow and said I would take one more week off from running. In hindsight, better form meant my quads were being stretched more than they were in the past, and I did not have the strength needed with my “new” muscle length to increase my mileage as quickly as I did.

I introduced strength and conditioning exercises in March and slowly ramped up the mileage. I added a glute activation warm-up. Now, I have better balance for single-leg exercises, my weekly mileage is back up, and I added speed sessions and long runs to my week. Last week, I copied the first week of Hal Higdon’s Advanced I Marathon Training Plan. My pace run and long run were a little shorter than prescribed in the actual plan, but overall, I’m back, albeit slower.

The plan is to get up to double-digit long runs. Then, I am going to train for a 10K PB. The only distance I did not run a PB in last year was the 10K. From there, I want to hit the benchmarks that generally predict a sub-four-hour marathon. That means I will need personal bests in the two-mile, 5K, 10K, and half marathon.

Those are my loose plans for 2024. I will wait until Thursday to hear if my entry to the New York City Marathon was accepted. Once I have that information, I will start working on a schedule for 2024.

What are your running plans in 2024? Please let me know about them in the comments below.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I Received a Job Offer!

Image
This is my 100th blog post. I have gone from a student who did not like to write in elementary school, middle school, high school, and undergraduate school, to a graduate student who tolerated writing a thesis, to a principal who needed to write at least once a week, to someone who writes when he has something to say for fun. I started this blog to share what I have learned and to demonstrate to a future employer that I know how to communicate. I guess it’s appropriate that my 100th article is job-related. I was offered a job! It was a remote job with flexible hours and a six-figure salary in instructional design. Unfortunately, it was a scam. Something felt off from the initial email, but given how AI is used these days, I chalked it up to someone using AI poorly to communicate with potential applicants. Below, I will share the red flags I saw and explain how the scam works so you can protect yourself and your friends and family. Something Was off ...
Read more

Don’t Let Strava Steal Your Low Heart Rate Training Mojo

Image
This is a friendly reminder that what you value might differ from Strava. I have been on the low heart rate bandwagon for a while. By keeping my heart rate low for 80% of my runs, I can develop my aerobic system and allow my body to do more at a lower heart rate. For example, last week, I had my best base run of 2024. I ran 5.2 miles and averaged 10:24/mi. My heart rate average was 138 BPM, and I spent 99% of my time in Z2 or lower. I was stoked to see these statistics at levels I had not seen since training for my last marathon. After I loaded the run into Strava, I scrolled down to the section that indicates when your fitness has increased. I looked, but this run did not trigger the criteria for Strava to show that I improved my fitness. Then, I looked at the relative effort section, and Strava reported that my effort was lighter than my three-week average. I ran further and faster with a lower heart rate, and my effort was lighter; what? I felt great, as if I had improved! I thought...
Read more

It’s Been a Journey! Life Update

Image
The last couple of years have been a journey, from leaping from the elementary school principal’s office to diving into the world of instructional design to where I am today. While I did not know what was in store, I’m glad I had the opportunities I experienced in the last two years. In January 2022, the idea of leaving the principal’s office started to form. I believe providence placed me in charge of the school community during the pandemic, and I was the person the community needed to keep everyone safe and learning. As we neared the end of the pandemic, I knew I needed a break after working continuously from August 2019 through June 2022. I could also tell that times were different, and it was an opportunity for the community to rebuild new traditions after the pandemic. Despite these feelings, I was prepared to start the 2022-2023 school year. An incident in March made me think hard about continuing as principal, and I decided to leave my position. During this time of discernment,...
Read more