If anyone who reads this blog regularly recalls (and if anyone does, you should probably spend more time being productive and less time reading my ramblings), right around the National Half Marathon, I was slightly concerned with some all too familiar pain in the area of my right tibia. This was the same exact place I gave myself a stress fracture last year, but on the other leg. For all intents and purposes, the pain was identical, though significantly less severe.
I then got sick and took 10 days off running. When I restarted, I could not detect any pain and continued running. Maybe here and there I could feel it, but overall everything seemed ok. By Monday of last week, that was no longer the case and I couldn't deny that the pain was progressing. After Tuesday, I made the decision to take at least 2, and more likely 3 weeks off running to let whatever is going on down there heal. I'm guessing it is the beginnings of something worse, and I've caught it soon enough that a little down time should fix it.
Somewhat surprisingly, I am not the least bit upset or disappointed. There are a variety of reasons for this, and I'll share two of them:
1. I've got nothing important coming up in the near future, and fall marathon season is still pretty far away
2. It gives me more time to ride the bike, which is actually starting to become a bit more enjoyable. When I first started last year, I could never get into a comfortable pace on the bike and was almost always miserable. For one reason or another, that seems to be changing. Perhaps its some combination of me figuring out how to pace myself, and my cycling muscles starting to develop.
Either way, this gives me an opportunity to focus on some bicycle base miles, something that I am sorely lacking. My running base is to the point that I can do somewhere between 10-13 miles on a whim if I wanted to, regardless of how I'm feeling on any particular day. The bike on the other hand, does not come that easily.
Hopefully a steady buildup of easyish to moderately paced rides will help fix that. I'm avoiding doing anything super hard on the bike, save hilly courses until I've got some serious mileage on my legs.
So for now, I'm more of a cyclist than a runner, but it's ok!
Last week....
Monday: 7 miles with the Fed Hill crew
Tuesday: Somewhere around 8 miles, easy with some people around Gilman
Wednesday: 38 miles on the bike, got caught in a nasty rain storm in the last few miles but navigated the winding downhills of York Rd at 30mph, the slowest I could go without excessive braking (which means crashing) successfully since I'm here and not plastered on a guard rail. Those road bike tires certainly get thin fast when the coefficient of friction between them and the road decreases.
Thursday: 7 miles, moderate pace
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Cascade Lake Du, 6.8 miles total running with warm up, 15 miles on the bike
Sunday: 14 miles, easy with some TWSS runners
Run mileage: 42.8 miles
Bike miles: 53 miles
This week....
Monday: 7 miles, Fed Hill
Tuesday: 10ish miles around Gilman
Wednesday: 30 miles on the bike, flat save a couple of hills, pushed it a little more than usual
Thursday: 24 miles on the bike, on that horrid WsW course that Adventures for the Cure has; their B course anyway. Hills, hills, hills. You know its good when you are in your lowest gear, out of the saddle, and are still grinding away just to get up a hill....
Friday: Bike to work day! 8 miles in the AM, 6.5 miles on the way back, 14.5 miles total.
Saturday: Rest. I hate rest on the weekend, it always feels like a waste, but my room is a lot cleaner than it was, so I guess I accomplished something.
Sunday: 52 miles on the bike, from my apartment in Baltimore northbound, before finishing in Timonium and Light Railing it back. Lots of hills, and a couple of detours thanks to road closures. I started getting tired after 35, which makes sense since 40 was previous long ride, and I got really, really hungry after 45, but managed to hold it together. More food next time...
Run mileage: 17 miles
Bike mileage: 120.5 miles
A bit of a jump, but the 10% rule doesn't apply to bikes anyway. My legs have a habit of getting real, real tight if I overdo the bike, so that is going to be my barometer for what I can handle. I'll stay at 50 and 120 for next week too, and maybe the week after. No rush right now.
I'd like to get to the 160-180 range, but only with a diligent buildup.
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