After finally working my way of running 8+ miles at a solid pace, I hurt myself.
I had been leading up to longer runs for about 2 weeks straight and then on a run I tried to max out a half mile about 6 miles into a workout. I ran a 2:33 but I could tell that my lower Achilles felt off. I slow jogged home and by that night I knew I was going to need some time off.
I didn’t run for the next week and now I’m sitting here two weeks later trying to get back to where I was. I’m not quite there but getting close. My theory is that after 1 week of taking off from running, you lose 2 weeks of training (I’m sure I picked this up from somewhere but we’ll just call it my theory). I notice that I feel slower, fatter, and my endurance is noticeably worse as I breath heavier running slower. So it goes.
I ended up purchasing a new pair of shoes called the Altra Torin 2.0. I went out for a run today over the Ben Franklin bridge and decided to time trial myself across. If the bridge is 1.5 miles long, I ran it today in 8:08 which was about 5.23 pace. It’s obviously not an exact time but I’m getting back to where I was.
It sucks having to come back from injury because you always start weaker and slower. It’s a slow trudge back but always worth it in the end.
Altra Torin 2.0 “Max Douglas limited release”
I know you’ve been training the same way for 10+ years, but my advice would be to do more runs (miles) with only one or two a week being “hard” as opposed to only a few runs a week, with all of them hard. You’ll be less injury prone and it could be a breakthrough in terms of performance!
Sam,
Do you think I win the beach run every year because I labor over 15 mile runs at 7:30 pace? No. I hit it hard with 3-5 mile runs trying to PR every single time I take to the streets. My injury record is practically flawless except for the time I broke my ankle running home drunk from Mad River and the other time I twisted my knee playing football.
In all honesty, I don’t enjoy runs upwards of 8 miles. It’s boring. The only part that keeps my attention is racing myself against…myself. Maybe when I get older and slower I’ll take your advice. How’s your back?
You don’t have to do 15 mile runs. You don’t even have to do 8 mile runs. If you just ran 6-7 miles a run, for 5 runs a week, then did one workout a week, I bet you’d see a noticeable improvement in performance!
The back is great! When I crank out my 4:29 mile, it will be from the 60 mile weeks!!