I apologize for the technical difficulties I’ve been having the last 2 days on the blog. I think we have gotten the issue figured out, but I am working to switch web hosts here sometime this week which I am hoping will help solve some of my issues. This will be on the only post coming at you today since it is WAY late. I hope to be back to my normal schedule tomorrow.

 

Hello Monday! We meet again.

I can’t believe how quickly my weekend went by. I feel like I was JUST typing up a post about how excited I was for the weekend. Needless to say Monday is here wether we like it or not.

 

Back tracking to yesterday I did end up getting a workout in.

Wes ran to the gym and wanted to finish his workout on the treadmill so I met him there with a change of clothes and decided I would get some cross training recovery in.

 

I opted for just over 60 minutes on the arc trainer.

I had flashbacks the whole time of when I was in the very beginning of my return to cross training during my injury. It was a good workout though, not too tough but just enough to get my heart rate up.

 

I also have lived in my new McDavid compression pants all day. I really wanted my legs to be recovered by today from the 8 miles I did on Saturday and the strength training that left me pretty sore all weekend.

I am having a full review (and maybe something special for you all hint hint) coming up soon of these compression pants! They are awesome.

 

I thought I would share with you my progression the past three weeks since I officially got off the injured train and started getting back into running.

It has been a slow progression but I’ve been really happy with how my body has been responding so far.

 

 

Week 1

I totaled 20 miles during my first week really running again. Please keep in mind that for several weeks prior to this I was doing some easy intervals and slowly getting my body and legs ready to run again.  I was not going in cold.

I still did 1 interval run during this week (Tuesday) but the rest of the days I stuck to 3 miles (Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday).  On Saturday I ran 6 miles total but did these miles very slow and easy. I also took 2 rest days.

In terms of pace during this week I stuck to around a 10:00 – 9:50 min/mile. I really am not concerned about pace starting off and am just working on getting used to running again.

I spun way too much during week (discussed here), and it took me a few weeks and a complete burn out to get my on a better routine for my body.

 

Week 2

Week 2 started out much like the first week. I ran a total of 21 miles. I stuck to my 3 miles on Monday and Thursday, but added in one extra mile on my Wednesday run for a total of 4 miles.

I kept 1 day of interval running on Tuesday and ran 6 miles again on Saturday.  The only real difference in my training during week 2 is I did push my pace up a little bit.  The runs would all start around the same pace but as it progressed I would slowly work my way down to around a 9:30 pace. It is nothing crazy but it just added a little something different.

I still was spinning way too much during week 2, but needless to say it was important to still get some form of cross training in.

 

Week 3

This past week I finally figured out a good routine for my body and was able to even things out a bit. I increased my running and did a total of just over 24 miles.

Throughout the week I alternated between 3 miles and 4 miles. I kept most of these miles easy, but just as I did in week 2 near the end of the workout I would work my pace down some this week ending around a 9:15 (which I only did once).  The big change this week was my “long” run on Saturday of 8 miles. I was super nervous going into it but in the end felt really strong.

I finally got a hold of my cross training and as you can see from the statistics it was much more spread out. I cut down my biking time, added in walking on most days, and even though it is not shown on here added in about 25-30 minutes of strength training on 4 days. My body adjusted very well to having a variety of exercise.

 

As you can see it has taken me a few weeks to really figure out what is working for me but I am getting there.

 

Here are some of my goals for Week 4:

-Keep overall mileage about the same

-Keep pacing the same. At this point I am not worried about speed, but I do like to see where my body is at. I won’t push it anymore than I did last week.

-Stick to a variety of spinning, walking, and elliptical for cross training.

-Continue strength training

-Keep focus on my nutrition

-Cut back some on cross training. My body has responded well to the change up in my cross training, but I plan to actually cut back on the spinning some this week.

 

Please note these are simply what I have been doing, and are not meant to be replicated. Training is based on your individual body. I have made some mistakes along the way, but I like to share honestly my training (even the bad parts) so please take this in stride.

 

Overall there won’t be much changing during week 4, but the key right now is to keep myself healthy and ease back into running slowly. I will gradually increase my mileage but for right now that will be a very slow progress.

 

When you are increasing your mileage, how slow do you take it?

Did you try anything different this week?