Thoughts on returning to regular running after a long break

I've run a marathon before. I've done a 21-mile trail race before (and won)... a nice handful of 5Ks and 10Ks and not one, not two, but THREE half marathons. So I guess you could call me a "runner," whatever that means.

But I don't think I'm an endurance runner. Yet.

I still have lofty goals in that department.

Even while I focused on cycling this past June-July, my heart was never 100% in with bike racing - I always thought back to running and made it a point to run at least one or two times a week to maintain the structural fitness of my ligaments/tendons/bone density. Maybe I couldn't get into bike racing because of some combination of never having been on a real cycling "team" or not ever having a coach or not having the full grasp on what structured training for cycling looks like. But my main excuse?: I didn't really like how competitive and unbalanced I felt mentally. The pain train feels great in the moment - and women's cycling specifically has a relatively healthy level of competitiveness (great community, great people, sort of a grassroots movement type of feel) - but for all I become... well, it's hard to describe. It's my feeling that the two different sports bring out different aspects of my personality - and I like the "runner" Andrea better than the "biker" Andrea... so far.

So here I am now. It's time to get back to "runner" Andrea. But it's been about 4 months since the Yosemite Half Marathon. I need to build up my mileage and run frequency again. It's a different challenge than before and here are some thoughts I've had to help orient my training mindset -

1. Don't be overconfident just because you were once able to put in 50mpw.
2. I still feel weak, aerobically. This is a good time to get back into base building.
3. I've lost some structural fitness and hardiness while I wasn't running, so be diligent with injury prevention.
4. Avoid comparing your paces to everyone else!

Last week I threw down 20 mpw, a good baseline amount. But let me tell you - every run just plain sucked. I felt so sluggish and my cadence was low by my standards (170spm). Every time I had a run scheduled for the day, I really did NOT want to run and put it off for as long as my schedule allowed. I forced myself to check off the boxes. 

I think that there must be a period of time when you're returning after a long break where these general feelings of unpleasantness are basically prerequisites to a comeback. We might not expect it because we remember all the good things from when we were in the thick of training and improving, pushing limits, and hitting your goal race with full force. We don't expect running to suck. But suck it must. And then you get past the threshold. And the upward trajectory begins until it starts to undulate again. Such is life.

I'm just starting to get past the threshold of unpleasantness. Today, I unexpectedly felt a spring in my step while running (despite really NOT wanting to run beforehand). My body felt good and my cadence felt like it was returning. But I'm still "slow" at the heart rate I usually train at (an arbitrary HR<=150bpm). Sometimes I see my friends on Strava throwing down all these great runs at a fast pace (for me, that'd be anything below 7:45min/mi). I'm tempted to go faster sometimes.... but then I think back and I know I've proven myself to be "fast" when the situation calls for it. I'm not at the peak of my fitness right now - so why waste runs on trying to whisk up faster paced runs that put me at risk for injury? Trust your training philosophy. Build the mileage base up first and you will soon be putting in some excelente tempo runs and speed workouts. :)

Lodoga/Leesville Road Race 2017

This race was in July and it is now 5-6 weeks later... so I'll keep it short. The TLDR is I won second place and it was pretty cool but I also strained a foot tendon and that super sucked.

---

It was unexpected, but I placed 2nd out of 7 in the W4/5 field of Lodoga's long and brutal road race. A wide margin between me and the person in front of me but still pretty cool nonetheless!

While women's cycling is still catching fire, it's a bit easier to snag podium spots with smaller fields and a high barrier to entry (i.e. expensive bikes and expensive gear) than it is with, say, running. However, this race was no joke. With temperatures spiking above 100 degrees Farenheit during a 3 mile 8% climb and major headwinds on the flat return trip, this was a challenging race - maybe even more than Pescadero! There was less climbing but more miles and a wider spread of riders. Plus, the headwinds were DEFINITELY felt. 

The feed zone was not far from the bottom of the Sites-Lodoga climb and there were not many people helping the women out going up. Luckily, my boyfriend made it to give me my cold water bottle and was also there when I was all alone on the return. Bringing water in a cooler and a boyfriend who supported me was... a... good idea...

As I was left all alone on the final flat 15 miles into headwinds, I definitely felt pretty demoralized. I had no inkling on where I was place-wise and I didn't care. Unfortunately, during the return, I was also experiencing some intense right foot pain, to a higher degree than I had experienced before. I thought I might have heard something snap - but I kept forging through. The only thing that kept me going was knowing that Marvin would be there at the end and that the pain would be over soon and I'd be out of the heat. It was hard because normally on flats, I could push 19-20mph, but into the headwinds, all by myself, I was hitting 16. Each mile that ticked by was the longest that I'd ever biked.

Finally, with about 25 minutes to go (or about 5 miles), I told myself: okay, this is like running a really hard 5K effort. Just go for it! It will be over soon! With two miles left, and at the final turn, I looked behind me and saw someone behind me! That freaked me out because I thought I had generated a lot of distance between me and the next person. Looking back, I realized that it was hard to judge distance on these endless flats (and in the heat), but I must have thought in the moment that the person was less than half a mile away. So I gunned it as hard as I could and told myself this is like running a really hard one-mile effort. The minutes ticked by. I kept looking back for the person behind me but never saw her. At that point, I was thinking that I might've been delirious and imagined that person... I honestly thought I might've been crazy because of the pain from my foot and the heat getting to my head.

Finally. I crossed the finished line and nodded at the person writing down our bib numbers.

It was then I finally felt the pain in my foot full throttle. It hurt like hell. And I began pedaling with only one leg because of the pain. There was still about 2 miles of spinning to Williams High School where the race was staged. I honestly thought I might not be able to make it. But I got back somehow and collapsed on the grass and yelled at Marvin to get me water and cold things and gatorade. 

Sigh, biking turns me into a crazy person. And also someone who hurts herself for race efforts.

But... 2nd place! First podium! Yay?!