Slow build

Almost 2 months without blogging and 28 weeks post-surgery. It's been a good 2 months. Slow, steady building of volume, sometimes slower than I'd expected, but on the whole, progress.

My goal has been to add mileage without speed, get up to a healthy weekly total and then add some easy speed--- fartleks and the like. That's still the plan, but I can't decide when to start the speedwork. 20, 25, 30, 35 miles/week? Right now I'm at around 20 miles/week. I run 5 times a week---

Monday: easy (22.5 minutes or 2.5 miles)
Tuesday: circuit at the UT track (42.5 min or 4.5 miles)
Wed: easy (22.5 min or 2.5 miles)
Thurs: trail run (4.5 miles, 1st/Mopac loop on trail)
Friday: rest or bike
Sat: long (47.5 min or 6 miles)
Sun: bike

Work has been kicking my ass, so I've been running a bunch at night. No time for the gym. But the schedule has been working for me. I try to add 10 minutes of volume each week, but negotiate based on how I feel, slow down the pace if I have to, to get the volume without pissing off the hip. Volume is time-based instead of distance, which has been good for me to keep the pace in check. I aim for 8:30 pace, but lately I've been dropping below 8:00. As long as it doesn't feel bad the day after, I'll keep it up. I've been biking with the Jack & Adams group on Sundays-- usually riding between 40 and 50 miles. I've also been doing a super-recovery week every 5th week where I cut the volume in half. Here are my 5 weeks:

Week 1: build (add 10 minutes of volume, spread evenly (more or less) across 5 workouts)
Week 2: build (10 minutes)
Week 3: build (10 minutes)
Week 4: Recover (50% volume of week 3)
Week 5: Repeat week 3's volume
(repeat)

My long run right now is 47.5 minutes. I've had problems with it, feeling sore the day after, so I've recently introduced walk breaks to break it up, recover a little during the run. I'm trying to focus on muscle endurance, so walk breaks are no biggee, even though it kills me to walk. But the walk breaks have helped-- last Sunday I felt fine after running about 6 miles on Sat.

Being patient is often difficult. Part of me believes that one day I'll be "recovered" and I can run the way I did pre-injury, but another part of me knows this may never happen. It's the latter part of me (the smart part) that's difficult and frustrating to listen to. But I know what the alternative feels like, and it keeps the frustration at bay. for the most part.

I've found that a consistent schedule is important-- it helps me recognize when I'm doing too much-- I can compare to how I felt last week or the week before-- so I can adjust earlier, keep from going into the weeds.

Of course, I like the numbers (can you tell?), and this recovery plan works out to about 3 extra miles of weekly mileage every month. So 20 miles this week, 38 or so miles in December, 6 mo from now. That's exciting-- 1 year after surgery and I could be at around 40 miles/week, only 7 miles shy of my all-time weekly mileage high score.

Will it happen? Check back in 6 months..... heh, but I'm hoping to be better about blogging.... Fartleks July 16-- it's on my calendar, the start of my speedwork. I'll be sure to blog about that....

If you are reading this, I would love to hear from you-- just say hey in the comments.