Well, I fell off the bandwagon. Hard. But I am back, and have every intention to be more consistent with posting here again, so here we are! The last thing I talked about was my return to running, in The Plantar Fasciitis Saga post. I was doing my run/walk intervals every other day on the indoor track here at Western Colorado University, maintaining a greater patience than I think I ever have in my life. I am more than happy to say that this build back has been going incredibly well!
Last week I was able to build up to 45 miles (ended up being 47) and this week will be on track for 50. My plan is to continue with these five-ish mile increases every week until I am back at my goal mileage to hold through base training (TBD, but ideally somewhere between 80-90 miles). I started out staying on the roads and on flat dirt paths, but as the weather out here in Colorado has turned warmer and the trails have begun to dry, I have been venturing out onto some single-track as well. I was nervous for the first trail run I did back since uneven footing typically caused my foot pain to flare up during this injury bout, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had no pain or tightness throughout the plantar either during or after the run.
Getting back out on the trails and building more normal running mileage again has me feeling like my most authentic self. I am happy when I am out there and feel like I can simply enjoy the flowy, rhythmic movement of navigating the trail. This is the first time I have actually done trail runs with Ilios too, and his company has only made the experience even more joyous and fulfilling. The trails are a place where I can safely let Ilios off his leash to be free and just exist as the playful and curious pup that he is. Trail running with Ilios at my side has been a literal dream of mine ever since I adopted him, and it has finally come to fruition. He's even been learning how to stay right at my heel when I ask him to, which has been great practice for him in learning to control his impulses.
Now that I seem to be in the clear from this injury, I have been asked quite a few times what my race plans are moving forward. For the time being though, I have no specific race dates. My goal of creating a good, solid base of mileage is still in the works, and I have no intention to try and rush anything further. I do however have a loose plan floating around in my head which is to finally debut in the marathon, likely in either CIM or Houston this year, with some fun tune-up races sprinkled throughout the training cycle. I am most definitely not done being competitive yet, and have some specific PRs and time goals I will be working towards ;)
Life recently has felt like a bit of whirlwind and I have a lot more updates I could discuss, but I will save all that information for a later time. For now at least, this is what has been going on with me in terms of my running. Lots of exciting things ahead though, and I'm antsy to share as plans continue to unfold.
-Lex