Back from Vacation, and maybe back to running soon?

I’ve been remiss in my blogging. I went on vacation and got out of my routine, and oh, how hard it is to get back to it!

As an update on my vacation – it was fantastic. We went to Switzerland and Iceland, via the Iceland Air Stopover program. Each country is stunningly beautiful in its own way. I wish I could be back there now!

As an update on my running – it’s not going so well. I continued to run and train on vacation, but in retrospect, that wasn’t my best idea.

Here’s the thing – remember how I took time off in July because of Achilles’ tendon problems? Well, I got back to running regularly in August, and then ran a pair of back-to-back races at the end of the month. Those races irritated my Achilles’ again. I think a large part of the problem was the 4 mile race I run had some significant hills and hills put more strain on the body.

I hit the KT tape hard, and the tendon flare up after those races seemed to heel up right quick. But then I went to Switzerland. And the Alps are more than mere hills. After four days in the mountains, I ran a track workout in Lausanne and that was the beginning of the end.

I got through the workout, but I knew something was wrong. You know you are desperate when you take to “foam” rolling your calf on a wine bottle wrapped in a towel. Ouch.

Even with the wine rolling, things only got worse, and 10 minutes into a lactic threshold workout a few days later I had to call it and hobble back to our hotel in Reykjavik.

I took a couple days off and when I got back home I started tackling the Achilles’ issue with everything I had – KT tape, friction massage, acupuncture and Active Release Technique. I got to the point where easy miles felt okay, but any attempt at speed didn’t feel so great.

This is where I made another bad decision: I was going to race the Bronx 10 Miler on September 25, no matter what. Why? My running team was just barely out of 3^rd place and needed a good showing to move up. (Spoiler: we did move up – we are now tied for 3^rd, but they didn’t need me to do it. Womp.)

Anyway, full race recap will follow, but moral of the story is racing on an iffy tendon is bad. I kept myself in check and didn’t race all-out because I knew if I did I’d have to call it quits mid-race just like I had to do during my lactic threshold workout in Reykjavik. However, that doesn’t mean I took it easy.

I succeed in my goal in that I made it across the finish line at a decent pace, finishing in just over 1:07 – a 6:44 pace – but when I stopped I could only hobble. A cool down was totally out of the question.

With the race behind me, I was able to make a hard decision – I needed to take more time off. 10 days, to be exact. I also made the decision to get back to running slowly – to rushing back into workout or back into racing. That means nothing but easy miles for at least the next month. It’s boring, but I think necessary.

I am happy to report that I ran 2 miles this morning at an 8:48 pace, taking it nice and easy. My Achilles’ tendon felt a little achy right at the heel, but that’s several inches lower than where it was bothering me before, so I’m hoping that’s nothing to be concerned about.

I’ll try a couple more miles in a few days, and then I’ll update you on my racing plan going forward.

 

Run healthy.

KK