Starting to feel a bit like a runner again

There’s a couple of feelings I’m craving that will finally tell me I’m well on the road to recovery. One is a run where I’m not constantly monitoring how my body feels, I can just switch off and flow through the run and not worry about anything. Second is a run where I finish up and feel great, ready to head straight out again, plenty of gas in the tank. These feelings have essentially remained elusive to this point but I think there have been positive signs this week that I’m getting closer.

After getting back to Charlotte late Monday, I didn’t run again until Tuesday lunch time, which, with the time difference, meant I hadn’t run in over 48 hours. It appeared my legs had appreciated the rest as I had a far better run than any of my runs in England had been. So much so that it gave me the confidence to introduce a little bit of speedwork into the mix on Wednesday. Aaron, Jamaar and I headed over to the Dilworth speed loop and while Aaron was cranking out some 5 minute pace 800 repeats I jumped in and helped out for a minute or so at a time, ending up with over 11 minutes of running in the 5:10-20 range. Legs felt reasonable, lungs felt awful towards the end of each interval!

Another easy run today with the Dowd crew. I say easy but truth be told I was hanging off the back of the pack for most of this run even though we were hovering just around 7 minute pace throughout. Just another sign from my body that patience is key here. Tomorrow I will definitely be running solo, slower and shorter. If that goes well I intend to spin the wheels a bit again on Saturday….