Monday, July 23, 2012

Back in the game!

Hello, World.

Yet again, just putting it out there that I am still running. I won't bore anyone with the details of the rest of June and first half of July--- they were pretty uneventful. I kept up my run/walk, with recovery/cross-training days in between. I did stretches and things more. I listened to my body and tried not to overdo any of my workouts, hoping it would all give my ankle a good chance at healing. And guess what?? All that slowdown, the running only 2-3 days a week, the PT stretching, the caution---- it worked! My ankle has felt pretty much no pain over the last 2 weeks. That first pain free week, I ran 3 days, totaling like 16 miles. Then last week, we decided to see how my legs would handle adding in 2 more days of running, just light days. So last week went as follows:

Monday: 5 miles
Tuesday: 2 miles run, 1 mile walk cooldown
Wednesday: 4 miles
Thursday: off
Friday: 2 miles
Saturday: 7 miles

Such a good week! And I hit 20 miles! The ankle was just fine and dandy. My leg felt slightly wobbly after a mile and a half on Tuesday, hence the 1 mile walk at the end. (Look at me, being all thoughtful and flexible in my running!) Another accomplishment: I have reconciled myself with the idea of settling into a slow and comfortable pace for the vast majority of my running, which through this healing/growing belly process has been 10 min miles. It took time to accept this and feel good about it, but I am in a happy place now. Just loving the fact that I am going into my 3rd trimester (currently 28.5 weeks along) feeling this way, running these miles, and feeling optimistic about what is to come.

So, moral of the story, you can overcome minor injuries in pregnancy if you are flexible and careful about your training. And then you can feel good running again. It is possible!