This has been on the planning board for several months. The whole project. It’s estimated to last a few months – if there are no delays. Apparently it’s overdue, as many things have pointed towards a need to return to the condition they should be in.
This could be a report on the Blue Heron bridge, which is reduced to two lanes as the westbound side gets repairs and repainting.
It’s really a report on me, looking to rebuild after some sore injury that has been with me since February. I am repairing myself and my fitness.
I’ve become a passenger on John Strahley’s training schedule, shadowing him on his runs as he trains for a BQ2 Last chance race in Geneva, IL. I can do the mileage, the paces and the recovery. But building up from no runs and all air conditioned gym elliptical action came quickly. My right high hamstring and glute suffered a derailment while doing runs with Rachel Bachmann as she trained for the A1A Marathon. I ran that February race conservatively in 3:50. I did plenty of elliptical and so little running to allow for the healing to occur and the soreness to die down. I eventually could run but still chose more elliptical. I know these injuries take 3-6 mos to heal. I want it to fully cure, not be a recurring thing.
I ran the London Marathon in April with little real running in the bank. I stayed with Maria pacing the 3:35 group and Rachel Picciano. I ran well with them until mile 21, when I felt soreness on that side in that spot – the back of my butt on the right. I slowed and did walks through the water stops and finished again in a 3:50 time.
I took two weeks off completely from running and began rebuilding again. I wanted to do a six to eight week 5k series of workouts, but that wasn’t happening. I wasn’t willing to risk the speed running with further damage to whatever had already healed. I built some base miles in May, started including myself in more of the regular group runs, and saw improvement. Oddly I noticed that as the soreness went away in my affected area, I would then only feel the odd dull pain when driving my VW Beetle. The seat is low and my legs are stretched out, that position wasn’t agreeing with whatever was going on in my upper hamstring area. So I began using a pad on the seat of that car which helps. Above all though, it was healing. This was encouraging.
I received news from Angela Crawford that she is unable to do the October 29th Marine Corps Marathon due to a recent knee surgery. So I was able to use her bib and race as me for a $55 change fee. This coincided with the start of John’s training program for the BQ2 race. My miles per week increased from 30 to 40 to in the 50s. I was in proper condition for this as I went to the gym each day for an hour of elliptical and stretching on the big floor mats. This rebuilding process was working and and still is!
Today’s Blue Heron bridge workout was to run a 1.5 mile warmup, 8 repeats of 3 minutes run at a hard pace, and a 1.5 mile cooldown. I hadn’t done a serious hill run in probably a year I surmised. Hills or the bridge weren’t any part of training for flat Berlin last summer. I was light on training after that race, which was a nice controlled 3:13 race in good temps. I didn’t do much between that race and last November’s Space Coast half pacing run and the Palm Beach Marathon in December. So today’s run with John was a wake up. I did it, all healthy, and I was glad at the end.
I’m on the way back to regular fitness. It’s still going to be awhile before I can leap for a PR at any distance, but I’m in a good groove and a good headspace for that kind of necessary growth. The Blue Heron Bridge construction will be done before I’m ready to be fast again. But I’m ok on those facts!
-dm
drun4fun 