July 1-7

July 1

40 minute pool running deep end

July 2

15 minutes easy, 15 minutes sub tempo, 15 minutes easy

4.76 miles, 44:32 total

I started off at a super easy jog pace and that felt surprisingly good. I then did a 15-minute harder section in the middle that was slower than expected but felt fine.

My body just can’t handle volume at quick or even steady paces right now. On Sunday, I caught myself googling the maximum daily dosage for ibuprofen, and it occurred to me that I needed to adjust things.

I want to finish my runs knowing I probably could have done more rather than wondering whether I’m setting myself back. The only way to achieve that is to slow down.

July 3

42 minutes easy, 3.99 miles on CR 250. About 500 ft. elevation gain.

This was the road I did most of my easy days this winter and I’m pretty familiar with it. If today is indicative, I’m about 15-20% slower aerobically on the uphills than I was in February. And I’m more like 30% slower than I used to be on the low-grade technical downhill.

Ankle pain 5/10. Felt fine on the uphill, but the downhill was a challenge.

July 4

5 miles in 53:29, about 600 ft. of elevation gain, CR 210

This run was slow, but it felt good.

Ankle pain 3/10.

July 5
52 minutes pool running; 30 minutes deep end, 22 shallow end

July 6

6.2 miles, 58 miles; 20 minute jog, 20 minutes moderate, 18 jog

Tried to run a little quicker for the middle 20 minutes, but it was still slow. Also ran on the road for the uptempo section, which didn’t feel great. Longest run since the recovery started, so that's progress.

CR 165, 163, 160

Ankle pain 5/10

5.58 miles in 52:31; 5 strides at the end; CR 203

Felt much better than last week. Everything's flowing easier at lower intensity.

Ankle pain 4/10

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The progression has reached the point where what I’m doing is finally starting to feel like the baby stages of “training” rather than just jogging. The plan is gradually build easy miles, five days a week, with one day a week alternating subtempo/light fartlek and a couple of days with light strides. Nothing special. I'll probably keep this up for 6-8 weeks before trying to fit it anything else.