I skipped last month's update because I've been so frustrated, disappointed and depressed with my running and (lack of) progress. I've never had a muscular injury linger and take so long to heal as this hamstring has. I've been back to running a while now, but kept having nagging discomfort, when I had a thought about what might be going on and ran an experiment to confirm it.
I'd been using run/walk intervals to slowly build back my fitness, but it struck me that the continual transitions between running and walking were actually increasing the strain on my hamstring through the braking and accelerating processes rather than providing a beneficial effect. I ran a few easy runs without intervals and the hamstring discomfort went away! But hoo boy, am I out of shape.
I'll be honest, the combination of weight picked up during the recovery process, how far out of shape I've fallen and the effort it's taking trying to ramp up my efforts in T+Ds almost entirely in the 155-170 range have had me thinking about giving running up entirely. There's just no joy in it right now. What has been a major stress reliever and escape from work stresses has become just another source of stress.
But here I am, trying to stick through it and hold myself accountable by posting my numbers for the month. I'm about 700 miles below where I should be for the year. Hopefully a corner has been turned and I can start ramping back towards my normal volume in July, but I desperately need a cool snap. Here's what I got done in June:
June Training
Running: 64.55 miles
Avg Pace: I can't bring myself to look
Avg HR: All available BPM
YTD Running: 216.78 miles
Walking: 22.55 miles
Thank you for coming to my self-pity party. I know many of you have had (and still have) it worse than I do. I'll work on being more positive in July.