Alright I'm a day early, but here it is another month and the year is almost over - let's finish it strong. Share your running here with all of us from all walks of the running spectrum. 1 mile, 5K, 10K - we don't care RUN!!!!
My goal this month is to try and participate in the thread a bit better. I've been a little off the map, but running all the while. Been running less while nursing a few injuries and gearing up for my next training cycle and now I can't delay anymore. Today marks my first "official" day of training for the LA Marathon in March - and wouldn't you know it - I'm going to miss today's 3 miler LOL! Great way to start off. The story is that I ran a fabulous 7 miler yesterday and then spent 8 hours walking around at Disneyland and waking up at 4 am for a 3 miler was just not happening today. And I won't be able to make it up after work being Halloween and having a 3 year old that has to show the neighborhood his awesome costume. It's the third time I've started this training, I can't remembered why I restarted the first time, but this last time was due to injury.
My injury update is pretty good. Things aren't 100%, but am seeing a lot progress. So I think my strategies of incorporating lots of stretching (in the almost 2 years I've been running I've never stretched), foam rolling, sticking, changing my route to include hills only 2xs a week instead of 4xs, spinning, resting when necessary and pulling a run early if there's pain is working. It's a lot of work, but I think I'm realizing I'm not as young as I used to be and being a long distance runner is more than just running. It's such a learning process. My next thing will be ice baths - burrrrr!
So my next running focus is going to be on fueling strategies and recovery strategies. I need to determine at what point I must eat prior to running (at this point up to 15 miles with no food) and at what point I must include fuel during a run (at this point I'm gooing ever 5 miles for runs 10 miles or more). Additionally, at what point do I need the recovery drinks. There's so much info out there I've finally just learned it's all personal preference. Sure there's science there, but so much of it is conflicting, so I'll just focus on what works for me.
So that it for me today - happy running!