Workout Journal: Running Far and Fast

I’ve been wanting to get back into endurance shape, mainly running, but I have not been willing to put the work in. I’ve been telling myself a number of excuses that have kept me from doing it. All of them sounding legit and very believable.

My main excuse was that I didn’t want to give up strength training. My first true love. Even as I write this, all I can think about is that there is no comparison to the feeling of lifting weights. Something about it feels almost primal to me. But it’s that love and unwillingness to give it up that was also keeping me from getting back into running.

At the time I really started thinking about getting back into endurance training, I was lifting a minimum of 3, but more typically 4 days per week. Hard sessions too. So it left no time or energy to also build my running endurance. Whenever I went for a run I was too sore and my leg muscles were too fatigued to be able to make any progress.

The second excuse I told myself had to do with the injury I sustained a few years ago and never fully recovered from. It was an injury to the achilles tendon on my left foot, that became a chronic hip flexor, glute medius, lower back, and psoas injury on my right side. The pain I often experienced after running was always enough to make me think twice before my next run.

The third excuse was part of my ego. Before I ever got injured I could run fast. Sub 7 minute miles over a long distance was the norm for me. But now I’m lucky if I can run sub 9 minute miles for 3 miles. My run gait is too labored to get up to those old speeds.

But despite these excuses I wanted to so badly be able to walk out my door and go for a run. I wanted so badly to get back into a consistent pattern of running. While weight training is my first true love, running, especially over long distances at high speeds, is a very, very, very, close second. The high you experience after a good run is everything. And I desperately wanted to get back there. So, a few weeks ago I finally said fuck it, and started back on the road to running.

A few things did help me finally pull the trigger though. One, all that regular heavy lifting over the prior 2+ years finally got me burnt out. All of a sudden I found myself unable to imagine lifting weights. Just the thought of it made me tired and made my body ache. I needed a break. Plus, winter in Colorado rolled around and my garage gym became almost unbearable to hangout in and do a workout. It turned into a very different atmosphere than the one I had gotten used to over the warm spring, summer, and fall months, working out with the garage door open, the sun shining through.

Second, my injuries started to feel better, thanks in large part to a kettlebell class I started taking with the world renowned trainer Beth Lewis. The predominant exercises in the class are kettlebell swings and Turkish get ups. By learning the techniques and good form needed for these exercises, my mobility and range of motion began to improve, and a lot of my pain started to alleviate in the process. I discovered that one of my main issues was that I could not properly hip hinge, which meant that I was loading wrong, and by loading my weight incorrectly, I was causing issues throughout my body. These class began to correct that.

Lastly, I stopped worrying about being fast. I stopped worrying about running far. I remembered a saying I heard years ago. In order to run fast, first  you have to be able to run far. So, I went back to an old challenge my buddies and I did a few years ago. 30 days of 5k. Every day for 30 straight days you run at least a 5k. I modeled my new program around that. Not looking at the time, and not worrying about the distance. As long as it takes to run 5k, and stopping right there.

It’s been a few weeks now, and I’ve been consistently running 5 - 6 days per week, and I fucking love it. In total I’m hitting about 16 - 20 miles per week, averaging maybe 9:30 min/mile, and I feel good. I run even when it’s 0 degrees outside or when it’s snowing. Since I know it’s just ~30 minutes I’ll be outside it’s easy to convince myself to get out and do it. 

I’m still not lifting weights the way I was. Instead I’m working my kettlebells technique twice per week to supplement my running. Skiing or hiking when I get the chance. I’m thoroughly enjoying it, and I’m hoping that by the time the summer rolls around, I’ll have built up enough endurance to run far, and eventually run fast.

What Can You Do?

Flipping the script from can’t to can.

So often we focus on what we can’t do without thinking about all the things we can do. And we let this train of thought limit us. For me I’ve been focusing on my inability to run (without pain). 

At the end of 2019 I suffered an injury (while running) and I never let it properly heal. I backed off of running, but I pushed other aspects of my fitness (hiking, cycling and lifting weights) as hard as I ever have to make up for it. The result? 4 years later the injury still impacts me and has affected my ability to run pain free. 

The last time I ran pain free was the day I got injured, just moments before feeling the pop in my Achilles. Since then it’s been labored run after labored run. I started to trail run to ease the impact. It helped, but not enough. No matter what, getting out of bed the morning after a run was always met with terrible pain. But I kept running, even thought I couldn’t do it. 

Part of it was mental. Leading up to the injury I had been racing in endurance events, so being unable to run felt like a loss and I couldn’t help but consistently grieve about it. The other part was physical. Without getting a good long run it I just didn’t feel like I was working.

It took over my life. But I never really looked for alternative. I just kept pounding my head against the running wall. Until recently…

I’ve finally stopped trying to run the way I was. Instead I’ve found or rediscovered activities that I can do instead. Hiking. Walking on a treadmill on a steady incline. The assault bike. Rower. These changes have had tremendous benefits for my overall fitness and mental health.

Physically I’m seeing progress again for the first time in a long time. I feel stronger since I’m no longer in pain, injured and inflamed. I also enjoy the other activities I’m now focused on and it’s given me a wider variety of exercises to get better at.

Mentally I don’t spend all day worrying about my injury and how I’m going to fix it. Stopping to stretch or foam roll in the middle of a conversation or while watching TV. I don’t think about when I’ll be outside running pain free again.

Instead I just focus on what I can do and it’s been healing. 

It’s flipped my mindset out of the victim mentally, choosing instead to worry about the things I can control. It doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten about running or that I don’t have goals of ever getting back to running. It just means I’m choosing to focus on the opportunity to do what I’m capable of right now. And to let my body heal. 

What are you focusing on not being able to do? How is it holding you back? What could you do to achieve similar results? How might the latter influence the former?