The Day Before the Dial Switches

Today I was tired , but I still was happy just to be able to get out and enjoy the morning. I was a bit slower today, but that’s ok. I did 3.61 in 2:05:59 for an 18:14 minute per mile pace. Lord willing tomorrow I start doing the same loop while adding Apple Court basic. Have a blessed day!

Cool and Overcast : Day 7

I headed out the door a bit tired, but for once I was glad that I wasn’t speed walking. Just able to walk and enjoy my surroundings. The bright colors or spring exploding through the drab of the drizzle. Even though I am not 100 percent, I am hopeful that on Saturday morning that I should be able to add  the distance— albeit somewhat gradually. I did 3.61 miles in 1:03:31 for a 17:33 minute per mile pace. I watched the movie Aladdin with our select group of 6th and 7th graders. So grateful to be able to do what I can right now. God Bless!

Patience

It has been nice having a more normal morning started off with a Bible reading and a walk. Thankfully, I have managed 6 days in a row. Yesterday 3.65 miles and today at 3.65 mile. I did just over 18 minutes a mile yesterday with today being just over 17 minutes per mile. My leg is still a little stiff after sitting for a bit. My knee just feels a little off, but there is no pain. So I am enjoying where I am at. The key is getting to the point where you can workout without pain and without feeling worse off because you did the workout. My vacation week when I did the long easy 9 milers, I could complete the workout without pain, but I always paid the price afterwards with stiffness and throbbing. The goal is to do this through Friday and the starting Saturday to add going down Apple Court and back adding on to my loop.  All subject to how the leg is holding up, and allowing for needed changes. Have a blessed day! Nice cool breezy overcast spring morning here. Weight just under 200– time to get it back to the 195 on Sunday.

4 Days

I haven’t blogged lately, as I didn’t really have a clearly defined plan. I overall tried to stick to the plan mentioned two blogs ago.  Within that frame I look for opportunities to push forward when possible without doing two steps backwards. A week ago Sunday my legs felt ok, even did a set of hex bar deadlifts the night before. I decided to do the Greenway trail before church. I did ok and moved along smoothly, yet I felt that things weren’t quite rite. Just before mile 6 I felt a twinge of pain inside my inner left knee. I would have stopped it there if I had been on a track— but I still had nearly 2 miles to go. I walked and finished ok, but I knew that this was a setback. The day before I was walking normally and now I was back to the drawing board. I did ice and ibuprofen and stuck to ab and upper body stuff. By Tuesday the acute pain had subsided. By Wednesday I felt like I had the previous Friday. On Thursday I felt as if my leg was back to where it was last Saturday. On Friday, after coming home from visiting my father in law at the hospital— I walked the Ridge Road loop which is roughly 3.5 miles. I felt none of the soreness that had followed my other walks. I mean, there was and is a little stiffness. My leg is not close to 100 percent, but it is good enough to walk normally for 3.5 miles without pain— that’s progress. My goal is to do this loop and variations of it for a week through this Friday. The plan is to increase by .5 miles or 1 mile the distance for the next week. The goal is to get strength back in the leg without overtaxing and hurting the leg. For now, I know my leg is not back. I am grateful to do some training without pain. That is a true blessing. God is teaching me and God is using me.
 Even though I am blogging about my training, I realize that there are many other bigger things going on in my life. I am so grateful to be at this point. Thank you Jesus.

Improvement

Thankfully this week I have been back to all my strength training including the hex bar deadlifts as mentioned yesterday.  Yesterday I met my move goal— mowing , walking, and using the balance board helped me to achieve my objective. Just kind of playing,, around to meet the objective. I want to make sure it is healed to the point where the pounding of mile after mile will not aggravate it. For now I am just doing abs every day and cutting back on my food intake. I am basically piece mealing the workload so that my calf is not overtaxed. Kind of feeling my way through, looking to long-term gains, and enjoying the change of venue. Have a blessed day!

Another little step

I came to a realization yesterday, that just resting is not a solution. I mean for the week I still do not plan on training by speed walking. I am trying to get my steps over 10. I have plenty of stamina to do more steps , but I want to get to the point where the injury is not overtaxed but that I am moving. I did hex bar deadlifts for a set of 12 with 225 pounds. It’s kind of counterintuitive, but I felt like I still need to work the muscles as long as the injury is not aggravated. I went for a little walk last night to get my steps up. I also iced my leg again for 20 minutes. Keeping up with the strength word and am doing ab work every day instead of just 5 days. Trying to be the correct mixture of planned and intuitive. Being kind of lazy when I wake up— enjoying that for now.

Mending

I have not posted mainly because I’ve been busy, but not with my speed walking. My wife and even the school nurse noticed my limp. When I get moving around and warmed up I can function mostly normally.  I’ve known that my lower hamstring and upper calf have been not normal. I was able to compensate and hide the injury. I have tried training throughout the issue, but that has only hurt the heeling process. So begrudgingly I have stopped my early morning workouts.  In a sense my workouts are like a drug that help me deal with stress and feel good in general. I believe the Lord allows me to go through these times to draw me to Himself. Even though I miss my workouts, I realize that unless I take the time to heal then I won’t be able to train like I want. I had a similar injury years ago when I was on Third Street. Thankfully, I believe that this injury is not nearly as serious, although I am about 14 years older. I am grateful for strength training and ab work. I have been able to get in over 10 thousand steps. Got to go for now. I will attempt to blog. Right now my goal is to take at least one week off. It could be two weeks— who knows. Have a blessed day!