It’s been a while since I have taken the helm and posted an update. Truth is, between work and the fact that I can train again, I’m whooped at the end of the day and hold the couch to the floor for an hour or so before heading off to bed.
The middle of August I was given the o.k. to start running, just a little bit at a time, i.e. 20 min. As I was building my running back up, I started to Mtn. Bike again for the first time since 2003. Mtn. Biking had been one of the extra curricular activities that went to the wayside as my running started to progress to the next level.
After a few weeks, I was running a little longer and riding a lot more. On the 12th of September, I had my longest day in the saddle EVER. The day consisted of 9.5 hours on the Mtn. Bike hitting pretty much every high point in the Keweenaw. The totals for the day included about 80 miles of trail and a cumulative elevation gain of right around 20k feet. The long day on the bike just confirmed what I was starting to feel. My knee is back to strength and ready for pretty much anything I was willing to throw at it.
Fast forward to today.
Today, Lindsey and I set out for my first over distance run on my newly repaired meniscus. I started the day with a couple of known bailout points that I could use if things didn’t feel right. I didn’t need them. Everything held together, didn’t even think about it. Today was my longest run in 4 months and after 3 hours of climbing and descending single track I’m finally confident that everything is where it needs to be and I can now look at things as actual training versus rehab.
There really is a huge difference between training and rehab, both mentally and physically. The biggest being the ability to just let it rip, no limits, all out, with out fear that your going to set yourself back and have to work even harder to get back to where you started. It’s so much more fun to train, and while rehab is extremely important, wow, does it ever suck.
While I am feeling really good and running well, I have decided to bag the rest of the year for running races and make sure that I’m super fit / strong come Spring 2010. In the meantime, that doesn’t mean being a slacker. As a classic overachiever, I have thrown my hat in the ring for the Iceman Cometh Mtn Bike race in November, I’m riding hard, recovering smart and getting faster and stronger on the bike everyday.
I’ll have more updates on the process and Iceman over the next few weeks. Thanks for stopping by RedGroupRacing.com
