Month: February 2020

Even though I’ve been running since January, I haven’t run outside since August, 2019 when I hurt my Achilles heel. All my running this year has been indoors on a treadmill, and while it was good to get my legs moving and to get running again, it wasn’t nearly the same.

I got bored a lot, which would make me end my runs sooner than normal. I put a TV in front of the treadmill so that I could distract myself with TV shows and videos, but still, it just wasn’t the same.

Yesterday afternoon as I was preparing for a run, I decided that the weather was nice enough outside for me to run, so I knocked out 40 pushups and hit my ‘Round the Lake route.

It was great!

The first mile was good, the second mile was meh, and the third mile was more meh until the last half where I felt amazing and picked up the pace without any pain or effort. My legs felt great and my breathing was easy at an 8:30/mile pace. When I reached my goal distance of 3 miles, I wanted to keep running, but decided against it. Anytime I push myself further than I’m used to, I end up getting hurt, and that’s the last thing I need right now.

Even though the overall time was slower than I’d like, it felt like a victory. It charged me up and now I’m looking forward to not only getting back out there tomorrow, but to my weightlifting later today.

It’s the name of a Beatles song I enjoyed as a kid, but I find myself saying this to myself as my speeds are finally starting to come up a bit on my runs. I’m not nearly as fast yet as I’d like to be in six weeks, but I know that the real improvements will start coming soon enough.

I performed well enough during HIIT exercises with my military unit last week, but my long-distance running is still slow. I will continue with HIIT once a week and two-three longer, slower runs. According to everything I’ve read, this should help improve my run times.

I also need to reintroduce my weightlifting. I think I’ll be ready for it in March. Until then, I look longingly at my weights and rack, looking forward to the day I can start using them again.