Cautious Comeback

You may or may not have noticed the recent lack of running related posts. A few weeks ago, my right foot started to hurt after a run. It was the same kind of pain that plagued me last summer after my second race. So I took a break from running for about two weeks and did a few bike rides instead. Now my foot feels a lot better, thankfully. Let’s hope it will stay that way, as I’m slowly increasing my running mileage again.

Last week I started training for my next race, the Munich Airport 12k on May 18th. I’ll probably skip the Landshut läuft 10k on April 22nd, as I’m invited to an epic bachelorette party the night before.

I’m loosely following this 15k novice training plan by Hal Higdon. This plan has me running three times a week, focusing solely on distance. As I only want to finish that 12k – I’ve never run that far – I don’t really need any speed work or tempo training.

I’ve modified the plan a little to better suit my schedule, moving the runs to Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with Friday being my long run day. This plan also includes a lot of strength and cross training. Honestly, I’d be very happy to simply get those runs in, but I will try to do at least a little cross training, mostly in the form of walking and biking. I also plan to return to my weekly Pilates class next month. My back and shoulders are already looking forward to that.

Week #1 of my training went quite well. On Monday I ran one mile on the treadmill, to test my foot, and ran two miles each on Wednesday and Friday, also on the treadmill. It felt so good to be running again! Despite the fact that I also enjoy biking a lot, I really missed being able to run.

Today I ran three miles on the treadmill and felt amazing! Apparently, all that biking has helped me maintain my endurance.

Let’s hope I will stay healthy and injury-free in the next few weeks, so that I can conquer a new-to-me distance, finishing my third race with a big happy smile on my face.

See you!

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