Summer

 It's been a busy summer over here with lots of time spent with him:

(Dancing at an outdoor concert)

     (down the slide during a camping trip)

And his friends:

  (Making waterslides with marble works in my living room....and not cleaning up, of course:)

I find that the older my son gets, the more he needs me - perhaps a bit different than how I thought things would turn out (but most of what I thought parenting would be, parenting is NOT:) - and the more interesting and difficult parenting gets. I love being kept on my toes by a 7 year old blond boy - particularly since those toes have needed to be kept busy since there has been very little running during the past month. My shin splint turned out to be a sore spot and perhaps a stress reaction. I wouldn't know because I did not see a doctor for it (I believe in a good PT, but tend to stay away from doctors - I believe that they cause more trouble when it comes to running injuries). But now I am "all better" and ran 15 miles this week keeping the pace easy at my aerobic pace minus 5 beat (which is 8-8:30 these days). I am taking things super slow because I want my legs to get used to the impact; I kept in pretty good shape aerobically with high intensity elliptical and more recently 5 or so hours of spinning a week, so I could easily run a bit faster now, but this would not be good for the legs. If I can give one advice to keeping in shape when injured is to use your HR monitor and train at your aerobic zone, with intervals going up to 95% HR. These are much tougher to do without the impact from running, but they worked for me. I feel strong.

I missed running at times, but honestly not as much as I thought I would. I really dislike summer running and having to wake up at the crack of dawn to run. The AC at the gym allowed me to keep a schedule that worked well for me. But, the main reason why I did not miss running was probably because I did not allow myself to miss it; I simply embraced the bike and the elliptical and stopped reading running books for a bit (I still read blogs though:). I focused on the benefits of not running, and reminded myself that I tend to come back stronger after a break. I also reminded myself that the injury gave me an out - I did not have to run a Fall marathon, phew, because I really do not like the marathon.

So what have I learn during this bout with injury?

1. 80 miles is my top mileage for now. Going above it = potential for injury.
2. I need the hard/easy methodology. Running the same pace, even during base, stresses the legs in the same way, and leads to injury for me.
3. I may not be able to handle doubles. I may be able to run 15 miles at once, but not as 10 and then 5 later. I used *may* because I am not convinced yet about this.
4. I can't log high mileage or do lots of high intensity training during periods of high work stress. I cope well with stress, but nonetheless, when stress is there I either need to sleep even more (ha!), or cut the mileage or intensity.
5. I enjoy training myself. I love training logs, numbers, paces, reading about anything running related.
6. I need to be true to what running means to me during the present moment. This has been changing for me over the years. I rely on running less and less (a good thing!). I am attached to goals less and less (another good thing!).
7. You can work the bike and the elliptical and get endorphins just as much as you would from a run. This requires a mental shift, however.
8. I absolutely love to cheer on my friends training for marathons, especially Jenn and Katie, and am secretly happy I don't train for one myself (though I terribly miss running with Katie!).

Run/Cross train Happy:)