Back on the road!

Saturday, January 07, 2012 · Mike Davis

Friday January 6, 2012

Back on the road this morning. Got up at 5:15 and I was anxious to get back on the proverbial horse! I like most runners fear injuries and setbacks. I came off of 2 great weeks of running, feeling optimistic enough to sign on the dotted line and boom; an injury! So, I roll out of bed, thrown on my running gear, do some yoga stretching, grabbed a couple bites of Greek Yogurt and quickly made my way outside. Normally I take a bit more time to hydrate, have some coffee and then roll, but my plan was to stick to my schedule of running 4, so little prep is required and I needed to be on the road.

I was cold and that worried me as my upper body was tight and that’s not what I needed today. The first mile seemed okay, but not real comfortable okay. I plugged along through downtown Dover and nothing felt great, but nothing felt worrisome. My breathing was horrible, my hips were tight and my upper body wouldn’t loosen up. I decided today would be a good day to work on a more aggressive arm swing that would hopefully help to loosen my upper body and relax my shoulders. Generally I’m a pretty stiff runner, so this focus is important. I think the aggressive arm swing sped me up a bit, but not sure it did much else. I will continue to work on it. Anyhow, I felt good on the flat surfaces and not great on any incline and I finished just as it started to snow. 4.25 miles as per my training plan.

Not a great run, but mentally it was important and getting some good stretching in after helped a great deal. The back feels pretty good; the hips were hopefully the result of my overall stiffness. Tomorrow I have 10 miles ahead, and I will be running with a friend that will be in town for the weekend. So it will be good to have some company, but I will also be a little nervous about my back and hips. We shall see.

The road to Burlington will have many challenges…

See you tomorrow.

mike