Back at it

I hadn't run (or exercised formally at all) since two and a half weeks ago, when my calf was acting up. While we were in Poland I managed to get 10,000 or more steps every day that we were touring (my peak was 26,000!) so I was getting the heart health but not the marathon conditioning. But I was a little nervous about getting back into the running because of this numbness and soreness I've been having. Still, I felt if I waited any longer I'd be impossibly behind on the marathon training program, so I decided yesterday I'd get back into it.

I ended up doing the full 7.5-mile run that I missed from last weekend -- I thought it would be too hard to get to it mid-week. But I found that I had lost a LOT of conditioning. Instead of a run/walk, by the end it was more of a run/walk/jog/walk over any 5-minute period! The first 10 minutes out on the trip, my endurance was fine, but my stride felt all wrong. I was stiff and lopsided and couldn't get a good rhythm. But after the first mile I have a nice, long downhill, and I found my stride there. So by the time I got to the turn-off for home, where I had to decide to quit with a 5k or commit to a long run, I felt pretty good. It was hot (nearly 80) and because of the length of the run I held my pace back as much as I could. Even so, by the time I turned around to head for home with about 2 1/2 miles to go, I was pretty wiped out. So long as it was flat or downhill, I could keep the rhythm of running for 4 minutes and walking for 1, but the hills were brutal and I had to walk some or all of them. I did still find the energy to run the last two tenths of a mile (which were flat), so I hadn't completely knocked myself flat, at least!

Today my right hip is achy and my hamstrings are tight. I'm eager to get back to the gym this week so I can do some easy runs on the treadmill, and so I can get back to my step class (where I'll have a new teacher -- what a nuisance!) which will get me back to some upper body work and proper stretching.

I'm pretty sure I need to see the doctor about this problem, but I'm procrastinating on it! I wonder if I should just schedule a general physical and bring in my whole laundry list of complaints. It would be a few weeks before they could schedule it, but it would be worth it to get everything done properly. I get my annual each year with my GYN, but I haven't had a full physical in years.