Recovery Road

 As a runner it's inevitable that eventually I was going to get hurt.  My real surprise is how long it took.   Almost 2.5 years without a real injury.  Now I'm spoiled thought and am not having the easiest time adjusting to the fact that I'm injured and trying to recover.  

The good news is that I'm improving and can run now.  But the hard part is that I still feel it in my hip and ITB and I'm limiting my runs to way lower mileage than I'm used to.  I got in 19 last week with some 4 and 5 mile runs.  I even ran 6 on Sunday at 7:30 pace.   That was a good effort and felt okay but the hip and ITB just feel a bit weak and I can't imagine just going out and doing 12 miles right now.  I'm also worried that doing too much is going to lead to some other injury.  I'm trying not to alter my mechanics but it's hard to tell.  My ITB and knee just seem a bit wonky... not hurt exactly but I want to keep it like that.

The real question is how am I going to get back to 50 miles a week.  Hopefully a slow build and as I build the injury will fade into distant memory.  My fear is that it will draw out, never feeling quite right and occasionally getting reaggravated.  

For now, I'm at least getting in as much work as I can... Hitting the bike several times a week, running as much as I feel I can and doing bricks to get in the time, plus walking.  It's working for now, and at least it's winter so I'm not really itching to do long runs outside anyway.  

My bike riding keeps improving over time and I can burn more and more calories per hour as I progress.  Of course my legs are a lot fresher now without the running but still satisfied overall with the advancement.  749 calories in an hour is my new record as of Saturday and I wasn't even really trying for it.

I feel like I'm limping to the finish line here in 2021 but I'm probably going to hit or exceed all my goals and hopefully with another 18 days left in the year I'll be farther down the recovery road and ready to get back to some mileage.