Injury Status

I've been writing more about life than running lately. That's because there hasn't been anything noteworthy going on with my running. A couple of months ago I hurt my left calf muscle. As soon as it healed, I hurt the same muscle in my right leg. That has finally healed and now I'm back to normal again. It has been about a two month span between the time I got the first injury and when the second finally healed.

The one good thing about both injuries is that I was able to ski and walk without any problems, which meant that I got some exercise. Now I'm up to running between 5 and 6 kilometers at a slow pace. Even though I'm slow, it still feels good to be able to run. The ice and snow that's still on the ground is forcing me into a slower pace, which is preventing another reinjury due to excessive speed. In the last week I've been able to increase my speed in the last 200 meters of my runs; but I haven't done my usual full sprint. I've been running outdoors, but without my ice spikes. I decided not to use my spikes because my injuries happened when I used them.

This is the first time in a long time that I've had an injury that affected my running. I've had problems with hamstrings that cleared up after a day of rest or with using my massage stick. They didn't affect my workout schedule. I'm leaning toward skipping the Munich City Run half-marathon in June. I'll have to see how far I've progressed in the next month or two before making any decisions. I know that the half-marathon that accompanies the Munich Marathon in October will be a no-go because I'll be in the States for 3 to 4 weeks in August and September. Since I tend not to get in much running on my Stateside trips, mainly due to the hot weather, I won't be able to put in the proper amount of training time. That would be the time that I would be doing my longest runs to prepare my body for the rigors of the race. Maybe the timing will be right and I'll find a race to do while I'm in the States.

This coming week will be a running week with no skiing. It's the Fasching break and the ski hills are even more crowded than they are during the Christmas holidays. This will give me a good opportunity to evaluate my injury and fitness status. Hopefully everything will continue to improve.