Here we go again!

Its 5:35 am on Sunday morning and I am on the bus heading into the city.   Long run day.  Well, a loop of the park, then a NYRR 4 miler.  It was a rude awakening when the alarm went off at 4:55 and all I wanted to do is roll over.   The only thing that got me out of bed was thinking of the lunch at Peacefoods after the run with Lauren.

After almost three weeks off or really lighter activity, I am back trying to get into my routine.  Its 5 weeks to Providence.  I am no where near ready.   My hamstring has been a thorn in my side and is taking  its time to get better.   I have been going to PT twice a week and have been allowed to work out on a level of 3 out of 10 on pain scale.   Some days, that is 50% effort and others I have been able to get to 75%.   I am closer to 85% now with increased distance so I am hoping I will continue to move forward.  Any free time right now is spent icing, stretching or wearing compression shorts to baby my leg.   Some days I think I am crazy to do all of this but I do not want to give up on my goal yet.  

This whole thing has taught me so much on patience and being smarter as an athlete.  I have joked about being Superwoman in the past and in all reality I am just like everyone else (shocker).  I have spent the last few weeks reading and learning what I could do differently to prevent this next time.   I just finished a great book called Thrive by Brendan Brazier that speaks to how to efficiently eat to allow your body to recover faster.  All the donts in his book, I was doing.  Biggest one: lack of sleep.    I am sure most of you could have guessed that one.   I am starting to try to add some of his theories into my diet.   Pretty interesting since he is a vegan (I am currently a meat eater) and a lot of the ingrediants are new to me.  It had been so much fun making my own energy and protein bars and gels and knowing the value each ingrediant is adding to your diet.  Since I love to cook, I have been I hooked.   I warn you, some of the stuff I have turned out has not been great.  Flavor piece I am playing with.

Back on course....  The next few weeks are going to be littered with runs, bike rides, and the days I am most looking forward to, 3 hour bike rides with a long run after. Lauren and I did a 40 mile bike ride last weekend.  It was great to be out and my legs were not tired but the last thing I wanted to do after was run.  Next weekend will be my first long one, should be interesting. 

I will post a little later some of my protein bar successes.