Tuesday, July 31, 2012

66 miles: I'm back, and it feels good!

Well, the shoulder still hurts, but it feels good to be running again after a 6-week break! Like many things in ultra running, there is a lot of guessing and experimenting. I went for my first run last Thursday, an easy and flat 6-mile run in the neighborhood. I was keeping my right arm close to my body not to move the shoulder and contain the pain. It worked except that I had my worse night afterwards. I didn't run on Friday but went to my second PT session. My therapist did a good job working on my shoulder mobility but so much that the pain was unbearable that night too, like the whole articulation was burning. At least she explained me the source of the pain, the fact that the muscles keep tightening up to protect the fracture and the shoulder against movements. And that there was nothing I could do against it, even in my mind...

I skipped Saturday and went to the gym instead, climbing 523 floors on the StairMaster in 60 minutes (936 calories!). I went for another run on Sunday and wasn't sure what to expect but decided to let my right arm go this time and loosen up the shoulder as much as possible. I ran again in the neighborhood on my 5K loop. The pain was light this time and, despite the mid-day heat, I kept going at a slow 7:30 min/mile steady pace which got me to the 26.2 miles mark in 3:23 (still a Boston qualifier ;-) and 28 miles overall.

12 miles on Monday and 20 at Alviso tonight, more to come this weekend... I'm learning to listen to other signals in my body and in particularly to sort out the bad from the good pain. Definitely happy to be seriously moving again and looking forward to seeing some of you on the trails soon!

1 comment:

Awake My Sole said...

730 minute/mile is a great pace. Its all perspective :). Hope your recovery comes along well. Running over a marathon length with bummed shoulder isn't fun, how'd you injure it?

Jim - www.AwakeMySole.com