Even though I have been nursing my ankle injury, my 2016 racing schedule is starting to fill up! Luckily, I seem to be doing a lot better, and started running 2-3 miles at a time this past week without pain. Next week marks the official start of my training for the A1A Half Marathon, and I’ll begin it with some easy running. I’m hoping to get in a 6-mile long run, which will be the longest run I’ve done in probably over a month.
As I was suiting up for one of my 2-mile runs, Frank turns to me and says “Wow, this ankle injury really messed you up. You were going out for 15-16 mile runs before this.”
Talk about cutting me to the quick.
It’s really hard to take this huge of a step backwards, especially when I was in such great shape during my Chicago training. I just have to keep reminding myself that the training that I did was not a waste, even if it didn’t culminate in a race. Regardless of how things have gone, today begins a whole new training cycle with a whole new set of goals. I’m super excited about have a fresh start.
This weekend, Frank and I spent Saturday afternoon going on a bike ride along the Native Stone Scenic Byway. Although Kansas does not have a lot of hiking, there’s tons of great road biking. It’s a huge state with only about 3 million people living here. There just are not that many cars on the road. We covered close to 20 miles battling winds and tons of hills. It was pretty fun!
We spent Sunday floating down the Republican River. Unfortunately, it’s a little late in the season for paddling, so there was very little water left in the river. There were a few (by few, I mean like 50) sections that we had to walk the boats. Having grown up in Florida, I still don’t have the hang of the seasonality of the rivers here. In Florida, most rivers are spring fed, so you can paddle all year round. Overall, it was a really fun weekend!
Before I go out for my first run of my training cycle, I’m going to make a few new running playlists. Any favorite songs I should include? What are your favorite tunes to run to?
She Runs the Wasatch 
Oh, that comment was harsh. Nothing like having the obvious pointed out to you.
I haven’t updated my running playlist in awhile. I really need to get on that!
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Haha, oh Frank. I can totally picturing him saying that.
I don’t know if it’s your jam or not, but the new Josh Ritter album is really good. “Getting Ready to Get Down” is an especially fun song.
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Haha that comment was so harsh! I went through the exact same- my first week back, I was allowed to run at a slow pace for 20 mins and that was a bloody luxury for me! I was soooo grateful until I started to think about how long I used to run for previously…
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I feel like so many people are injured right now! I hope your ankle feels better really soon.
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