Saturday, December 06, 2008

Make It Hurt Baby, Make It Hurt

So, I knew that it would be a long, hard road back after a fractured patella. I didn't think it would take quite this long; but, I knew it wouldn't be a matter of a couple of weeks and all would be back to normal.

But after 3 months of no running, a month of easing back into it, then a couple of months of easy mileage, I still didn't think it would be quite so hard to get back to being able to really push the hard workouts.

Part of truly competitive running and racing requires learning to deal with discomfort. And, in order to be prepared to deal with the discomfort of racing, you have to practice dealing with that discomfort during training efforts.

What I'm discovering, much to my dismay, is that I'm finding that it is a challenge getting back to the point of pushing my training efforts to that point of discomfort. I'm getting better at it; but, after so many years of running and racing, I thought that it would be easier to get back into the mode of hard training efforts.

In some ways, I'm finding it to be a unique challenge. It's almost like being a beginning runner again and re-learning all about training effort. A fascinating and unique challenge; but, not an enjoyable one.

But, every workout brings me a bit closer to my personal version of "normal". I've had to come to grips with the fact that it will likely be spring before I'm back to the type of race fitness that I want. But, we'll just keep picking away, step by step, mile by mile.

The Muddy Buzzard.