Grindstone 100 Miler Training: Returning From Injury (Week 9)

You Don’t Appreciate Running Until It’s Gone

You don’t appreciate what you have until it’s gone. This is what happens when you run every day and then get injured. You miss it. You just want to be able to go and rip an 800m repeat session or some strides, but you can’t.

My injury was minor, so I can only imagine what someone with a fracture, sprain, or surgery goes through. I got into this saddened mood often over the last six weeks.

After quitting my job to stay home with our daughter and try to grow my coaching business, I looked at running as part of my job, but also as time to myself. As an introvert, I get recharged by spending time alone, but also by being productive or exercising. So, to have that taken away was hard.

Yes, I was able to bike some, but it was just different. There’s just something about moving on your own two feet that feels good. Of course, there was also, in the back of my head, the fact that not really running for six weeks was going to affect my goals for Grindstone.

Reassessing My Grindstone 100 Miler Goals

I had set the goal of a sub-20-hour 100 miler at the beginning of the year, but as the year went on, I was thinking bigger. Sub-18? Would that be possible at Grindstone? Since UTMB took over the race and changed the course, no one has run under 19 hours, so the goal I was setting was a big one, especially for my first 100 miler.

Needless to say, not running or training like I wanted for six weeks has left me reassessing my goals, and as of now, I’m not sure what that is. I’m focused on coming back and just getting quality training in over the next six weeks.

Back to Running: Week 9 Training

I was able to do a 30-mile week this week, and I was so happy! No setbacks, and my foot is feeling better. For now, we’re just focused on staying healthy so we can actually toe the start line. We’ll see how training goes over the next six weeks and then reset the goals, but who knows… maybe sub-18 is possible. Either way, I’m grateful to be able to run again!

This Week’s Training

Monday – 6.0-mile run followed by 100 bodyweight squats.

Tuesday – 2.43-mile run (20 minutes at HR threshold on the treadmill).

Wednesday – 4.16-mile run.

Thursday – Strength session in the morning. 2.36-mile run followed by a bike workout. 20-minute warm-up, then 6 × 10 minutes at threshold HR with 3-minute recovery between reps.

Friday – 4.35-mile run followed by 1.5 hours on the bike.

Saturday – 7-mile run on the treadmill followed by 2.5 hours on the bike trainer.

Sunday – 3.7-mile run.

Weekly Total: 30.10 running miles, 5 hours 40 minutes on the bike trainer.