My Slow Return to Running

 Daily Quote:   Question: How far should I walk or run? As far as you want, as long as you feel great at the end, no fatigue, no abnormal pain, no injuries. For some of you, the distance may be 50 feet. For others the distance may be a mile or more."  --Allen Leigh, from his informative "Running Injury Free" website.

Today is my first attempt to return to running, I'll be starting very slow at first as to allow myself to acclimate my body to the stress without harming my body.  I've discovered in the past that the best way for me to return to a long layoff from running is by having running intervals interspersed with walking intervals.  Today I'll attempt to run .25 mile interval distance with two minute walking intervals...I'll discontinue the running intervals when my body feels a little stressful...always listening to what my body feels...baby steps, baby steps.

I went to my gym, 24 Hour Fitness, immediately after my 9:00 a.m. radiation appointment.  I'll be squeezing in my workout before I have to leave for work.

Life Fitness Treadmill set to a 1% grade.  Warmup: 10 minutes of walking at 3.5 mph.  Intervals, 3 x .25 miles at 6.0 mph (10 minute miles).  Walking intervals, two minutes.  Cooldown, 10 minutes of walking at 3.5 mph.  Shoes:  Nike Air Structures. 

I felt great during the two running intervals, but the third interval I was starting to feel a little winded and decided that three intervals be it for the day.  I could have gone farther, but don't wish to push myself to hard for the first few weeks of my return to running.

Tomorrow I'll attempt four running intervals, but will stop at three intervals if my body tells me too.  I didn't wear my Polar Heart Monitor as it would get in the way of my feeding tube.  Doesn't matter, I can pretty much read my heart's stresses.  I'll also continue with running 6 mph, or 10 minute miles, as this has been the speed of my recovery runs in the past, and the 6 mph speed still feels easy.

I felt euphoric after my run!  I'm back!!