What a Difference Two Weeks Makes

At the beginning of last week, I was planning to write a whole post about what a great previous training week I'd had. I'm still in what I'd designated as my "base phase" for the year, which is supposed to last through April. My strategy going into the base phase was just to get the miles in, so I didn't have many expectations of it being especially effective. I thought it was just important to get back into the rhythm of running regularly, even if it meant plodding along at 11:30 minutes/mile.

And yet after a little over two months of getting the miles in, I have started to get faster with minimal speedwork. The week before last, I ran 3-4 times and averaged under a 10 minute mile for each of those runs. It seemed like such a dramatic and sudden improvement that I thought maybe there was something wrong with my watch.

Yet as we all are very aware, a global pandemic somewhat dampened my excitement. Originally I had two races scheduled for last weekend, and both were long. Since I'm still feeling hip pain, I didn't run for the whole week so that I could run both as pain-free as possible. Didn't matter though! Both were canceled.

Make no mistake, on the list of tragedies the coronavirus has caused, canceled races are nowhere close to the top. But I think it's important to record this event from all angles, and I would be remiss if I didn't write a bit about how it's impacted running and runners.

There will be plenty more time to muse about that. For now, at least in NYC, we're all relegated to solo runs. For many of us often, running is already a solitary endeavor so maybe it's also the closest thing to normalcy that life has to offer right now.

Aborted Runs and Core Building

I have been trying to work on Phoebe's barking in an effort to be a better dog parent and neighbor. Unfortunately, this means that when I get more than one bark alert (from the Furbo) after I've started a run, I turn around and go back home to make sure there isn't something wrong. In one case, building management started some construction upstairs and it was probably good that I came back home, because it continued ALL DAY. In the other case, though, I was probably just being paranoid. One way or the other, a couple runs have been cut extremely short. I'm confident it's just a big puzzle and I'll keep refining my solution.

My hip has been bothering me during runs. It feels painful at the top of the hip bone, so I consulted Dr. Google, as one does. Consensus of several online forums (and this one Runner's World article) is that it could be related to a weak core. I have decided to try strengthening my core before consulting an actual doctor. Please send along all your helpful core exercises.

Finally, I signed up for the OSR 30 like a chump. It's a competitive race, but I will be lucky to finish it in 7 hours. I applied (again) to do the Empire State Building Run-Up and didn't get in, so figured I needed something else dumb to do. Please send along all your encouragement.