The Comeback Race

The last time I blogged was about 13-14 months ago. A lot has happened since then. I spent the summer in DC for a grad school internship, I graduated from IU's School of Public and Environmental Affairs with masters degrees in public affairs and environmental science in December, and I decided to stick around Bloomington for a few more years to pursue my doctorate in environmental science! eek!

Hoosier Half Marathon Route & Elevation Map
http://www.hoosierhalf.com/course.html

AND, I am trying my damnedest to get back to running like I used to. Right now, that means I'm training for the Hoosier Half. (Sometimes, I accidentally call it the Hilly Half - mixing up the names of the Hoosier Half Marathon and the Hilly Hundred bike ride...oops! But really, it could be called the Hilly Half because it is a super hilly race for this girl who took up running in the flat city of Indy!)

Today during my long, slow run of 5 miles, I thought maybe I would revive this blog in a new manner to talk all things related to running, PhD studies, yoga, and of course, more on my successes and (lots of) failures with trying to live sustainably.

Also, I've been writing a couple of papers with professors the last 3 weeks and my mom joked: well you did want to grow-up to be a writer. Research publications and scientific writing was not exactly what I pictured at 11 years old, but maybe writing this blog will fulfill the more creative side of the writing puzzle. Plus, I think the best way to be more comfortable with writing in a professional manner is just to write, period.   

So, this is a new, exciting, crazy time in life, though I can't imagine it being more so than quitting my full time job to get my masters degrees. Now that was a bit crazy. And I worked. All. The. Time. during the masters program (work = real work, classes, reading, assignments, etc). Honestly, yesterday when thinking about the kind of hours I put in over the last 2.5 years, I bet most weeks I was pushing 60-70 hour work weeks. So, while the PhD program is certainly going to have its own challenges, I am striving to maintain more balance in my life. Classes are finished - I am just doing research - and my intention is to make it as much like a "real job" as possible. Of course, it won't always work out that way, but I'm going to try. Thus, my recent push to get back into the saddle with running. 

A sacro-illiac (SI) joint injury stopped my running cold in March 2013. While I have ran a little off and on since, I haven't run a race longer than 5 miles. Sadly, the injury has not really been entirely resolved either (and I'm not sure it can be based on things I've read). So training for this half-marathon is going to require more work than training for my previous long races. I need to train smart and protect my SI joint to ward off lower back pain. That means I'm incorporating yoga at least once a week, weight lifting (especially deadlifts, squats, lunges) twice a week, and planning to visit the chiropractor once a month. Further, I need to make this type of training my new normal for...forever. I want to run like I used to in my mid-20s, but I can't get away with not stretching or strength training anymore. I also need to hold myself back a bit on my training runs. It's hard - this week I saw sub-7 interval paces and sub-8 on my long, slow run today. I have to remind myself that is not the point of this training cycle - these numbers are due to a fresh legs from less running the last several months and muscle memory. I do not want to provoke my injury by running too fast too quickly. This will be the hardest part - I usually just run by feel. I did not even wear a watch or Garmin to train for my first 6 half marathons! I think running without knowing my pace can be a good strategy, but sometimes I need to know empirically that I'm going too fast so I can dial it back. 

So it goes. 

And now here I am blogging about it. I'll try to blog once a week. A little check-in for myself on the running or other subjects I mentioned previously: yoga, PhD work, sustainable living. And maybe a few far-flung friends will get a little inside scoop of my day-to-day life. ;)