Back on track

Or so it seems, anyway. I don't want to jinx myself at this stage but the suspect right ankle has made some real good progress since I first saw Dr. Weiss last Thursday. I've run 6 out of the last 8 days, which is six more days than I ran in the three-and-a-half weeks prior. The combination of two Active Release treatments, consistent icing, along with daily stretching and strengthening exercises has everything around the malleolus feeling the best it has in over a month. This morning's 6-mile slog around A-town, in fact, was my first carefree foray into forward motion since before the marathon, which seems like eons ago now that I'm thinking about it.

But enough about the past, time to start looking ahead. You'll notice to the sidebar at the right of the page a few new features meant to spruce this space up a bit. Selfishly, those same elements are strategically placed for my own motivation: dates to look forward to and old numbers to finally eclipse. Despite my newfound affinity for racing longer distances on the road, I haven't PR'd at any distance under 10K in over three years now. It's time to change that. Waking up every morning tied down to your college PR's is no way to go through life.

So how am I gonna do it? Easy -- stay healthy and stay consistent. OK, easier typed than done, especially considering my my injury-riddled rap sheet, but I'm confident that if I can finally achieve these two goals, I can run faster than I ever have before. The VCM buildup, aside from 8 months of uninterrupted, strength-based training, showed me that despite all the injury-riddled bullshit I've dealt with over the past three years, the fire inside still burns. Luckily, I've also got two strong legs, a great set of lungs and a coach who knows his shit. If I can stay in one piece, there's no reason I won't run fast. Not one.

Quote of the day:

Everything has been part of a master plan. Of course we've had to re-focus and re-adjust along the way, like everyone does, but there has always been a plan.
- Scott Raczko, coach of Alan Webb