Even though I’ve lived at 7300 feet for almost 2 years, the altitude still bothers me- I think! I have been struggling with my running since I moved here. I have stopped running for months at a time for several reasons!
1. No one to run with… that is changing as I’ve met several great women who share my love of running and being outdoors.
2. I can’t complete a run of any length (without stopping to walk) because there are so many hills, big and small, that have to be conquered. Running up a hill at 7300 feet takes a beast that I honestly don’t know I’ll ever be.
3. My sinus issues have played a role, but I hate to have so many excuses. My last visit to my ENT was good except he said he was a bit disappointed that I have some inflammation back. But he talked to me about my energy level. He told me it would take several months to be able to handle any exercise like I had before the surgery.
So here I am… I had hiked a few times since the snows have started melting. I love to hike here. It is so beautiful and I love seeing all the nature we run into on a hike.
Last Saturday I ran (walked the hills) 10 miles with some friends. It wasn’t smart of me as the farthest I’ve gone has been between 5 and 6 miles. All the training I’ve done in the past has taught me not to add too many miles at once to avoid injury!! But since we were walking the hills, I really did OK. I had the great runners high at the end. It was a beautiful day!
Surprisingly I wasn’t sore after the Saturday outing. This week I went to two Insanity classes (sample) and one weight lifting class that is like BodyPump (sample). All were leg intensive and each class wore out my legs. That brings me to Friday morning…
Because of my issues with running the hills here, I’ve been wanting to go to the football field and run on the track just to see how far I can run at this altitude on a flat surface. I met a friend at the middle school field and track. It ended up being one of the worst runs I’ve had!! I could not get into a rhythm and as soon as I would get a bit of a distance behind me my legs and Achilles Heal would ache until I had to stop. I finished 3.5 miles, but it was not pretty!!!
Lesson learned- don’t add too many miles at one time, be sure to rest my legs, and Yoga needs to be added to my life!!
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