One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Recovering from an injury, or from surgery in my case, can be a discouraging process:  one step forward, two steps back.  Monday, only two days after my 47:24 "5-K" time trial ("Wheeee! - see previous post), I decided to run exactly the same route, and I turned in a time of 43:37.  Keeping in mind that these are slower by far than my slowest 5-K finish times ever, it was still encouraging to be able to shave off nearly four minutes.  It is not often that a runner can do that.  One step forward!

But yesterday, I went to the gym for my usual free-weight routine, and even though I cut in half the amount of weight I used to lift, it was not a pretty picture.  I found myself walking from station to station like someone who has never lifted weights before.  And the rest of the day I was absolutely knackered, as they say in Britain.  Two steps back.

But running has taught me to be a stubborn person, sometimes to my own detriment, and this morning I decided to try two 400-meter intervals.  Exactly a week ago, on my first day of running after the surgery, I had clocked a 3:13 and a 3:03.  Today, I surprised myself by clocking a 2:44 and a 2:38, still a long way from what I used to run, but 11-minute-mile and 10-1/2-minute-mile pace, after all.  And not only that, I seemed to be filled with energy all day, working out in the garden and making small improvements around the yard.

That's why we measure and time our runs, after all:  so that we can see the progress we have made.  Forward, backward - at least we are moving.  And one of these days I am confident that I will be taking two steps forward and only one step back.