Bouncing back from an injury is always a tough process. On the one hand you want to get back as soon as possible. On the other hand you don’t want to start too soon and set yourself back. And in some freakish odd cases, on the third hand you don’t want to get back to it at all because you like sleeping in. Fortunately I only have two hands, so that alien third option didn’t apply to me this time.
Week 8 hinged on my foot recovering from its unexpected meltdown last weekend. After missing Sunday’s long run, I was hopeful to be cleared for Monday. Not the case. Tuesday? Nope. Well that was demoralizing. My foot was improving, but not 100% better. After it felt well enough, I carved in stone that I would run Wednesday morning, as a sort of gift for Ev’s birthday*.
I still don’t know what was scheduled for Wednesday, but I ended up running 6, with a sore foot that got a little better as the miles wore on. I consider it a success because things didn’t get worse. I love it when the bar is set so low. Thursday got a little more ambitious with a serious 9 miles. Not only did I (kinda) cruise through the distance, but I really pushed the pace. I felt a little worn down, but overall not bad.
Friday was a travel day en route to Myrtle Beach, bachelor party style. Yes, my bachelor party. I might have a separate post on this, but the 20 miler that I ran on Saturday was out… wait for it… standing. The first 13 miles were shared with Colin, which made things much better. Add to that 30% lower humidity and 30% lower temperature (both unverified wild guesses), and a super flat run along the beach, and we had a grand ole time. After the 13 mile mark, I took off on my own and threw the hammer down. Only one of the last 7 miles was above 8 min/mile, and that was 8:01. I felt amazing, even thinking of
going even farther, but ultimately cranked out a 7:23 minute final mile in preparation for 18 holes of golf later.
Where Week 7 ended at the bottom of a roller coaster ride, Week 8 was the exact opposite. Let’s try to keep that momentum going into Week 9!
| Distance | Time | Pace | Heart Rate | |
| Monday | 0 Miles | 0 | — min/mi | — bpm |
| Tuesday | 0 Miles | 0 | — min/mi | — bpm |
| Wednesday | 6.07 Miles | 50:27 | 8:19 min/mi | 147 bpm |
| Thursday | 9.11 Miles | 1:13:41 | 8:05 min/mi | 152 bpm |
| Saturday | 20.05 Miles | 2:43:43 | 8:10 min/mi | 157 bpm |
| Total | 35.23 Miles | 4:47:52 | 8:10 min/mi | 154 bpm |
*Still waiting on that thank you card…