Training summary

Finished my third week since returning to running after the pelvic stress fractures, and I'm pretty happy with my performance so far.  The pubic area still gets sore, but no sharp pains and nothing debilitating.  9.91 miles this week, 9.64 miles the prior week, and 9.38 miles the first week back.

Basically, I've been doing a very slow (average pace 9:34) run along the Mall, from my building to 14th Street and back (about 3.3 miles +/-) three times a week.  Luckily, I've been able to run with friends at work who are keeping me on my pace and keeping my spirits up (when I would otherwise be somewhat depressed that my one-time 6.75 mile runs at a 6:50 pace are, for the present, history).

My doctor told me that my first 4 weeks of returning to running should be no more than 3 miles, 3 times a week, with at least a day in between.  So I've been running Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and walking 3 miles on Tuesday and Thursday.  Meanwhile, my wife and I have been getting a babysitter to walk along the C&O Canal (our version of Date Night).  So I'd like to think I'm getting my running muscles back into shape.

This week is my last 9 mile week.  Weeks 5 - 8 will see me adding another day of running, but still keeping the mileage at 3 miles per run.  In week 9, I should be able to start increasing the mileage.

Meanwhile, I continue to swim Monday, Thursday, and Saturday --- 1600 meters on the weekdays and 3200 meters on the weekend.  In preparation for the Chesapeake Bay 1 miler in June, my brother lent me several of his triathlon wetsuits (when he was stationed in Camp Pendleton in San Diego, he was on the Marine Corp's triathon team --- despite the warm weather of Southern California, the Pacific Ocean is quite cold and most everyone swims in a wetsuit).  Anyhow, I figured I better start getting used to swimming in a wetsuit in case the water temp in the Bay is cold, so I brought one of the wetsuits to the pool.  Wetsuits are not easy to get on, and man are they hot.  But holy crap!  I flew (or the whatever the swimming equivalent is) through the water!!!   My best 3200 meter pool swim so far was 58:30.  In a wetsuit, I bested that by 7 minutes, cruising through 3200 meters in 51:35.  First, the wetsuit cuts down on so much hydraulic friction, so you glide through the water.  But more importantly, the wetsuit adds buoyancy, so you do not have to spend so much energy staying afloat.

So there you have it, friends.