Deschutes River Trail Profile—Meadow Camp to 0.2 past Benahm Falls out & back (to the primitive overlook above the trailhead parking). 17.4 miles.I just posted on running mini-runs, multiple times per day to get over patellar tendonitis. But…I’m thinking I might have had an epiphany (or rather some kind of divine wisdom from above)—in any event, a cool aspect of this approach for recovery after a big race (e.g. post 100, post 50 miler). The leg speed reminder.
So many times, after a big race, I start getting back out there and slogging 7, 10, or 12 milers when my legs feel like lead weights. However, when the knee pain popped up after the 100, I did all these short runs to avoid aggravating the tendonitis in my left knee while I stretched and narrowed down the root cause of the issue (which ended up being tight hips and hamstring).
So, today I ran a staple 17.4 mile trail run on the Deschutes River Trail that is a rolling up river out and back with a lot of grunt up and downs. Normally, I would run this in 2+ hours. Maybe 2:05-2:11 if I’m keeping on my pace. Today—1:56…after running a double on Tuesday (one of which was a hard hill repeat workout), 12 miles Wednesday, and the 17.4 mile run today. A hard 3-day block of 4 runs and I feel surprisingly good.
The week block of mini-runs, post Virgil Crest 100, allowed me to never dig a hole. It forced me to run short, keep my leg speed up and continue to recover while running 6:00-7:30 pace. I think it was a blessing in disguise. This might just be a good way to recover—note to self.