Thursday, December 3, 2015, 4:24 pm
3.16 mi, 27 ft gain, 25:57. Around town, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

I hurt my lower back in late September. I kept running for a week, as I had in the past with similar back pain. Then I tripped on my last run, Oct. 3, and decided to call it. I spent most of the next two weeks in bed. I wanted to give it extra time to make sure. I considered a run a couple weeks ago, but gave it a little longer. So far, so good. Hope my fitness comes back quickly. I’m still a bit disappointed over having to give up on several goals for the year, but I’d rather be able to continue to run in the future. I don’t know exactly what I did to hurt my back, but I’ll be adding some non-running exercises to my routine to help prevent future issues.
Friday, December 4, 2015, 4:24 pm
3.16 mi, 27 ft gain, 25:57. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 red #6.

My legs were rather sore, mostly my calves and my quads a little. They loosened up a little, but still felt sore and heavy most of the run.

I took the dogs out. We went out to the two seasonal ponds, then across the Olney Creek bridge and to the right a little ways before turning around and heading back.

My back is holding up, but I definitely have some work to do.

Sunday, December 6, 2015, 3:58 pm
3.18 mi, 135 ft gain, 34:01. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #2, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 red #6.

Man, I’m out of shape. My HR is about 20-30 bpm high compared to perceived effort. My pace is 1-2 min/mi slow by perceived effort. And my legs have gotten rather weak and lost a lot of endurance.
I’m incredibly grateful to get out there, though, and my back is still holding up just fine. I think it might be time to get a bike or some sort of trainer so I can rebuild my cardio more quickly.

Weekly total: 9.5 mi, 189 ft elevation gain