post-injury half marathon prep.

I was injured for almost a year.  You could probably say over a year if you included the time it took me to really become comfortable with running again.  I missed two half marathons and other shorter distance races. It has been an extremely depressing, long, and difficult process to overcome.  Back in October, I worked up enough courage and felt good enough to sign up for a turkey trot (which I've wanted to race in since we moved here almost four years ago), and then I was sidelined with another injury and couldn't race.  As a runner, I think it's pretty safe to say that being injured is the worst feeling ever.  After the failed turkey trot, I headed to a specialist and was referred to a new physical therapist.  The PT has given me more confidence and worked wonders on my leg.  After some pain-free runs, I felt ready to tackle the half marathon again.

I couldn't find a local or destination race that worked with my schedule, so I went for the inaugural Rock 'N' Roll Raleigh half marathon on April 13.  I think the atmosphere of the race will be great, and I'm really looking forward to running an entire 13 miles through the city that I now call home.

After so much time spent injured, I'm extra anal about doing everything possible I can to not be injured again.  This is what the first couple months of my training looks like:


I don't like to be a stickler with my training because life happens and shit.  Sometimes it's better to see D who has been traveling for a week than get in cross training.  That said, I thrive by following some sort of schedule.  I loosely base my week on this schedule, but amend things as needed.  I switch things around a good bit too.  For instance, if I know my long run will be Sunday instead of Saturday then I will run 3 miles Friday and go to a yoga class on Thursday.

I've come to terms with the fact that the previously injured leg is always going to bother me more than my "healthy" leg will.  After some dull aches and twinges from my bad leg, I'm also incorporating PT exercises consistently into my training on Mondays and Wednesdays.  I have pretty strict guidelines that I follow in hopes of resisting future injury.  In case you missed it, I contributed to The Eighty Twenty and discussed my five tips for being balanced with running and avoiding injury.  In addition to those five things, I'm also maintaining physical therapy sessions every three weeks (since that's all I can afford).  I'm still scared to death of re-injury and missing another half marathon.  I'm going to continue to maintain balance and stay positive.
Are you training for any races? Have you been injured?  How did you recover?