Making good choices

Every day we make numerous small choices that seem innocuous, but when combined, drastically affect our fitness.

I had a long run planned two weekends ago. I had been steadily progressing in training and was planning to go 65 minutes. The small choices I made that day led to a bit of achilles pain that I am only now recovered from. So what did I do? Nothing terrible, if you look at each by itself. But combined they formed a sort of "perfect storm" that took me out for a couple of weeks.

• Choice #1 - I decided to wear my Newton shoes for half of the long run. If you run in Newton's, you know they cause more of a mid- to forefoot landing, which stresses the calves/achilles more than normal. I had not been running much in my Newton's lately and have a history of achilles problems on the left side.
• Choice #2 - My wife was at work so I was watching our 6 month old baby. I decided to push him in the stroller during the run. Weather was warm but windy, and the stroller catches wind like a sail, increasing the effort required to run any given pace.
  
• Choice #3 - I ran by Phelps Grove Park and there were lots of people walking. I decided to run the loop several times and wanted to appear tough so I pushed the pace to 2 minutes faster than my normal long run pace for a couple of miles. Yes, with a stroller! Ugh.
  
• Choice #4 - As I returned to my starting point, I thought I would add on a little bit of time. So I ended up running 72 minutes.
  
• Choice #5 - At the completion of the run (we started and finished at my wife's office), I decided to wait for her to finish work. So I did not shower, self-massage, use my trigger point products, or eat anything for recovery. About the only thing I did well was drink some water and fall asleep on the floor next to her desk with our baby on my chest!

So it's pretty obvious that this combination of choices led to the tendinitis. Big picture: stick to the plan for that workout and do the little things right.

And finally, always finish your workout knowing it won't negatively affect tomorrow's workout. Consistent average-to-solid workouts will lead to much greater fitness gains than sporadic spectacular workouts.