Real David H.

In my last post in September, I had this feeling that I wasn’t really ready to get back into running. Shortly after that post, I continued to be fairly miserable with my foot issues.

Since that time, though, I finally ventured away from Altra shoes, setting on a pair of Mizuno that are probably the drastic opposite of what I have forced for years. I do hesitate to say this, but it took me way to long to realize that Altra was not working for me.

It’s kind of a sad reality – Altra helped introduce me to some great people in the shoe industry, and played a major role in connecting with so many people through the Runner’s World Festival a few times. For the past few years, though, I’ve been in an obvious repetitive pattern of injuries. I would find a shoe that seemed to work, but wouldn’t get much life out of them. Then I’d switch. Then repeat.

One of the bigger downfalls of being an “ambassador” for a brand is being able to speak up when something just isn’t working. There were moments a couple of years ago that I felt like I couldn’t be honest with what was happening, blaming my issues on my form or gaining weight or other issues not on my feet. Now in hindsight, it was a lot of things – I’m not just blaming my shoes.

There were also times when I felt like my voice with some shoe issues weren’t being heard. I strongly encourage all of my running friends to look at the fine print of these programs and make sure you’re all in on that brand before committing to it.

Anyway, I am looking forward to returning to some things that worked for me a decade ago — trying different shoe models and brands, and being able to talk about what’s really working and not without the influence of things being free or discounted.

So … what else is working (and not) right now?

Ups and Downs of Being Coached

A few weeks ago, I joined a “Take Back 2020” program with Team Wicked Bonkproof with Coach Caleb Masland. I worked with Caleb in the early 2010s when he first starting coaching. I give him a ton of credit for my peak running then and helping me get to a Shamrock Half PR.

This program has been incredibly challenging, but I am pushing myself to do some things I haven’t done in a while. Warming up, fartleks, intentional hills, core work.

I’m currently in week 4 of that and am somewhat unmotivated, perhaps because coronavirus is raging out of control. I’m back to this feeling of long-term goals not feeling important. But that doesn’t mean this is a failure at all. I still have two plus weeks left and am in far better shape than I was just a month ago.

And I believe that I can use this program to help me with future training sessions next year, if races start happening again.

Will I Race in December?

Speaking of racing, as of right now, the Surf n Santa 5 Miler is ON for in person. I was first excited about that, but now I’m wondering if it will even happen, and if I should do it. There are some excellent precautions in place, but I don’t know if my anxiety levels will be ready.

Speaking of racing, my family and I did a 5K this past weekend at my church. It was my first 5K in YEARS, and it was terrible. I took off way too fast and never recovered. Then the race was a quarter mile too long … so I’m not even counting this in any of my record files.

My Nutrition Is A Roller Coaster

Lose a few pounds, gain a few pounds. Feel great, feel bad. Isn’t this all of us in 2020? Sometimes I feel like I need comfort food. Too much comfort food. But then I have an amazing stretch of eating really well and regret eating bad.

As I type this, it’s been a pretty good week, but for some reason eating bad this past weekend feels like it’s lingered with me all week.

I really want running and my efforts on eating better to match up much better than they have for the past year. Maybe just saying that out loud will help me.

Will I Blog Again Soon?

Perhaps the only other thing more consistent than injuries in the past few years has been my lack of blogging. Here’s my occasional promise to myself that I will TRY to write more than once every couple of months …