My longest run of the training cycle is tomorrow. I am a big fan of the two-week taper method so I'll keep next week's "long" run to about 2-2.5 hours. My body just seems to really need that extra time to refuel and with my new dietary restrictions, coming up with enough calories to fuel my body throughout big efforts has been a bit of a challenge. The bonus to my new diet is that, in theory, eliminating all of the foods that were causing inflammation should speed up my recov

After a month or so of ramping up training, I just wrapped up my first "vert week" of this training cycle. Vert Week means lots of hiking uphill/slow running when possible, and training my body to find that sweet spot that lets me move uphill all damn day long :) I let myself have a chill week last week, running a gentle 18 miles total with an 8 mile hike thrown in there with my Mom + Sis for mother's day. It was a nice, refreshing week for resetting my legs and figuring out

PT IS OVER! I am officially discharged from PT! My ankle is strong enough and my hips are looking pretty stable and are able to keep me nice and level when I run. Now, it's just continuing to rebuild muscle, and to build more muscle!!!, throughout my training cycle. I finally learned how to dead lift using the bar and am tasked with incorporating deadlifts, weighted squats, and one-legged balance exercises into my weekly routine. Given the progress I've seen with the light li

Now for the less warm and fuzzy side of my ongoing recovery… I am scared of skiing. I eventually get into a rhythm of riding the waves of the snow after 1,000’ or so feet of descent but I make my first turns in fear, half-paralyzed that I’m going to spiral out of control and either hit something (again), or re-injure myself. It sucks. I haven’t ever been a big fan of the “extreme pizza” style of skiing but I’ve been pizza’ing like my life depends on it on a semi-regular basis

Without a doubt, my decrease in posts is 1000% related to my ability to start training again. I should have predicted this lack of desire to blog about my recovery and made myself a reminder to write a little something about how I'm faring once a week or included a note in my Bullet Journal. Now that I'm finally able to say "I"m back baby!" I think it's time for a little update. 2 weekends ago, Andy, Cinder, and I skied Mount Saint Helens car to car in just over 7 hours (we t

Hold on to your hats, folks! I have breaking news.... I WENT SKIING. Actual, real, live skiing. Downhill and everything. Holy wow was it as amazing as I remember it being. Last weekend, Andy and Cinder and I left our house at the 'earlyish' hour of 5:30am and I enjoyed 2 glorious laps to and from Silcox Hut before the lifts opened for the day. I carved gently down perfect groomers, slowly and cautiously and SO happily making my way down with my partner and our little powder h

A couple of years ago, a friend told me that part of the reason he goes skiing every weekend has to do with the fact that the brightness of the snow helped him deal with the long, dark days of winter in Oregon. Sometimes the sun even shines on the mountain, creating a glowing, too-bright-for-bare-eyes-and-skin landscape and it touches you to your very core. The moment we pulled into the parking lot of White River Sno-Park last weekend, I felt every fiber of my being shake off

Finally, FINALLY after 9 weeks of crutches and/or brace restrictions, I was able to move a little bit this last weekend. I spent 2/2 weekend days "hiking" and it was a combination of gloriousness and frustration as I carefully wound my way around the trails of Forest Park, attempted to walk in the snow on the Wilson River Trail, and power-walked around the Sandy River Delta with Andy and Cinder. My OH! my is my uphill fitness lacking. My calves and lungs burned as I struggled