As those who are regular visitors to my blog know, I had quadriceps tendon repair surgery on April 3. I had my first post-surgery run on September 4, doing 2.38 miles (distance courtesy of my Garmin 305 GPS watch). I had my first race on September 12, running the course in about 30 minutes-thus setting PW (personal worst) for the 5K. Of course, being able to do a race at all was awesome for me.
I’ve run many races since then and have gotten my average mile down to 7:18. Of course, that is my old 50K race pace so I’m clearly not back up to speed. However, I have been getting faster each week and I consider that an accomplishment.
While I have faced injury before, the quadriceps tear was the worst one. Getting back from it has been a great challenge, but I have managed by setting small goals and reaching them. Based on my experience, that sense of progress is key to keeping on track and, more importantly, avoiding depression and despair. Of course, the trick is setting realistic goals and meeting them-expecting too much and failing can be something of a morale killer. Of course, setting goals that are too low also does not help. So each week I set a goal of running a bit faster, of being a bit stronger going up and down hills (that is a serious challenge for me), and keeping my morale up. So far, so good.
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