Being Smart Isn't Easy

I had a feeling this week would be the week I knew for sure what I needed to do about WTC. Last week was a slow build of speed and miles. While it felt uncomfortable at times, I would say the real pain was gone, and it felt progressively better as the week went on.  This week I was adding hills back into the mix.  I started today's run climbing the toughest hill I have access to, which has an 18% grade.  Today's run w/elevation profile (it over estimates the elevation gain)-




While I got up it 3 minutes faster than normal, it hurt.  With a hill that steep I have to be able to climb using my toes, and unfortunately, it hurts. An "I'm doing damage" kind of hurt. Steep downhills weren't much better. Pressure on my toes on the downhills made it hurt.  And all that hurt made the rest of the run pretty uncomfortable, and not just in a "that doesn't feel normal" way, but in a "I just set this achille's recovery back a few weeks" way. Today's run was around 900 ft of elevation gain, WTC has over 4,851 ft of gain, with all the steep climbs coming in the last half of the run, including an infamous hill that has a 20% grade.

As soon as I got home I sent the "I'm out of WTC" email. I knew by the end of my run what my new game plan was. With no race on the schedule, I've got nothing to do but let this thing heal up.  I'm shutting down the running and focusing on getting in a workout 5 days a week and spending some quality time on our spin bike.

It's not always easy to do the smart thing, but I think I made the right decision if I'm thinking long term.