Today as I laced up my shoes and prepared for my treadmill workout, I couldn’t shake off the lingering doubts about how I’d do this morning, due to how I’ve been feeling over the past few days. I was still recovering from whatever bit me, but I was determined to get a workout in.

I spent about ten minutes on the basketball court, which is becoming a part of my warm-up routine, shooting hoops while getting myself ready for my treadmill workout. For the first time in what felt like forever, I made multiple foul shots in a row – more than once. Even more exciting was the slight lift I felt under my feet as I executed a jump shot and landing without wincing or favoring my left knee – a small victory, but a significant one.

With this small boost of confidence, I approached the treadmill with renewed determination. As usual I set the pace at 6.0 mph and started counting down from 40 minutes. Which is right around 4.0 miles if everything went as planned. As my body warmed up and adjusted to the rhythm, I felt better than I thought I would and decided to challenge myself a little more today. Knowing that I could back off quickly if the body told me I was doing too much.

After 9:00 minutes, I increased the speed to 7.2 mph for one minute, before slowing back down. This strategy seemed to work well; after each speed burst, I felt tired, but didn’t feel exhausted and was able to continue running at 6.0 mph.

As I neared the end of my workout, I decided to up the ante once more. For the last ten minutes, I increased the speed by a tenth every two minutes, starting at 6.2 mph and then with a minute remaining I pushed the pace up to 7.2 mph for 30 seconds and finished at a challenging 7.6 mph for the final 30 seconds.

It felt good to run at speeds I used to consider my normal pace before the COVID years. I know that I’ll probably never be able to those speeds regularly again, since age and injuries have taken their toll on me. However, getting up to faster speeds for short periods is still an accomplishment that I never thought that I’d be able to do back in April.

Despite pushing myself harder than usual, my body held up well. My knee didn’t protest, and while my lower back grumbled a bit, it wasn’t anything serious. The only other minor complaint came from my right hamstring, which isn’t quite ready for any sustained speeds above 6.5 mph. It let me know that I needed to work on strengthening it more before I can do too much more with it.

After finishing my run, I felt a sense of accomplishment and relief. Not only had I completed a challenging workout, but I had also listened to my body and respected its limits. Today’s workout was an excellent confidence builder and an important step in my journey back to running.