One Foot in Front of the Other

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With graduations, family vacation, graduation parties, and a busy summer work schedule (thank God for His blessing of provision), I haven't written any thoughts lately because they all kind of seem mundane in the day to day. Progress tends to seem slow, but looking back on it, I feel like I have come a long way. Now I have to catch you up. 

During the month of May and most of June, I was following "The Running Blueprint" (TRB) to a "T". I maybe missed a day or two here and there but was pretty consistent. I felt changes, as I wrote before, but none that I could really pinpoint. I was beginning to feel my strength improve. Toward the end of June, I got sick which made me miss three days of exercises and I decided to just "call it a week." After that, we had our family vacation planned. I knew I wasn't taking weights along and I knew I wouldn't stick to the schedule. However, I gave myself grace. We did a lot of walking over the course of the vacation, and I was thrilled that my knees and feet were not painful by the end of each day. Upon returning from vacation, I had a week of consistently following TRB before I fell into another slump. 

On a coaching call at the end of June with Dr. Kevin Vandi, creator of TRB (www.compedgept.com), we talked about going on walks and how that was important to build up cardio in order to get ready to make the transition back into running. The maximum distance I was walking at this time was a mile. I had been hesitant to push myself too far, too fast and bring on another injury. Kevin gave me a goal to increase my walks to at least a 5K distance at a 16 minute-mile pace. The first attempt at that was hard. The walks felt fast and uncomfortable. Fast forward a few weeks to today, as we near the end of July, the walks are getting somewhat easier. As I settle into miles 2 and 3, they do get more comfortable. I walked with my running friend this morning and she pushed me on a little faster. We ended with an average pace of 15:05 minute-miles for a 3.1-mile distance. Having always been a runner who comfortably averages a 12-minute mile pace, this was pretty satisfactory for me. 

It is my intention to refocus on TRB exercises and strictly stick to the schedule once again as we head into a new week. Provided in the blueprint is a "return to running progression" calendar. I plan to do my fast walks for another week as we begin the month of August and then attempt to use the return to running plan. As I literally take it one day at a time, and put one foot in front of the other, I am excited to face this new challenge. Proverbs 16:9 (CSB) says "A person's heart plans his way; but the Lord determines his steps." As I make plans to move forward and as I set goals to keep me striving, I will continue to trust in the sovereignty of God. May I submit my plans to Him and allow Him to direct my steps. 

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