Bouncing back in my fall training one step at a time

Building fitness is fun in a hard-work, high-reward kind of way. I’m two weeks into a six-week training block leading into the Nebraska Half-Marathon in October, and one step at a time, I can feel that my capacity for high mileage is growing.

This summer’s training has been a start-and-go, stop-and-wait, jerky kind of ride, but an enjoyable one nonetheless. The transition from Saskatoon, Sask. with my partner Candace and our dog, Skylar, has been a smooth one, but inevitably there has been some adjusting to do on the training side of life. The climate in Omaha is perhaps the biggest of adjustments. It’s hotter here than I would have ever imagined in the summer (a bonus in my books) which impacts the many aspects of training– recovery, fueling, training schedule and effort levels being examples.

RELATED: The 2016 fall marathon guide

Tense, dehydrated and overworked muscles are prone to injury and I felt that over the past couple of months. In an effort to stay injury free, while still making gains in my training, I overdid it in some areas, and under did it in others. The cliche is true: Too much of a good thing, can be a bad thing. In my case, I could apply that saying to too much stretching, rolling, strength work and too many easy runs done in a less-than-easy manner.

All this, combined with not completely accounting for the impact of the heat and humidity, brought about a couple of little injuries. At one point, I thought they were going to stop me from racing this fall, but by slowing down and taking a one-step-at-a-time approach I’ve been able to find my way back to a state in which I can train hard.

Small adjustments have proven to go a long way. Something as simple as introducing a sports drink on my long runs has makes a big difference when it’s combined with an overall patient approach. Running for an hour and 45 minutes in mid-80 degrees, requires more than water midway through. These sweet, electrolyte mixes have become a must-have on my long runs now whereas in Saskatoon, I rarely reached for them.

RELATED: 2016 fall shoe guide

I’ve also backed off on my strength work a bit in order to give my body a break, and recover when it needs to. Even stretching and rolling, when done too frequently during injury, can be the cause of a setback. I’m being more careful in these areas as well. With these adjustments and little details like ice-baths and allowing easy runs to be easy, I’ve managed to heal enough to be training again.

As I look ahead to racing on October 16, I will continue to simply take it one step at a time. There’s no quick fix, no giant leaps ahead in fitness and no time spent dwelling on the past. I have a certain number of workouts to complete before racing and each will serve its purpose. By trusting my training plan and by working hard in executing it, I find peace of mind. I’m now energized knowing I’m putting my best foot forward– one step at a time.