Both in a physical and general life sense, I’ve never been great when it comes to balance. It’s why the balance exercises I’ve been doing for rehab tend to be tough, it’s pretty much why I ended up hurting myelf in the first place, and it’s the reason that many a night that has started off as a casual cocktail evening has turned into a, well, shitshow.

That last example of my balance doesn’t concern me so much at this time, it’s the first two that are weighing on my mind as the achilles nears the point of (I hope I’m not jinxing it here) “healed”. I feel like the balance exercises, as well as resistance bands and calf raises have been doing some great things in terms of rehabbing the injury. And I’m super-stoked about the BOSU Ball that Melissa got me for Valentine’s Day. It certainly makes it feel like I’m doing a lot more to help rehab and get a full workout in at home.

However, now that the rehab seems to be going and well the achilles is feeling strong again and that voice that tells me that it could go at any minute if I go for a run is fading, I’m concerned about maintaining a balance as I get back into the groove of running: How do I keep myself from overdoing it and injuring myself right quick?

I know that I will be negotiating a very tricky slope here - I will be attempting to get myself in shape to have any sort of semblence of meeting what I know are some very lofty goals for an early May 50-miler (my first of that distance) while trying not to overdo and hurt anything at the same time.

The key for me will be to stick with the cross training and to really make a commitment to stretching and continuing the regimen of exercises I’ve been doing to rehab the achilles.

CROSS TRAINING - With the cross trainnig I’ve been doing, I’m sure going out for a 90-minute run at the drop of a hat wouldn’t be a problem for me, except that it would probably tear my achilles a new one. So, I probably shouldn’t do that. Instead, I’ll need to make sure to continue cross training as I start back to running. Even if my achilles is feeling fine after a lunch-hour run, I’ll have to make sure that I head back to the bike/elliptical after work rather than trying to pund the pavement for a second time that day for at least the first few weeks back. This way, I’ll be able to continue building some endurance and getting the legs used to the long periods of movement, but should be able to avoid the over-pounding of the achilles.

STRETCHING - Too often I’ll look at my watch as I’m nearing the end of a morning run and decide that I’d rather take the long way back to get in an extra mile rather than getting home with enough time to get in a decent post-run stretch before needing to get ready for work. That’s got too change. I definitely think that my lack of stretching while on vacation played a role in this stupid thing, so I’ve just got remind myself each time this internal debate begins that skipping a mile now is better than missing hundreds of miles later.

STRENGTHENING - Now that I’ve finally gotten some direction from someone who knows what they’re talking about when it comes to lifting, I think it will be easier to get into the weight room on a regular basis and to feel as if I’m being productive.

While I still think there’s no substitute for getting into running shape and that in order to be ready and in order to reach your running goals that you need to actually be out there running, I think that continuing these things will be necessary in order to keep me running. They aren’t even close to being as enjoyable as running, but I think they are likely to help stay out of the trainer’s room at least for a bit here as I start getting back into things.