So here I am with various points in my legs tingling from the application of some sort ayurvedic balm (basically, tiger balm). I'm starting to lose hope on my tendons at this point and, since I didn't feel like taking an ice bath at 2 am, I've decided to try any and all cures. I went to a reflexology appointment a few days ago courtesy of a cheap LivingSocial deal and this was recommended to me and I was given a free sample. We'll see what happens.
Tonight I ran 2.1 miles. Actually, let me rephrase that. Tonight I ran, jogged, walked, stumbled, struggled, and agonized through 2.1 miles. Obviously something in my body was shocked awake when I started doing the half training and it has brought back every tendon injury I've ever had in the past decade, and then some. Achilles, peroneal, IT band... they're all furious. Reviewing my log from the past month, I can perhaps see why. I took a couple of weeks off from exercise in general after being prescribed medication that made me a nervous wreck. I actually developed a fear of losing weight and going to the gym. So you can see how that would be an issue. When the drugs finally started getting out of my system and I got back on the treadmill, I got addicted to that runners high and ditched the cross-training that I had been accustomed to for the past couple of years and stuck mainly with running. Problem right there. All those extra muscles that had been strengthened were now getting weaker and weaker. A one mile/week increase is not that bad, but I don't think my body was as ready as my mind was for training.
All that being said, I've come to the conclusion that once I get back in the game injury-wise, I'm planning on focusing more on fast hill or interval workouts and less on the LSR stuff. I've found that while my endurance has been great, my strength has gone way down and I believe that's why the injuries are coming back. Before, I was running a 9:00 mile pace and now, my times are 10:00 at best, just longer. I hope to aim for about 3 days/week of running (one or two interval/hill sessions, one long run not to exceed 45 min), with 2 days/week of cross training. There will obviously be tweaking in there... Running is the most accessible sport, so if I'm doing at the boyfriend's place, I don't mind swapping a x-training night for a run around the apartment blocks. The fact of the matter is that my strength needs to improve.
I'm trying to think of tangible goals to reach. I do want to go back to 1 mile increases, though I may increase every 2 weeks. I do, however, want to focus on times as well. 30:00 at 10 min miles is a 3 mile run, but 30:00 at 8 min miles is almost 4 miles. My distances will naturally increase the faster I get. Plus, I do want to run this half in a respectable time and not just "complete" it. My old goals from back when I was 14 are possibilities... setting a goal to run as fast as male Marines is pretty good and would force me to do speed work, which I'm not a big fan of.
I'm thinking that for running days, I'm going to warm up for the run on an elliptical/bike/rowing machine for about 10 min, run, then cool down for 10 min on something else. That way, I can continue building the x-training into the workouts. In the end, I need to see increases in both endurance and strength, but I'd prefer a gradual one for both, than a huge one for only one of them and a decline in the other.
Either way, there is definitely going to be some major restructuring when it comes to my workouts and running. The mileage increase is being scrapped for the moment, partly because of surgery and partly because I want to feel 100% going into training. I may consider looking at a 10K plan and running that for the time being just to have some structure to my workouts.
We will see where this leads. I'm cautiously optimistic.
No comments:
Post a Comment