The good news is in! I am offcially returned to running!! It is now week 2 and the injury is feeling a lot more under control, but I have to hold myself back from doing something stupid. Take it easy and not push too hard to quickly. This has always been a challenge for me, an 'Achilles heel' if you will (see what I did there?). For those who have followed my journey from early on, you will probably notice that I like to push myself. I genuinely believe part of this has been hardwired into me from my highly competitive younger years with rugby and martial arts in my teens and 20's. The problem is that I am no longer in my teens and 20's. I am 20kg heavier, 25 years older, and I sit for a living.
My mind doesn't agree with my body though. Which is why I keep shooting off and then breaking something! And it drives me f*cking crazy! It is that ex-athlete delusion that 'I've still got it'. When the reality is: 'No Rich, you don't, but you need to take time to get it again'
I've recognised that CONSISTENCY, and incremental progress, is FUNDAMENTAL in success. Recognising it and living it are two very f*cking different things though! I've always known this to be true. I've lived this with work, my kids, etc... but when it comes to training over the least few years it has been the opposite at times.
When your ego writes cheques your body cant' cash
Top Gun is one of my favourite movies and I remember this quote deeply. My mind has been writing cheques my body can't cash. It's clear as day now. But why is that? Well, when I think about it, there is a fixed goal I've worked towards. A fixed distance to be met in a fixed time. Not only that but a short amount of time to accomplish it in. When you add in what you know you have been physically and mentally capable of enduring and achieving in the past, it creates pressure and expectations that can be detrimental.. This in turn creates anxiety, stress and tunnel vision. The sub-goals, the markers of progress along the way are perhaps too aggressive from where I'm really at. And maybe I've not been entirely honest with myself as to where I'm really at.
Well, my body decided to provide me a rude awakening to that fact this summer after the 100km. The wheels came off and it broke just before the challenge and yet I pushed on anyway. So having had plenty of time to process what I did to myself, I am taking the step-by-step approach.
And now I am back to the very beginning again. Fitness levels at their lowest for a VERY long time. Weight at 106kg which is higher than I'd like to be at this stage, and on the back end recovery path from an injury that has caused me so much physical and emotional grief.
A dose of reality for sure.
But here I am, starting running again... and you know what?... I can feel myself pushing again.
This time though... I'm aware of it!
That means I can check myself. I am religiously monitoring my workouts now. Last week I achieved two treadmill runs. One at 30 second running intervals at a slow pace for 20 minutes, the next at 1 minute intervals.
This week I've already done one at 2-3 minute running intervals. I'm pushing it. I can feel it, so i am dialling it back a touch. I cannot have a relapse of the injury so I have to be very careful. I've also performed two VO2 Max interval sessions on the bike. The intervals this week moved to 2:20 minute intervals. I'm pushing it again here but keeping it under management. It's working, but need to give myself time to recover.
You can see from the progress chart the red line (fatigue) going up that I am upping the consistency, and that is raising the fitness level. This red line goes up when I train. The idea is to build this line up and keep it up there. That means I'm working consistently. The key is to not push too many higher intensity sessions. So I'm ensuring I take some time to have daily 30 min walks to help recover on days after higher intensity days.
My higher intensity sessions are brutal but they are having a definite effect. I am finding it much harder to push my heart rate up to high Zone 5 levels on the bike, and the heart rate is dropping much quicker on my rest intervals as you can see from this chart from yesterday:
Even adding an extra 20 seconds this week to the high intensity interval duration, it's a nice tight peak you can see on the chart.
This is very encouraging, as my physiology should adapt quickly and my VO2 Max increase at speed... but I have to be careful not to aggravate the injury too hard, and i have to ensure I recover properly.
Right now I can feel where the edges are and I am ensuring I am starting to build that consistency and gradual progression.
My runs are no faster than my Zone 2 and will unlikely be any faster than my Zone 2 heart rate (124-132 bpm) for the next couple of months. No tempo runs, until I am convinced the injury is a thing of the past and that the achilles, heel and ankle are in the shape that can take it. Strength takes time and I'm still working through strengthening the weaknesses I still have.
The main thing is to keep limiting myself, while training consistently. "Easy does it" is incredibly frustrating at times, but small progressions across consistent actions leads to progress. Over time they add up to significant progress. This is what I'm reminding myself of daily... and bit by bit it is working.
Thanks for reading.
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