The last 4 weeks has seen great progress considering all of the challenges I had with the injury situation. Rehab is now well underway and I am actually starting to feel a whole lot better than the bag of shit I felt in October, September, August, July.... The first block of VO2 Max training through November (and with the final session in two days time) is concluding and has worked well. For those unsure of what this training looks like check out this post: https://www.longroadtoultra.com/post/117-vo2-training-update-rebuilding-an-old-engine
Having almost completed my 4th week of insane bi-weekly 2min then 2.20 min, 2.40 min and 3 min Zone 5 Heart rate intervals (90% of Max Heart Rate) on the spin bike I have, I can feel definite physiological changes going on for the positive.
My quads and calves have exploded in size making stretch jeans look like they have been spray painted on my legs; my heart rate recovery rates have improved dramatically coming down from 165 bpm to 125bpm in about 45 seconds; and my midriff is starting to tighten up already.
On the weight front, I have increased in weight a couple of kilos. I'm not overly concerned as I can feel a positive difference in my body composition getting leaner. It's clear that I have added some notable muscle mass (which has always been pretty easy for me in my legs, etc when I work them hard with sprints and hill climbs)... but with training like this after long lay-offs I expect weight to begin to drop off as my changes goes more towards endurance based training over the next few months.
The biggest win is I am training consistently. I can feel a good balance between High effort, low intensity zone 2 (sub 132 bpm HR for me), and rest days. The accumulated fatigue is now pretty high, so I need to dial the effort back for next week to purely Zone 1 and 2 in order to let my body heal up and give the issues I have a chance to recover after the 4 weeks of monstering I've subjected them to.
Data snapshots:
The first image is the intervals and you can see the rapid recovery from when my HR peaks. The second image is the 8 week progress. The constantly rising red line is the fatigue levels accumulating and black line is the fitness level rising. The Form line shows I'm in the perfect zone for training but the inference here is that I need to ease of and give myself some time to recover before pushing the boundaries again.
The third image is the November activity analysis. I've spent most heavy sessions on the bike so the mileage is on the low end. If I was doing VO2 Max running intervals as opposed to static cycling the mileage would be closer to 105Km for the month in running volume. I worked it out that if I was running those interval sessions then I'd be averaging about 7.5-8km per session (I had 6 sessions in November). Across all of these charts, the thing I'm celebrating is the consistency. I am moving every day. Whether it be a VO2 max session or a power walk for 30 mins, given I still have discomfort and pain in my Achilles, heel and ankle, I am delighted to be moving consistently for at least 6 days a week.
The shockwave therapy is definitely working. I can feel the difference and have been reliably informed by my Physio that I will continue to yield the continued healing benefits for at leas 6-10 weeks after my final treatment next week. My plan is actually on track for my rehab Phase which ends at the end of this month. I have definitely taken a level-up over the last couple of weeks. I'll have a much less strenuous week next week, and then begin to ease into phase 2 after Christmas - Phase 2 - Trail Base & Lactate Threshold Building which you can see more details about the plan here.
Once that starts then it's time to level-up once more, clean out the diet, get back to fasted runs, and finally get back into running trails again... but for now I will take the win and enjoy forward progress. Thanks for reading.
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