After the recent tribulations of my 100k I licked my wounds, rested up and set about the plan for my summer training block. A 14 week block designed to start building more running strength, power and a degree of unbreakability to allow me to run 6 back to back ultras in 6 days in order to run the 300km that awaits me at the end of September.
After a little rest for 10 days I picked up running again while on a family break to the South of France. Back into the heat which f*cked my sh!t up a few weeks ago. Two more tempo level runs followed by 2 back to back trail runs on the Sat/Sun when I was back home. My pace was good, my legs felt good. This boded well for the next few months of work I needed to put in.
All was going great until the final run where I caught a tree-root and ended up having to make a trip to the emergency room the following day for an XRAY on what I thought could be either a fracture or dislocation in my ankle. The pain was shocking and the swelling intense, and it made me hugely worried that I’d be having to let go of the 300km challenge once again (and probably for good).
After such a shitty run of luck with injury issues with my left heel and ankle, despite the VAST amounts of rehab and treatment, I was pretty flat going into the hospital, thinking that just as I started to make progress, ‘Wham!’ another goddam setback… yet again.
The news was good though. It was a sprain around most of my ankle with all the tissue being inflamed, but none seemingly too damaged. In fact, the Doctor commented on the positive health of the bones in the ankle joint given my age and pastime. I had feared it might be starting to develop arthritis after all the long-term issues, but the joint was sound. The one thing was all the calcification in my Achilles tendon, being the culprit of so much discomfort, but we can work with that.
The real surprise is how quickly I healed. 6 Days later and I was able to run lightly on it. There seemed no way the day after the injury that this could be possible. No way at all… yet here I was, jogging trail again (albeit only 5k).
I can only put it down to two things:
Dealing with the issue and bracing the joint immediately, while seeking proper advice and following the treatment protocol of RICER
My Diet
Let me explain the second point. Over the last couple of months I have overhauled my diet. I’ve focused heavily on gut health meaning daily Kefir & Kombucha, large amounts of green leaves, olive oil, hummus, crudites, and easy on the red meat, as well as lots of seeds, nuts, etc. Fibre, good fat, clean lean protein are the order of the day… and it’s working.
Weight has suddenly started to shift again, energy has levelled out, and inflammation has dropped hugely. It’s only now that the internal inflammation has dropped, do I notice how bad it was before. This could be instrumental in why I’ve recovered from a knock quicker than I have in a very VERY long time!
While it was a setback, the benefit of the injury last week has underlined that I’m getting my eating right, that it’s helping me heal faster, and that my ankle joint isn’t in as bad shape as I had quietly feared. The setback was, dare I say it, worth it… Sometimes you need to fall to see what you’re doing right.
Next up… I’m pushing the summer training block. I’ll write more about this in detail next post. But in summary the first few weeks will start broken down like this:
Strength | Tempo | Recovery | Hill Repeats | Recovery | 5k LT run | Long run (15km to 25km)
I have a Zone 2 pace that I’m working towards that’s about 20% faster than I’m at presently, and incorporating this in should build on the aerobic base I already have in place to a point that I need it to be. I have a mix of strength and higher intensity work in there to help raise the bar, rather than simply go for massive volume and risk breakdowns and over-fatigue.
As ever, I’ll be watchful for this and will definitely build rest in in order to limit injury risk… but for now, I’m ready to get going!
Thanks for reading.
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