January is over! 160k mileage for the month after 60k in December. If we add up the two, the total is 220k for last two months. This pales in comparison with my mileage prior to the injury of around 360k per month (Sep-Nov).
Ankle is improving and gaining strength, but a lenghty period of absence has created lots of new problems.
1) Weight gain
I gained about 5k in weight over the last 2 months. I am 170cm and my normal weight was 67kg (still heavy for a runner) which put me at 23.2 BMI. Due to a combination of little running during the lay-off, festive seasons, and pregnant wife who needs to eat frequently, my weight has ballooned by 5kg, implying a BMI of 25.3, and this is categorized as 'Overweight' .
No wonder that I am struggling at the moment. Increased weight leads to increased cost of running. I also feel that my knees take a bit of battering due to the added bulk.
2) Contamination to other body parts
I found that when you run with some kind of injury, your other body parts will be affected too! My injured ankle is still not 100% healed, and for some reaon, my brain tells me not to do 'push-off' using the injured leg. Hence, my good, healthy left leg has to carry the other leg. This imbalance leads to sore and niggles around quads and glutes for the left leg.
Another concern right now is my archiles. After two months of limited running, it doesn't seem to be used to the jarring and pounding anymore. Perhaps the archiles is forced to work more to compensate for the weak ankle.This morning I did 2 x 4k at steady state pace and planned to do a few quick 200s for leg speed afterwards. After the first 200s, I felt a weird feeling in the archiles and I couldn't run the 200 at my normal pace (today was 44secs vs 38-40 secs normally). I decided to do just one in order to avoid any risks.
Another funny thing is that even my elbow is sore, especally during tempo runs when fast arm swing is required. Talk about muscle memory hey ??
3) Loss of fitness
Lastly, after a period of length inactivity, fitness level really eroded rapidly. On Tuesday, I had to break my temp run in 10 minute chunks as I couldn't do a straight 20 minute classic tempo. On Friday, I tried to do intervals, but only lasted 800m since the pace felt like an alien to my body.
On another note, this week marked my baby's 31 weeks since conceivement (9 weeks to go before fatherhood !). My wife has left for Australia and I will be joining her in mid March. Until then, I have about 6 weeks with lots of time/flexibility to build up my training and whip my fat ass back into shape !!
M: off
T: 2 x 3.2k Tempo 4:10 pace, 4 x 200 Reps av 39-40
W: 35mins Easy 5:33 on treadmill
T: 45mins Easy 5:00 incl 4 x 10secs hill sprints
F: 30mins Easy 5:07 (tried intervals but felt crap)
S: off
S: am 70mins including 2 x 4k @ 4:20 pace, pm 40mins Easy 5:12
Total 57km for the week
5 comments:
Great to know that your little one is on the way! Congratulations!
Great to see the km's increasing, fitness will return quickly now as your body adapts to the increase in activity.
All the best.
all the best with the little one not far away, and the opportunities to get back on track keep at it, and things will come good.
You'll be just getting back into shape before the sleepless nights begin!
Yours is quite an example for other runners to avoid injury at all costs! The extra weight may help the return to fitness as it's like weight-training ;)
Be wary of the compensatory running - good luck.
Nice to see things starting to look up!
All the best with the next 6 weeks - don't overdo it
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