Hello again!
You may or may not have noticed that I haven't posted with my customary frequency recently; in fact almost two weeks have gone by since my last missive. How have you been coping in the meantime?
So, to catch up, I have to tell you that I took the physio's advice and did nothing from the Tuesday until the following Monday, save the knee exercises I'd been prescribed. These went more or less well, but there was still quite a bit of discomfort present, so when I popped in to give the physio an upate he ordered me to continue resting and come back on the Wednesday for another session, with a view to possibly go out running again on the Thursday.
To my consternation, an hour before the appointment, he texted me to say he had toothache and was off to see the dentist. Could I come in the following morning? Yes, I could, but I asked him by return if I should go out that day and give the knee a bit of a test. No reply was forthcoming so I did go out, but immediately found running painful and so stopped abruptly. On starting again gently, I noticed it was better, but after a couple of laps round the block I decided that caution was indeed the better part of valour, and again aborted the session.
Back I went to the physio, my spirits low, and was given another bout of electrolysis therapy, and to cut a long story short, orders for another week of doing no running at all. It did feel better, and a few more days' enforced rest would sort it out for once and for all, surely?
At this point I realised that if I didn't want to start dramatically losing my fitness, I'd better get on my bike. Literally. I walk quite a lot as part of my daily routine, and I'm eating sensibly and well, so I haven't put on any weight, but I needed to do something to get my heart rate up for a period of time.
I have an exercise bike at home, of the type used in spinning clases, so clearly it was time to make use of it again. I have it installed in my Personal Fitness Centre, which is lavishly equi - yeah, all right...it's in my spare bedroom. It's not the same as running, of course, but much better than nothing. The trouble is, no matter how interesting the podcasts I listen to while pedalling away furiously, the time passes so slowly that doing more than 30-40 minutes is a real struggle. To make matters worse, my arms ache all the time I'm on it, despite my having adjusted the height of the saddle and the handlebars various times. And what to say of the suffering caused to and by my poor old arse? The less, the better, I think...
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| "The Beast" |
Not being able and/or allowed to go out running does, I must admit rather guiltily, have its compensations. Namely, staying in bed more. This, or at least the sleeping aspect of it, is something I vowed to pay more attention to in 2016, so in that sense, every cloud really does have silver lining. Lying in bed on a Sunday morning with a cup of tea, drifting in and out of consciousness, is a pleasure I haven't been able to indulge in for years, without exaggeration. I just hope I don't get too used to it, that's all...
This past Tuesday I went to see Hector the physio again, and this time he gave me the green light to start running again! Just 5 or 6 kilometres, but it was still fantastic news.
I was too busy on Wednesday, but yesterday I donned my running kit and laced up my trainers, not without a feeling of dread. What if as soon as I broke into a trot my knee flared up again?
I needn't have worried. In fact, I actually felt quite light on my feet as I eased into a gente rhythm and headed off down (up? it's flat) the road. the sense of relief was palpable, but I was careful not to overcook the proverbial goose, and after 25 minutes and 5 kms of pain-free running, I decided to stop and notch it up as a success.
On informing Hector of my progress, he add a timely note of caution and bade me take my recovery slowly and gradually. Yes, this was great news, but I cannot afford any more setbacks of any kind. I still have about 9 weeks to get myself in shape for Brighton, which is far from ideal, but sufficient to at least get to the start line with some confidence of running a decent enough race.
So how to go about it? The first thing is obvious - the Pfitzinger and Douglas plan I was tentatively following has to go out of the window. I have to start afresh and just focus on how much I can realistically do, and what will be the most efficient way of doing it. A three-week taper is out of the question, as is a huge weekly mileage. Instead, I'll have to make sure of getting a good, increasingly long run in every Sunday, bag a medium-long run midweek, and grind out some shorter, faster efforts. As race day approaches I'll do speedwork to sharpen up, but for now the focus must be just to gradually build up a level of consistency, and hopefully my fitness and much-needed weight loss will come along for the ride. I will also try to do many of the miles at around competition pace, which shouldn't in theory be a problem.
Tomorrow I hope to start putting all into practice, but gently, and increasing the kilometres gradually day by day from then on. Having said that, if I feel all right after tomorrow's outing I might see if 9-10 miles are possible on Sunday. In running terms, I need to sort my head out just as much as the rest of my body, so a nod in the direction of some longer miles would give me the confidence that this marathon campaign hasn't entirely come off the rails.
Well, we'll see, said the blind man. Join me next time, and discover whether this is a false dawn or whether, despite having to tear up the training plan and start ad-libbing, I can get myself back on track.
As always, thanks for reading and sticking with me, and if anyone has any advice to offer, now more than ever it really would be much appreciated!
Bye for now!
Rip It Up
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