This week was 65 miles of running -- training log is here.
Ramping back up. I returned to my normal mileage pretty quickly - since my "injury" didn't actually involve any damage to the tissue and I only missed a week of running I didn't feel an aggressive return (from a volume perspective) was risky.
[On the other hand, since I'm now eliminating approximately 10 miles of walking from each week, you could argue that my mileage is still reduced.]
I did slow down my paces significantly though - running about 30 seconds per minute slower for my workouts than I was before. Part of this was to compensate for the week off from aerobic activity and corresponding loss of fitness. Part was also that a mild imbalance between my left and right side when running (as measured by the Garmin ground contact time balance metric) has gotten much more pronounced - I'm very right dominant now, leg-wise (my left arm is still my stronger arm). At my worst, I see things like 43% left, 57% right when running at 5K pace or faster.
At the same time, my left leg has also visibly lost muscle, as compared to the right. Almost certainly this is from the nerve issue in the left leg, and was compounded by the week where I was either resting or hobbling.
So...that needs to be fixed. Fortunately, I have both a treadmill and a Garmin that will display left/right balance as I run. Using those two, I've been running on the treadmill and constantly checking to make sure I'm not overusing my right leg (it's a lot harder than one might think). Some of it is strengthening; some is correcting bad muscle memory.
I've found that the harder I am working, the more I tend to slip into that right dominant pattern. So...I've been limiting the pace of my workouts to no faster than I can run while keeping a steady balance (or at least being able to correct to a balance every time I slip out). If that means the workout is a bit too "easy"....well, that's not an awful thing since there are no races in the immediate future.
My hope is that as I get stronger I'll be able to maintain that balance even as I'm doing workouts at full effort. And the end result will hopefully be that I will run even faster than before, since I'll be using both pistons instead of one and a half....
Ramping back up. I returned to my normal mileage pretty quickly - since my "injury" didn't actually involve any damage to the tissue and I only missed a week of running I didn't feel an aggressive return (from a volume perspective) was risky.
[On the other hand, since I'm now eliminating approximately 10 miles of walking from each week, you could argue that my mileage is still reduced.]
I did slow down my paces significantly though - running about 30 seconds per minute slower for my workouts than I was before. Part of this was to compensate for the week off from aerobic activity and corresponding loss of fitness. Part was also that a mild imbalance between my left and right side when running (as measured by the Garmin ground contact time balance metric) has gotten much more pronounced - I'm very right dominant now, leg-wise (my left arm is still my stronger arm). At my worst, I see things like 43% left, 57% right when running at 5K pace or faster.
 |
| Ugly. |
At the same time, my left leg has also visibly lost muscle, as compared to the right. Almost certainly this is from the nerve issue in the left leg, and was compounded by the week where I was either resting or hobbling.
So...that needs to be fixed. Fortunately, I have both a treadmill and a Garmin that will display left/right balance as I run. Using those two, I've been running on the treadmill and constantly checking to make sure I'm not overusing my right leg (it's a lot harder than one might think). Some of it is strengthening; some is correcting bad muscle memory.
I've found that the harder I am working, the more I tend to slip into that right dominant pattern. So...I've been limiting the pace of my workouts to no faster than I can run while keeping a steady balance (or at least being able to correct to a balance every time I slip out). If that means the workout is a bit too "easy"....well, that's not an awful thing since there are no races in the immediate future.
My hope is that as I get stronger I'll be able to maintain that balance even as I'm doing workouts at full effort. And the end result will hopefully be that I will run even faster than before, since I'll be using both pistons instead of one and a half....
 |
| Sample from Friday. Not perfect, but better. |
Dailies
Monday: Live streaming yoga, upperbody weights/core, and back unloading work plus foam rolling.
Tuesday: 10.5 miles on the treadmill, including a mixed workout of 2 short hill repeats (70 seconds at a 4.5 incline), 10 minutes at tempo (6:50) (with a break in the middle when I had to reset the treadmill), 2 more short hill repeats, 10 minutes at tempo (6:45), and 2 more short hill repeats; 2:30 recovery after each hill or tempo segment. Then I hopped outside for a 2 mile cooldown (9:15).
Followed with injury prevention work and live streaming yoga. Foam rolling at night.
Followed with injury prevention work and live streaming yoga. Foam rolling at night.
Wednesday: 7 miles easy outside (9:16), live streaming yoga, 7 miles easy on the treadmill (9:02), drills and four strides outside. Foam rolling at night.
Thursday: Upper body weights/core and back unloading work/foam rolling in the morning; live streaming yoga in the afternoon.
Friday: 12.5 miles on the treadmill, including an imitation Iwo Jima workout - 8 repeats of the following:
-2:00 at a strong effort on a 3.0 incline (the Iwo Jima hill averages a 3% incline)
-1:30 easy effort on a 0.5 incline
-0:30 fast on a 0.5 incline
-1:00 easy effort on a 0.5 incline.
Followed with leg strengthwork and recovery yoga. Foam rolling at night.
-2:00 at a strong effort on a 3.0 incline (the Iwo Jima hill averages a 3% incline)
-1:30 easy effort on a 0.5 incline
-0:30 fast on a 0.5 incline
-1:00 easy effort on a 0.5 incline.
Followed with leg strengthwork and recovery yoga. Foam rolling at night.
Saturday: 7 miles very easy (9:04), drills and four strides, live streaming yoga. Then on the treadmill for 3.5 more miles (8:54). Finished up with some back unloading work and foam rolling.
Sunday: 15.5 miles, including 14 miles progression (split as first 4 averaging 9:12, next 4 averaging 7:51, next 6 averaging 6:55) and a 1.5 mile cooldown. Followed with leg strengthwork and streaming yoga. Foam rolling at night.
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