Holding Patterning
Well, it's two more runs that have fallen by the wayside since I last posted on Tuesday. Indeed, as suspected, my right Achilles tendon is the culprit behind all of this missingness. Yes, it's not a word and I know that, but it should be because that's exactly what I'm experiencing. Although I'm still hitting the gym every day, and things are actually going well there, I'm frustrated to no end that I can't run. My consternation is doubled by the fact that this injury has fallen right in the middle of what was supposed to be a terrific marathon training cycle!
Anyway, I have made a pact that I will not run again until my Achilles is 100%. This is not an area of the body to be messed with when attempting to run any significant distance and despite all of this ultramarathoning that's been going around I still believe the marathon ranks squarely in the "significant distance" category. Perhaps more to the point, the training required to get to the marathon attempt in the first place is "significant". As I'm sure you know the training will undoubtedly bring any aches and pains, weaknesses, imbalances, etc. to the forefront and this is what's happened to me.
So, with all of that new found wisdom I've been doing more reading. (What else can you expect from a frustrated runner with a Masters in Library and Information Science?!)
I took out this book from my local Library and have been perusing it in what for me counts as as thorough fashion. In short, I jump around like a boxer with a skipping rope on a sugar high and graze like an Impala after monsoon season, provided neither is not hobbled by an Achilles tendon injury. What I'm getting from it is this:
1. I've been running at too high an intensity too often
2. I've been running with too much pain (see point 1) and not enough fun
3. I've been ignoring my heart rate like I ignore the lint building up in my clothes dryer
Whenever it is that I can get back to running I must, therefore, start training smarter with my personal limits in mind and get back on the heart rate monitor band wagon since that approach is what allowed me to run all of last year with minimal time missed due to aches and pains.The ego says GO GO GO. The brain now must put the ego into some sort of stranglehold and shut it the hell up.
Training by PACE (for yours truly) can only lead to missing the race.
Training by HEART RATE (for yours truly) will undoubtedly lead to a race that's great.
There you go. A new motto is born...
Coming up, I have to rework the training plan. Exactly 100 days to go until the marathon. Yikes!
Anyway, I have made a pact that I will not run again until my Achilles is 100%. This is not an area of the body to be messed with when attempting to run any significant distance and despite all of this ultramarathoning that's been going around I still believe the marathon ranks squarely in the "significant distance" category. Perhaps more to the point, the training required to get to the marathon attempt in the first place is "significant". As I'm sure you know the training will undoubtedly bring any aches and pains, weaknesses, imbalances, etc. to the forefront and this is what's happened to me.
I took out this book from my local Library and have been perusing it in what for me counts as as thorough fashion. In short, I jump around like a boxer with a skipping rope on a sugar high and graze like an Impala after monsoon season, provided neither is not hobbled by an Achilles tendon injury. What I'm getting from it is this:
1. I've been running at too high an intensity too often
2. I've been running with too much pain (see point 1) and not enough fun
3. I've been ignoring my heart rate like I ignore the lint building up in my clothes dryer
Whenever it is that I can get back to running I must, therefore, start training smarter with my personal limits in mind and get back on the heart rate monitor band wagon since that approach is what allowed me to run all of last year with minimal time missed due to aches and pains.The ego says GO GO GO. The brain now must put the ego into some sort of stranglehold and shut it the hell up.
Training by PACE (for yours truly) can only lead to missing the race.
Training by HEART RATE (for yours truly) will undoubtedly lead to a race that's great.
There you go. A new motto is born...
Coming up, I have to rework the training plan. Exactly 100 days to go until the marathon. Yikes!
Labels: injury
posted by Vava at
3:22 PM
2 Comments:
Bummer about your injury - I have no idea on how to treat a achilles tendon injury.
That book sounds like a good one, Arthur Lydiard is the New Zealand coach from the 1970s right?
Your observation that you are training at too high of an intensity seems right to me.
Training at too high of an intensity goes hand and hand with heartrate. It seemed like for your half marathon you trained perfectly. It didn't seem like you were training at too high of an intensity. I would try to go back to that level of intensity for the marathon, or maybe even back it off a bit more.
Definitely running based on heartrate is the best way - that is how I like to train to avoid pushing myself too hard.
Good luck with the injury!
It took me almost 40 years of running to figure this out, i.e. that running at too high an an intensity too often leads to over-training, injuries & poor results. This is an 'ah ha!' moment which will stand you in good stead for years. Now just to get over the pesky achilles heel injury...
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