Moving On, Sort Of
It's difficult to keep a running related blog even remotely updated when one is continually sidetracked with injuries, not to mention life in general. I missed pretty much all of July in running terms and with the Toronto Waterfront Marathon now less than two months away things are at a bit of a breaking point. So here's the update...
In the last week of July I started to walk include commuting of foot either to or from work. It's not a long distance really, somewhere in the 6.5-7km range depending on the route, but at least it was something. What shocked me most of all was the muscle pain I encountered in a variety of places from just walking! In the lower and upper leg things were definitely being "activated". It proved to me that running really does ignore a bunch of muscles that are very much exercised when one walks. I don't mean strolling along and gazing at the view. I mean walking at as brisk a pace as one can sustain for the entire duration of the activity. It definitely gets aerobic!
Anyway, the other thing I did as I tried to recover from my left Achilles tendinitis was calf raises. Nothing too crazy or anything, just single legged body weight calf raises. And my calves go so sore! I was shocked, and clearly my calves, which I always assumed were fairly strong, were weak. The soreness only lasted a couple of days, but I continue to do the calf raises almost daily to ensure that this group of muscles is not ignored. On top of that I have also been to a massage therapist once each week for the past month or so just to get some help in recovery and for "maintenance".
So, after about a week or two of walking to/from work I started to sprinkle in some running. Just a kilometre at a time in amongst the walking. This was after I managed a 13.5km walk in the hills around the cottage one Sunday, which took me nearly two hours to complete. I figured if I can huff and puff my way through that distance I must be strong enough and recovered enough to start gentle jogging.
Now as we hit the last days of August, I'm at a stage where I'm walking to work in the morning and walk/running home in the evening. The mileage for running isn't great, but the total mileage including the walking is decent. Last week I managed 75km with 49km running. This week I'm already at 50km and I decided to take a break and rode my bike to work this morning, though I am planning to hit up the track later this evening for some easy intervals (400m with same distance walks for recovery). Tomorrow, should I continue to feel pretty good physically, I will once again walk to work and (mostly) run home.
The Achilles still tightens up now and then with this routine, and I realize that I am potentially asking for trouble with daily walking/running, but I firmly believe now that walking must be a significant part of my training if I am to remain injury free. Guess I'm going back to the training philosophy of the Finn's from the 1920s in this regard, but given that I'm not an elite athlete I figure any program, no matter how dated, is better than the alternative.
Here's to healthy walking/running and to a marathon without that dreaded death march, which is the ONLY goal for this year other than finishing the distance, of course.
In the last week of July I started to walk include commuting of foot either to or from work. It's not a long distance really, somewhere in the 6.5-7km range depending on the route, but at least it was something. What shocked me most of all was the muscle pain I encountered in a variety of places from just walking! In the lower and upper leg things were definitely being "activated". It proved to me that running really does ignore a bunch of muscles that are very much exercised when one walks. I don't mean strolling along and gazing at the view. I mean walking at as brisk a pace as one can sustain for the entire duration of the activity. It definitely gets aerobic!
Anyway, the other thing I did as I tried to recover from my left Achilles tendinitis was calf raises. Nothing too crazy or anything, just single legged body weight calf raises. And my calves go so sore! I was shocked, and clearly my calves, which I always assumed were fairly strong, were weak. The soreness only lasted a couple of days, but I continue to do the calf raises almost daily to ensure that this group of muscles is not ignored. On top of that I have also been to a massage therapist once each week for the past month or so just to get some help in recovery and for "maintenance".
So, after about a week or two of walking to/from work I started to sprinkle in some running. Just a kilometre at a time in amongst the walking. This was after I managed a 13.5km walk in the hills around the cottage one Sunday, which took me nearly two hours to complete. I figured if I can huff and puff my way through that distance I must be strong enough and recovered enough to start gentle jogging.
Now as we hit the last days of August, I'm at a stage where I'm walking to work in the morning and walk/running home in the evening. The mileage for running isn't great, but the total mileage including the walking is decent. Last week I managed 75km with 49km running. This week I'm already at 50km and I decided to take a break and rode my bike to work this morning, though I am planning to hit up the track later this evening for some easy intervals (400m with same distance walks for recovery). Tomorrow, should I continue to feel pretty good physically, I will once again walk to work and (mostly) run home.
The Achilles still tightens up now and then with this routine, and I realize that I am potentially asking for trouble with daily walking/running, but I firmly believe now that walking must be a significant part of my training if I am to remain injury free. Guess I'm going back to the training philosophy of the Finn's from the 1920s in this regard, but given that I'm not an elite athlete I figure any program, no matter how dated, is better than the alternative.
Here's to healthy walking/running and to a marathon without that dreaded death march, which is the ONLY goal for this year other than finishing the distance, of course.
posted by Vava at
3:50 PM
0 Comments
