Thursday, October 04, 2018

Slowly Does It

So on Thursday I hurt my Achilles on the last meters before the finish line of a 5K, leaving me rather worried. On Friday it was so stiff on both legs that running was completely out of the question and left me hobbling round the office like an old man (no smart comments, please). However, the fact that it wasn't actually hurting was a very good sign.

On Saturday morning I first ran down to the shop to pick up some milk as well as to test out the Achilles, and the news was good.While it was sill a bit stiff it definitely felt ready to run again, so I did.

I changed my approach. I looked at the time I ran in the 5K, and while it was almost 3 minutes slower than my PB it was still aged-graded over 70% and the equivalent of an 18:18 of a younger man. While not exactly winning any major championships, or even a minor one, it's actually not that bad, especially when compared to my marathon time in Berlin. So I figured I still have a bit of pace left, relatively speaking, but my endurance has gone to bits.

How do you build up endurance?

By running more miles.

How do you manage to run more miles when they keep leaving you exhausted?

By running them slower!

So that's what I did. I didn't follow the advice of leaving the watch at home entirely because I'm too much of a numbers geek and would just fret over what the numbers would have been had I recorded them, but I'm good at ignoring the watch completely when I'm out running.

Tuesday's run into work was a bit of a struggle, not helped by a headwind for 10 miles, but Thursday was already a lot better, even if it was equally as slow. I think this is already working, though it's a bit early to tell.

29 Sep
1.16 miles, 11:01, 9:29 pace, HR 134
4+ miles, 35:38, 8:45 pace, HR 148
30 Sep
8.5 miles, 1:19:33, 9:21 pace, HR 146
   very hilly
1 Oct
6.32 miles, 56:38, 8:57 pace, HR 144
2 Oct
10.25 miles, 1:31:22, 8:54 pace, HR 149
3 Oct
5.55 miles, 52:35, 9:28 pace, HR 138
4 Oct
10.22 miles, 1:30:38, 8:52 pace, HR 148

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