9 weeks of my back to running plan certainly flew by (then again, maybe not)! Last week, I was at the 1 min walk + 1 min run cycle (repeated for 45 minutes) and this week (which is the last week of this phase) I'll be increasing my run interval to 1.5 minutes. So after 9 weeks of more walking than running, the plan now finally flips!
I'm currently covering a distance of about 5.2K - 5.3K in 45 minutes of which approximately 3.3K is the distance run. With next week's bump up, there would be a gradual increment of about 700m in the run distance. The knees have been holding up well with all the running so far and I see no reason why next week should be any different.
The end aim ofcourse, is to be able to run continuously for longer distances like before. The present stage may seem a long way away but its not so bad. I have realised that this post-injury recovery phase has actually become a blessing in disguise.
Paying attention to form
These days when I run, I am a lot more aware of my form and definitely more concious of my foot-landing. Generally a mid-foot landing is advised while running to reduce the impact on the joints and avoiding heel-strike also comes highly recommended for the same reasons. While this has been in my head for a couple of years, I find myself paying particular attention to my landing now. These short, slow-paced spurts of running is allowing me to stay focussed on form as opposed to those long runs where I let my attention wander and go into auto-pilot mode.
Discovering the concept of cadence
Cadence (number of steps taken in a minute) is a concept that I was aware of in theory. It was one of those garmin stats that was just there and always overlooked. The standard wisdom is that to run fast while maintainting running economy you need to have a cadence of 180. A cadence range of 170-190 is widely accepted as the "sweet spot". Ultimately your running speed is dependent on your cadence & stride length so it's generally good practice to work on both. Since I've been running 1 minute intervals over the past few weeks, it's been a great opportunity to observe my cadence which up until now, I have never done. I literally count the number of steps in my head while running and I've discovered that my cadence is on average 160 - 170. This is a great jump off point for me to start working on bettering my cadence. Awareness is the first step right?
Building a base
When I first took up running. I did it quite blindly. It was something I enjoyed and I was happy to go with the "flow". I ran 1 5K and then 2 10Ks and my 4th race was a HM (in a span of a year and 3 months). Having never had an athletic background, this rocketing progression did me no favours. I had literally no foundation for speed, power or stamina and I didn't bother trying to build one. Over the course of the many HMs that I ran afterwards, I did build an endurance base. But endurance without stamina is not a great formula. This current phase has been a blessing in disguise because it is will help me build a better base for later progressions. My aim is now to improve my 5K timing (which is the starting point for distance running), do more speed and conditioning training and in general try and develop into a more "powerful", "well-rounded" runner than an "easy / happy go lucky" runner. (Clearly this is how I see myself :) )
So I am enjoying this phase now and I appreciate this time I have to work on these new foundation goals. By the end of October, I'm hoping I will have progressed to running 1K intervals with good form and cadence. And in November I will start work on bettering my base pace.
Goals are what make training fun ;) I always like to say.
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