The years that were... :)

Wow! Logging back into this site after 3+ years!!!  So much has gone by, but on reading my last post, I realise that running-wise I'm still pretty much in the same place I was three years ago... 

To recap, I got injured in 2018. Feeling cocky after a particularly good half marathon race in October, I signed up for a 20-mile race (a new distance for me) with less than 8 weeks time to train for it. Recipe for disaster right? I know! Developed a cyst in my knee due to over training (too much, too fast), was kept off running for about 7-8 months, slowly built back to running a 5K in 2020 Jan... then, Covid19! Many lockdowns and also getting covid meant an on-again-off-again training pattern. The first half of 2021 seemed promising, it felt like I was getting back into the groove again. I was focussed on my 10K training and by mid year, I was almost back to pre-injury paces. Then we moved. I know it sounds ridiculous to say that the new place vibes turned me into a relaxed-i-don't-want-to-workout-anymore-person but I am saying it anyway. In 2022 July, I ran my slowest 10K race ever, clocking 72 something minutes. While it felt great to be doing a running event after a big gap, the race failed to reignite the old passion I felt for running.  Since then (and about a dozen cats later - IYKYK) my runs have gotten really sporadic and I seem to have really imbibed the feline spirit wanting to just stretch out and sleep all day. 😐

Okay so why the need to resuscitate this blog only to report this bland turn of events - you may be thinking right about now - and this is why: 2 days ago I decided to sign up for the Chennai Marathon coming up in Jan 2024. And I signed up for the 20 mile category. Yes, I did too! Its my big move to beat the distance that brought me down 5 years ago, to get my running mojo back and to fall in love with the sport all over again. Its a big ask - but I have 18 weeks to train and I think I've got it in me to see it through. 

So like with all the races that came before, I've got my training logs & records reopened and I remembered that this blog used to be a big part of my record keeping too. 

So here goes!!!

The year that was...

I think its safe to say that this year was quite a let down (for me and a lot of people around the world). In Jan, I was all set to make a post-injury comeback but you know what they say about the best-laid-plans...

COVID comes along and the March to May lockdowns put a pause to all training. All the year through, my training can be best described as being on-and-off.

This December however turned out to be the saving-grace. I managed a fair bit of consistency, racking up a mileage of 80K for the month. The high point though was this morning's run. I ran my first 10K post-injury in 70 minutes and it felt so good. I didn't push the pace and ran at what felt like a moderate effort.

I'm wishing for 2021 to be the year of 10Ks... waiting to see if I can get back to my pre-injury pace and quicker...

SBI Green 5K

Even though the event is billed as a "Marathon" I feel odd calling it one when I've only run 5K. Given that the route was actually 500 meters shy of a 5K, I should probably consider revising the title to SBI Green 4K and then some. :)

After my little toe mishap, that had put me back on the sidelines for another 5 weeks, I got back to running on Jan 19th. (Yes, I keep track of these things.) This particular event was originally scheduled for 1st Dec, 2019 and got postponed due to bad weather. The new date had been set for Feb 9th which gave me just about 3 weeks to prepare for it. At the start, my little toe still hurt so my stride was off and I felt like I had to keep my pace at an easy - moderate effort. So all I could commit to was 30 minute runs at an easy, comfortable pace three days a week until race day. 

Despite the squished toe, my pace was still "decent" and by the end of 3 weeks I was running comfortably at 6'55". Come Race Day, that was more or less the pace I stuck to. I completed the "5K" in 31:31 but according to my watch that timing was for a distance of 4.53K. The event wasn't particularly well organized but as small-time races go, it was okay. I got my medal and my belated bib for 2019 and that was that!

I'm more excited about whats to come. The toe is more or less fine now. My knee is fine(ish) and I can resume a consistent schedule of running now. I’ve got my year-in-running all planned out and I can’t wait! Will keep this space updated.

Update

Two months ago, I was all set to run a 5K and earn my sole bib for 2019. After weeks of building up my base through slow run-walk progressions, I was finally able to run continously. I did a couple of 5K time trials too with a decent time of 32 odd minutes. But as Murphy's Law would have it, the race was called off last minute due to bad weather. <eye roll> 

While I was disappointed that my one event for 2019 wouldn't happen as I had hoped, I was still very excited at being back on my run journey and was very much looking forward to amping my training, doing some tempo runs and maybe even some speed drills. 

My immediate goal was to build my base and improve my 5K time before getting back to half marathon or distance training. With that goal in mind I started upon a new training schedule that included some 1K repeats, 100 & 200m speed training sessions and some easy days which would have been  incredibly fun to do after those weeks of run/walk workouts. But this was not to be. <another eye roll>

On Dec 7th, I stupidly went and stubbed my toe (not on purpose of course!) - twice! (That too, in the span of 2 hours no less). It was the little toe on my right foot. It swelled up and got all blue & black. Maybe it broke a little or maybe it was just a major impact but it was super painful and though its been nearly 6 weeks, it hasn't returned to normal yet. As is typical of me, I didn't get it checked out. <shrug>

It honestly felt like the universe was trying to keep me from running. 

But then, I had holidays coming up and generally December is a very social month for us so it was just as well. I probably wouldn't have been able to run even if this hadn't happened. Why overthink things? Why add unnecessary meaning to random mishaps? I was careless and I got hurt. Why bring the universe in to it? I will resume running when I can.

Hopefully the pain will ease off completely in a few days time. At present it only hurts when I wear very tight closed shoes and move very fast. If I put a lot of pressure on the toe from the top it hurts but tapping it lightly and applying a medium amount of pressure doesn't hurt anymore. It's also not as swollen as before. (I have hope for it! :))

Whenever I do resume running, I'll have to start slow all over again. And that sucks! But the journey is often more joyful than the destination (which, in this case, is elusive anyways and constantly moving further away) and without these little bumps along the way, to learn & grow from, I'm pretty sure I would have stagnated or given this up a long time ago.

Pushing On!

Two months ago, I was doing intervals of  1.5 min run & 1 min walk. In 6 weeks, I gradually brought the run interval up to 7 minutes and I was comfortably running about 1K in that time. Since then, each run, I've been walking 5 seconds less in each run/walk cycle bringing the walk interval down to 25 seconds.

Today’s run was a new milestone in my back-to-running journey. I pushed the run interval to ten and a half minutes and was able to run over 1.5K. Ran 4 sets of it with a walk interval of 25 secs in between sets. Felt really good!

My aim, ofcourse, is to transition to running longer distances at a stretch and bring that walk interval down to nothing. A few more runs and I should be there. 

Incidentally, I've signed up for a 5K race on Dec 1st. The biggest motivation for this was to earn a race bib to add to my collection. This one will be my sole bib representing 2019. Now I’m really looking forward to that race environment. Its been too long!

Amp Up

The reason I started this blog way back in 2015 was for me to have a record of my entire running journey. Very often I go back to some of the older articles as a reference point to understand what I've done right in the past and to learn from old mistakes. I'm hoping this particular return to running plan will serve as some use in the future (if ever there is another pause in my running adventure).

This past week I took a tiny break from the running. Just to give a bit of a breather for my legs (& right knee - which has been doing rather well I must say!) before amping up again. Everyday though, I spent 20 - 25 minutes stretching and working on mobility and I've generally been pretty active throughout the day, taking plenty of small walking breaks while at my desk and otherwise. 

I found these three videos particularly helpful in developing my stretching & mobility routine and I'm linking them up here..

22 exercises for bad knees

7 Knee strengthening exercises

Yoga Stretches for injured knees

Over the next few weeks, I am going to be increasing my run intervals slowly from 2 minutes to 8 minutes and if all goes well, by the end of October I would have progressed to running a km or more at a stretch. I'm hoping that in November I can start on a 5K training plan which would be the starting point to return to distance running.

#fingerscrossed

Blessings in Disguise

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.