My week in sports #10
Marathon preparation is in full swing and I have started my training schedule for the 42.195k. That means running 4 times a week, and trying to squeeze in some strength training every now and then. This week, I started feeling some tightness in my achilles. And all of a sudden, all my plans got canceled…
Monday – 2 March
Usually Mondays are for some light training at best, but today I am going skiing with Victor. Indoor, that is, as preparation for our ski trip to Switzerland. I am not an experienced skier and if I were to take lessons in Switzerland, I would probably go bankrupt, so we decide to make the best of it here in the Nederlands. After an hour of getting the hang of it again, I get a 50 minute private class and I can feel my technique improving a little again. Another 30 minutes on the ‘steepest indoor skipiste of Europe’ (if this is it…) and we are done for the day. Good training!
Tuesday
Looking forward to training again, but also a little nervous. I check the schedule and it informs me that we will do a fartlek run in the streets surrounding the track. As I cannot really see anything in the dark without glasses and as I still find it hard to determine the right pace off the track, I am worried that I might walk away worse that I came. During the first half of the training, I thoroughly enjoy myself. We do some relay and before I know it, we’re halfway through. And then the hard part starts. We do 400m laps around the block in varying paces and we start off way too fast. I feel my achilles twinge but I don’t want to be that person standing on the sideline, so I continue. Bad plan… But I did finish the training.
Type: Fartlek
Duration: 40 minutes excl. warm up and cooling down
Distance: 7.5K
Wednesday
No training today! My left achilles feels a little stiff, but other than that I feel good. Just some core training today as I way too lazy yesterday.
Thursday
Track training! I looked forward to it all day (especially as the weather had been quite nice). I could’ve known that once I wanted to hop on my bike for training, it started pouring again. WHY THO. We start the warming up with a bigger lap and do our technical training in a parking garage. Semi-warm and dry! But during the warming up I keep feeling my achilles and I don’t trust it. My trainer fusses a little over it and when he suggests to head home because it doesn’t feel right, I cannot do anything else than agree. Bummer.
Type: Easy warm-up
Distance: a bit shorter than planned, a 3k before I head home
Duration: 20 minutes
Friday
No workout, just a visit to my physical therapist. He examines my achilles, tortures it with a ‘rapid release’ device and works on my lower back. His advice is exactly the same as my trainer’s was: if I don’t feel any twitches, stiffness or unpleasantness anymore, I might be able to run the half marathon but a sane person who wants to run a marathon in 10 weeks should accept a DNS on Sunday. I don’t want to hear that.
Saturday
A slow 7k was planned, but I decide to be smart about it and stay home. On the bright side, I get to sleep in a little! The weather is beautiful so I opt for a walk and I text my trainer that I will not start the CPC. My achilles does feel better, a lot better, but I’ve decided my marathon is way more important for me than this race. Could it be that I am getting wiser over time?
Sunday – 8 March
I really want to start the CPC. I really, really, really want it. My achilles feels good too. So maybe… Okay, no. Don’t be stupid and just be grateful that it does not appear to be an injury after all, and that the extra rest has done the proper healing. In the afternoon, I decide to go for a slow and easy run to test if I am really feeling better. I also worry a little about my schedule during the ski trip, so any km’s that I can run here are welcome. I map out a route that hits home three times in case I start feeling something, but I can easily manage the planned 9k. Happy about that!
Type: Easy run
Duration: 61 minutes
Distance: 9.4k
It seems as if the injury scare was just a bit of ‘too much enthusiasm’, and I am happy that my trainer can be so strict in taking rest. In the past year, I’ve run multiple events while feeling some type of injury and it usually took me longer to heal than necessary. With the marathon only 10 weeks out, this is an attitude I don’t want to keep right now. And as some unplanned rest does not immediately throw out any progress I made, I try to keep calm about this ‘failed’ week. Let’s hope I can run a bit while being in Switzerland, but at the very least I will be enjoying the mountain air and some snow!
Running Ella 