J'lm Marathon Training #11
Sunday, 7 February 2010
I'm back!
Since my injury on 23 December 2009, I have been training extremely lightly. 3km here, 5km there. Low-pressure jogging to keep the body going, but nothing strenuous. In fact, that was all I could manage for a while. I would run a few kilometers and then my knee would start hurting, so I'd stop.
I saw an orthopedist who said my injury is a common one. Just a strain that will sort itself out in time. I don't have time! The marathon is on 18 March and I have to get into shape. But ill patience is what got me injured to begin with, so I forced myself to take it easy.
Today I did my first 10km since 23 December. I ran strongly for the first 6km. Heading up the hill where I originally hurt my knee, I started to feel a twang. It got steadily worse. I decided to ride out the pain for just a little bit. Perhaps it will settle down.
About 700m into the 1,200m climb, the knee started to steady. The pain was still there but didn't get any worse. I was jogging slowly, my time would suffer, but at least I'd finish. At the top of the hill the pain in my knee had almost disappeared. There was only a hint of pain, nothing I couldn't handle. I thought I'd go on - steady as she goes - slowly up Nachal Refaim.
I tried jogging unevenly, trying to sway the pain away from my left knee. I don't think it worked, but I gained another kilometer trying. I was going slowly, but the pain was not getting any worse at all.
In fact, by the time I got to Dolev, with only another 2km to go, I was taking full strides. There was no pain, although I could still sense that there was something lurking, waiting for me to push myself too hard.
With only 500m to go, and with a downhill to help, I picked up the pace. I wasn't going to beat my record time of 56:05, but I was well on my way to finishing the 10km, which was my goal for this run.
Sprinting to the finish line, I felt a rush of exhilaration course through my body. I lunged over the 10km mark at 63:00. Not bad for my first 10km run in about 1.5 months - with an injury and all. Oh, and I didn't have a stitch of any kind during the entire run.
Now, it's careful planning time - training hard without overdoing it, but pushing myself enough to make improvements. My original plan was to beat 45 minutes. With the time I took off from my training to nurse my injured knee, I doubt I'll achieve that now. But I'm back, and I will run in the race, and glory is within my grasp!
I'm back!
Since my injury on 23 December 2009, I have been training extremely lightly. 3km here, 5km there. Low-pressure jogging to keep the body going, but nothing strenuous. In fact, that was all I could manage for a while. I would run a few kilometers and then my knee would start hurting, so I'd stop.
I saw an orthopedist who said my injury is a common one. Just a strain that will sort itself out in time. I don't have time! The marathon is on 18 March and I have to get into shape. But ill patience is what got me injured to begin with, so I forced myself to take it easy.
Today I did my first 10km since 23 December. I ran strongly for the first 6km. Heading up the hill where I originally hurt my knee, I started to feel a twang. It got steadily worse. I decided to ride out the pain for just a little bit. Perhaps it will settle down.
About 700m into the 1,200m climb, the knee started to steady. The pain was still there but didn't get any worse. I was jogging slowly, my time would suffer, but at least I'd finish. At the top of the hill the pain in my knee had almost disappeared. There was only a hint of pain, nothing I couldn't handle. I thought I'd go on - steady as she goes - slowly up Nachal Refaim.
I tried jogging unevenly, trying to sway the pain away from my left knee. I don't think it worked, but I gained another kilometer trying. I was going slowly, but the pain was not getting any worse at all.
In fact, by the time I got to Dolev, with only another 2km to go, I was taking full strides. There was no pain, although I could still sense that there was something lurking, waiting for me to push myself too hard.
With only 500m to go, and with a downhill to help, I picked up the pace. I wasn't going to beat my record time of 56:05, but I was well on my way to finishing the 10km, which was my goal for this run.
Sprinting to the finish line, I felt a rush of exhilaration course through my body. I lunged over the 10km mark at 63:00. Not bad for my first 10km run in about 1.5 months - with an injury and all. Oh, and I didn't have a stitch of any kind during the entire run.
Now, it's careful planning time - training hard without overdoing it, but pushing myself enough to make improvements. My original plan was to beat 45 minutes. With the time I took off from my training to nurse my injured knee, I doubt I'll achieve that now. But I'm back, and I will run in the race, and glory is within my grasp!
Hi Red 5!
ReplyDeleteI have recently begun a twice weekly exercise class, and we often run 3 km in it.
Between hitting some shattered glass ceiling against feeling good about physical effort and reading about some kid running a marathon, I started considering doing more stuff outside of that class - like running from tzomet bar ilan to NDS and even back. (OK, jogging)
So my wife suggested I look at your blog, to help me learn more about this.
Good luck, I see there are very few other runners registered with you, about 50, but bli neder I hope to be there next year, with what seems to be a mere 4 others in the 45-49 men's category!
Gidon Ariel