A long gap here between posts… But it’s not as bad as it seems!\u00a0 I’ve been back running for just over a month now after inuring my achilles tendon just before christmas.\u00a0 My achilles took about two and a half months to improve to the point that I could run again, and it’s taken me another month or so to get to the point where I feel I’ve got something to write about here (and to get to the point where I don’t feel like I’ll be jinxing myself by announcing my return to running!).\u00a0 If you want an idea of the kind of running I was doing over that month, just look at the previous entries here.\u00a0 I started off with 1\/4 mile runs, then built up from there.\u00a0 My longest run to date was yesterday, 4 miles.<\/p>\n
I think that the reason my achilles went “ping” before christmas was that I jumped into the speedwork and hill sprints way too soon.\u00a0 Too much to soon doesn’t just apply to distance, but also intensity.\u00a0 So I’ve decided to scrap the training plan I was trying and have taken up another training plan which is basically just about setting down a good mileage base at the moment.\u00a0 I’m running three times a week, doing HIIT a couple of times a week, and also doing a couple of sessions of cross training on the exercise bike.\u00a0 If I’m feeling good on this plan over the next couple of weeks, I’m hoping to do a 10km race at the end of May.\u00a0 I won’t be racing it, I’ll just be\u00a0aiming to cover the distance and get a free t-shirt!<\/p>\n
8.5\u00a0miles.<\/p>\n
3.<\/p>\n
0.5 miles.<\/p>\n
1.<\/p>\n
Mostly flat, on a mixture of pavement and mud.<\/p>\n
Pavement and earth trails.<\/p>\n
RunAmocs on two, one in Moc3s.<\/p>\n
Dry, but slightly muddy on trails.<\/p>\n
A few blisters (which is why my barefoot running is limited at the moment).\u00a0 But these are from treadmill running a couple of weeks ago.\u00a0 I was staying in a hotel which had free gym passes for the David Lloyd’s over the road, so thought I’d take advantage.\u00a0 My first run in minimal shoes (Moc3s) on a treadmill.\u00a0 It was horrible.\u00a0 I never realised that the belt of the\u00a0treadmill got so hot!\u00a0\u00a0This, coupled with the fact that\u00a0the Moc3s have a kind of neoprene lining, which is brilliant for when it’s cold outside but less good in hot conditions, meant that my feet were\u00a0very hot and very sweaty.\u00a0 I ran for 20 minutes and ended up with\u00a0three or four\u00a0different blisters.\u00a0 However, they’re healing, and I’m not getting any more now thanks to the fact that I’m back running outside.<\/p>\n
No comments, although I got a lot of attention in the David Lloyd’s gym.\u00a0 Lots of people looking at my Moc3s, which, to be honest, do look a bit odd!<\/p>\n
No problems this week.<\/p>\n
It’s weird actually, my first run after my injury, I automaticaly fell into a midfoot landing.\u00a0 I’ve felt no tendancy to heel strike at all, even at the end of my long runs (which are up to 4 miles at the moment) whereas before, I’d find my form getting sloppy due to tiredness.\u00a0 I think the long break from running\u00a0might have helped me to forget about my old heel striking running form and made the midfoot landing much more instinctive for me.<\/p>\n
No injuries apart from the blisters. I’m finding that my achilles occasionally feels stiff and sore in the mornings, but it’s been a steady improvement over the\u00a0last month.\u00a0 I’m\u00a0at the point now where this pain first thing in the morning\u00a0is unusual rather than the norm.\u00a0 I’m getting a bit of calf stiffness the morning after a long run, but nothing too bad!<\/p>\n
Biggest tip – too much too soon injuries can come from upping the intensity of your runs as well as distance!\u00a0 I thought that since\u00a0the\u00a0hill sprints I was doing before christmas\u00a0were only about 50 metres long, they couldn’t do much damage.\u00a0 But they did.\u00a0 I’m almost certain that it was this jump in intensity that caused my achilles to give up.\u00a0 Now, I’m focusing on getting a good mileage base of long, steady runs\u00a0down before trying anything like that again.\u00a0 Even if I do begin speedwork again, it will probably be based on fartlek running rather than hill\u00a0sprints,\u00a0which are horrible things anyway…<\/p>\n
I’ve also read “Chi Running” by Danny Dreyer.\u00a0 While he doesn’t specifically recommend minimal shoes or barefoot running, it’s an approach that has helped me improve my form.\u00a0 It’s definitely worth a read, I think!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A long gap here between posts… But it’s not as bad as it seems!\u00a0 I’ve been back running for just over a month now after inuring my achilles tendon just before christmas.\u00a0 My achilles took about two and a half months to improve to the point that I could run again, and it’s taken me […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-barefoot-running-diaries","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/runningtrainingplan.com\/runningpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/runningtrainingplan.com\/runningpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/runningtrainingplan.com\/runningpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runningtrainingplan.com\/runningpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runningtrainingplan.com\/runningpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3014"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/runningtrainingplan.com\/runningpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3017,"href":"https:\/\/runningtrainingplan.com\/runningpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3014\/revisions\/3017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/runningtrainingplan.com\/runningpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runningtrainingplan.com\/runningpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runningtrainingplan.com\/runningpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}