Another week of building things back up for me folks with a few slight hiccups but in general all in all a good week.
Weekly Recap:
Monday: Rest Day
Tuesday: 4.3 miles – 35.04
Wednesday: 6 miles – 45.25
Thursday: 7.15 miles – 53.21
Friday: 7 miles – 45.28 (10 mins easy / 20 min progression / 10 mins easy)
Saturday: 4.1 miles – 31.42
Sunday: Rest Day
So on Monday hadn’t planned to take a rest day but my back was quite sore and felt like I had slightly tweaked it so thought it might be better to rest it and see what it was like Tuesday. Luckily enough felt fine waking up Tuesday morning but kept things low enough volume wise throughout the week just to be safe. Tackled a progression run on Friday where I essentially picked it up slightly every 5 mins before easing back down for the last 10 mins. Clocked mile splits in the middle of 6.07, 5.51 & 5.41 and felt quite comfortable so overall content with the session. Normally I’d tackle something faster after not completing sessions for a few weeks but want to keep things low in terms of intensity and volume over the next few weeks before building things up further! Had planned to run longer on Saturday but the outside of my knee felt a bit sore so decided to cap it at just over 4 miles. Trying to listen to my body at the moment and if its giving me hints to do less I’ll do less. Tested things out with 6 miles today and knee feels good so good decision I think on my part to be overly cautious!
I know for some reading this they’ll be thinking this lad is always holding back or constantly taking days off when the slight bit of a niggle appears. And maybe you’d be right but I’ve learned over the years pushing through and ignoring a message your body is trying to tell you will only lead to further time out. That day you didn’t end up taking a rest day can then turn into a month of no running! Don’t get me wrong I do think there’s a time to push things on and realise that not every day your body is going to feel 100% but I think its important to ascertain whether something is tight / fatigued or whether its actual pain. Sometimes this can be really difficult to know and a good rule of thumb over the years I’ve tended to use from various physios and experts is that if the pain is a 4/10 or more then its probably best to rest up and dive into what the issue is, what’s causing it and how you’re going to fix it. Trying to determine what is a 4/10 is difficult and something I’ve struggled with but it really is your judgement call and comes back to listening to your body and picking up on the hints its trying to tell you!
Had great fun last Monday catching up with an old college mate Michael Doocey from MFitness and answering some questions from his Active April Fitness Crew on all things running. You can catch the chat on the guys new “Health is Wealth” Podcast on Spotify. The guys have a new podcast each week so check them out!
Have a great week folks and remember to listen to your body 😊
Cheers,
Noel
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