Sub-40min 10k

[Daniel]

Certainly the shoes are aggravating the achilles. After 2 days I have no irritation or pain at all when barefoot or wearing open backed shoes but the moment I put my shoes on I can feel the irritation again. Also no problem doing heel drops or stretches. Apart from cutting the heel off my shoes I'm not sure what I can do but wait...

Unfortunately I had to miss the parkrun because of this. Hopefully it will settle down in a few days and I can get back into the routine. I have entered a 10k race in 3 weeks.

[TheEd]

please keep me informed

TheEd

[Daniel]

Went for a short, light trial run this morning to see how the heel would hold up. It's been 6 days without running and with the race coming up in 3 weeks wanted to assess whether I'm OK to recommence training. I've had no pain at all in the heel for a few days, have no trouble at all doing heel drops.

I did a longish warmup including massaging the achilles before starting. The pain returned quite quickly and slowly got worse over the first KM. I stopped for a minute and adjusted my lacing to a heel lock which seemed to help. The pain subsided a little and didn't get any worse for the next few KM. I stopped after 3.5-4km as it was only a trial run.

Now that I've cooled down I can still feel some soreness at the achilles insertion point, maybe a 2-3 out of 10. I will do the heel lock lacing again and attempt the 5x2km tomorrow, but won't continue if the pain gets beyond a 5-6 out of 10.

[TheEd]

reduce to only 3 x 2k

and don't test to see if the heel is feeling better continually

all should be OK

TheEd

[Daniel]

Hi TheEd,

Unfortunately I didn't get out the door this morning. Everything felt fine, just a slight residual pain so I got ready and did some light stretching. Then when I put my shoes on and took a step the pain went from a 1/10 to a 5/10 immediately.

I guess it's time to see a physio...

[Daniel]

Hi TheEd,

Just a quick update on my recovery from achilles problem.

After about 2.5 weeks off running the achilles improved enough to run again. The first few runs were still a bit sore, but the last few I have had no pain at all. I have been running in different shoes with a heel counter that doesn't aggravate the achilles, unfortunately they have a lower heel-toe drop than what I'm used to which isn't ideal but I can't afford yet another pair. I ran about 33km last week.

Hoping to learn from my mistakes, I'm planning to spend the next 3 weeks gradually picking up the training load rather than launch straight back into it. This week I will aim to get up to normal training duration (6 days, 30-60min per day) but only doing easy runs. Then over the next 2 weeks will stay with the same load but include a couple of faster runs. Of course any signs of trouble and I will back off. All going well I'll be ready to start back on the cycle in 3 weeks time.

The last 2 runs were easy 60min and easy 30min:

Duration 55:06min | 12.06km | Avg Pace 4:34 | Avg HR 155
Duration 29:45min | 6.57km | Avg Pace 4:32 | Avg HR 151

[TheEd]

good to hear you on the mend

take a look at the Build-up routine

http://www.time-to-run.com/training/10k/buildup.htm

and see if there is anything you can take from that

TheEd

[Daniel]

Hi TheEd,

I have mostly followed the build up plan for the last 2 weeks with the exception that I have not done any hard hill work as I think that would put too much stress on the achilles. I've also taken a couple of rest days when I feel I've needed it. I've done around 60km each of the past 2 weeks, so far the achilles is holding up well and I'm not encountering any problems.

If all continues to go well I will look to include the 4km TT later this week and start back on the training cycle the week after (Tue 9th September).

I have a target 10km race on 1st November so I should be able to complete 3 full cycles if I can stay healthy. Look forward to getting back into the swing of things.

[Daniel]

Hi TheEd,

Have been continuing with the buildup, though took an extra day off this week. Ran the 4km TT this morning. It wasn't a great run, I picked up a cold yesterday and the body was feeling tired/heavy. Started out too fast and suffered the rest of the way. Never mind, good to get it done and get ready to move back on the cycle.

Splits as follows:

3:51
4:08
4:13
4:12

Total 16:24, average pace 4:06/km.

I think I could have run a lot stronger without the cold so if you think it's OK I'd like to set target pace for the intervals at:

4:10/km (8:20) for the 5x2km
4:00/km for the 6x1km
3:50/km (92sec) for the 8x400m

Tomorrow I plan to run 75-80min then easy 60min Monday before starting the cycle on Tuesday.

Good news is I have had no niggles or injury for the past 2 weeks of running.

[TheEd]

monitor your morning pulse, colds are part of the bother that can interupt our running

see this article: When a Bug Strkes

http://www.time-to-run.com/doctor/bug-strikes.htm

good to hear, no niggles

TheEd