week 2 of post-op training (6 weeks after op itself), and things continue to head in roughly the right direction, training is getting back on track (with no major issues), eating is good, hydration is good, and overall my motivation is pretty good. the main issue of the week was probably trying to get back into the daily routine, and trying to get up earlier, and head out for a run.
I’ll be honest, most of the time I struggled on that front. However I did cut myself some slack, after all it’s only been 6 weeks since I had the hernia fixed, and only 1 week since being allowed to run again!
monday 8th
having taken part in the Masters Athletics (WA) 10.7k run the day before, and having run the whole distance without walking, I gave myself a rest day. this even extemded to not getting in a lunchtime walk, but that was due more to weather and circumstances rather than a conscious decision.
I did make a mental note that this would be the LAST time Monday became a bonus rest day, unless I was ill, had an exceptionally hard weekend, or to prevent/reduce injury. time to get back into full time, full on training mode!
tuesday 9th
in my home-grown training plan, I have preserved an overall structure from previous marathon training; this makes tuesdays and thursdays speed/threshold/tempo days. the theory being that even though my focus is “lots of kms”, micing up the training styles will help minimise injury, and the cardio/threshold work will be beneficial to my running as a whole.
so I have started going to “darkrun” on a Tuesday evening; this is an unofficial training session at my local parkrun course. initiated by parkrun regular and awesome marathoner, Ben Harris, a bunch of running buddies gather together, do intervals, run/walk, fartlek etc. eto suit, followed by a 5k freedom run of the parkrun course.
this week I decided to push myself a little harder than last week, built up some good short, sharp bursts of speed and was feeling quite happy going into the 5k recovery run. apart from a bit of stitch, early on, the 5k went well, and the whole night was topped off by our friend Abdul bringing birthday cake to share (for his own birthday).
awesome idea, and fantastic to see 30 or so people there. if parkrun is our night club, then darkrun is our mid-week trip to the pub for a couple of bevvies 🙂
wednesday 10th
a late night after “darkrun” led to sleeping in, led to not doing any training. wednesdays are ear-marked for “cross training”, a gym session incorporating rowing, strength work and cycling. again, I didn’t give myself a hard time, I simply vowed that this would be “the last time”.
thursday 11th
thursday morning I headed into Perth on the first bus, and got in a 10k run around the river before work. I love this option, love running around the Swan River, and it’s great to mix up the training with a river run, or even King’s Park. I was originally intending for this to be some kind of tempo session, but I started out too fast (i.e. skipped warm-up) and my right calf muscle was giving me a bit of grief (probably due to the extra effort I had put in at darkrun and/or not warming up).
so this ended up as a 10km easy pace run around the river.
friday 12th
my actual scheduled rest day, and I took it – if only to give the calf muscle a bit of a rest!
saturday 13th
parkrun day! but I did a little more than just a 5km timed run. I had agreed to meet my friend kitty for a 12k “warm-up” beforehand. Kitty is currently training for the half marathon at Melbourne next month, and was looking for someone to run 12k at a 6:50 to 7:00 per km pace. in the end we averaged about 6:40, and then followed that with a slow 5k parkrun “recovery”
I also squeezed about 1.5km in between the two, having to run out to a couple of marshal positions, help a couple of the Rogues get in position, and then run back to the start line. My 5km became a run/walk!
sunday 14th
determined to start pushing my weekly time and distance up, and because my calf was feeling fine after the previous day’s 19km total, I headed out to Darlington, up in the Perth Hills, for the Masters Athletics (WA) 14k Darlington Dash.
The course itself is a simple 3.5k out and back, more or less in a straight line on the Heritage Trail, and cutting through some beautiful forest scenery. for the 7k event it’s a simple out and back, for the 14k runners it’s out and back, then repeat.
the outward 3.5k is pretty much all uphill, and the return is all downhill. do that twice and your legs are doing a lot of work. I was running it at a very easy pace, averaging around 8:30 per km, and really enjoyed it. not only that but there was a morning tea afterwards, a chance to chat to a few people, and just soak up the really pretty surroundings.
what better way to spend a sunday morning in spring?
overall
it was a great second week of training, with a total of 54.8km logged on Strava (including a few kms of lunchtime walks).
yes I can still feel that my body is getting used to actually running again, but this week was an improvement on the previous week, and despite a few little niggles, I can feel the finess levels returning very quickly. to have finished the week with a 33km weekend, was simply outstanding.
onwards and upwards!
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