This is a first for me. I have always taken one rest day from running every week, when I would swim, bike or do nothing.
I feel great! My legs feel great.
These runs have mostly been within my aerobic zone, with the exception of a few progressions, 2 tempos, and regular strides. One or two weekly runs are done within my recovery heart rate zone. I have not done any intervals, or really hard running (with one exception, a time trial) and my longest run has been only 16 miles.
Why did I not get injured?
Honestly, I think I am not injury prone. I think I have a pretty efficient stride, and am just lucky. I don't do anything special to stay healthy. I do eat well most of the time, and I do sleep a lot (9+hours this week as I am nursing a "who knows what bug"). I also do a lot of plyometrics and strength now, to ensure that my glutes don't get lazy again. I have not been doing anything crazy, like running on super tired legs, increasing mileage and intensity at once, you know, common sense stuff.
BUT...
Many people do what I do and get injured. And it is frustrating. I think many believe that getting injured means that you messed up somewhere in your training. I think that is BS. Messing up most likely correlates with training, but it does not always lead to injury, just as not messing up can lead to injury. Messing up can be stigmatizing, it can mean that you are to blame for the injury, and that is just not right and not helping.
I think it all comes down to finding your own recipe for injury free running. Sure, if you run easy all the time, you will not get injured, and that is fine as long as that is your goal. But in order to get to your potential as a runner, you need to push your limits, you need to find your limits. Looking back at my past injuries, I know that they were all "mess ups"; I do not blame myself for them, however, because I did not know that I was messing up at that time. I have never gotten an injury that puzzled me and had no idea where it came from. And I learned from my injuries, at least I think I did (my coach might disagree with this one, ha!). So, I don't really know my limit thus far...how many miles a week I can handle, how many key workouts/week I can do, how many runs/week would be safe for me? I am very interested in finding answers to these questions, because, even though there is a risk in finding your limits (aka injury), in my book the benefits outweigh the risks! I have seen how quickly I came back from injury (and much faster!), and what a great learning experience that was for me (realizing that there are other things that I can focus on besides running).
I have no idea how long my streak will continue. I know coach has a plan to break me and then rest me well, so that I absorb all this training. Until that happens, I am running happy hoping I will not find my limit any time soon:)
14 comments:
That's great! Keep the miles coming!:)
I think that I messed up somewhere in my training and therefore I am injured. It has nothing to do with my limits. I used to run 60+miles/week week after week no problem, did not feel tired, legs felt great. And then one day, it was Wednesday, evening, at the end of February 2009 I was doing "tempo" run and with around 1k to go I started to feel a weird pain on the outside of my knee. It was not bad, although soon it started to feel like a weird cramp on the outside of my knee that was getting worse and worse, and I finished the run no problem. The next morning I could not walk properly. And since then I have not been able to get rid of that problem.
I am starting to think that I have damaged something and therefore I have this problem. I should probably go get MRI or something that shows soft tissues.
Have you read Tim Noake's Lore of running? He has a section on ITB and how in most people, it resolves with
typical treatment (change shoes, strength, stretch, change in running surface) but in some people it becomes chronic, for unknown reasons. Hope you figure something out and get back to running soon:)
Yeah, I need to resolve it soon because everyone is having blast training but me :)
Fitness, strength, endurance, speed, all those things are NOT a goal one can capture in one over the top breakthrough workout. Oh no.
Rather, it's a state of mind and body that has to be carefully seduced. One must sneak up on it when it isn't looking. Carefully push the limits and back off. Again and again, gradually, carefully.
One must discern the difference between your body wanting to stop or slow down because it's never been there before or is feeling lazy, and the warning signs that will always come before you NEED to stop and your body will make you. It can be really hard sometimes, because those human bodies are tricky.
good post Ana-Maria. I know that alot of people think as a Triathlete one is more balanced and wouldnt get injured but personally i find that the more i run, the more i can run. Sure a bit of swim bike is ok, but when you add in ALOT of BIKE and hard BIKE then top it off with alot of running that is when i get in trouble.
So each person is different and i think our body does get a muscle memory and an elasticity that allows it to keep those patterns going.
And ahh, yes the magic supplement. Sleep. Love it.
26 days and 330 miles and YES-going strong. You know how much I love to see this. This is a very good post AM.
I have a lot of quiet thoughts here. You are so very right that you need to push to and find your limits to reach your potential. I totally agree.
Yes, messing up can be stigmatizing. And yes, blaming oneself is not helping. Injury makes one very vulnerable in many ways..
So, I'm hoping and believing you won't find your limit either! You are certainly on top of your game right now, running better than ever and I don't anticipate you slowing down ANYTIME soon:)
that is NUTS AM. :) but awesome!! i think i could handle it without getting an injury, but i don't think my "insides" could handle it - all the stress and whatnot. if that makes any sense. who knows, i've never actually tried either... :)
I think when training, specifically pushing your body, your taking a calculated risk. Sometimes those risks pay off and sometimes they don't. But yes, absolutely learn from every one of them. I learned my body goes downhill if I try to run more than 40 miles a week, or try to do more than one day a week of speedwork/tempo/long run.
I love that you take advantage of such a healthy body!
I also love hearing all the positive feedback to your aerobic training since that's what I'm going to be focusing on in the months following the pregnancy. I'm excited about new goals post baby, but I'm not even thinking of signing up for anything until I've gotten a solid base under my feet again. (saving myself from injury - see learning :)
@Keith, I like what you are saying, but I still think that sometimes there are no warnings..
I feel like I have been living the mystery for the last 3+ years with my crazy muscular imbalances. I definitely have a mix of emotions in trying to fix myself and feeling a bit "off balance" even when walking.
You are an amazing runner and I love read about you just keep piling on miles and your body cooperates. Keep up the good work.
Interesting post, thanks for the perspective.Coming back from injury, when I do the typical "whodunnit", it all seems to come back to common sense: If you dont think you should do a certain type of run on an off day, don't do it. A training schedule shouldn't dictate what the body can and cannot do sometimes.
That being said, cross training seems to be an amazing addition-developing the whole engine has its merits:)
Jesper Olsen who ran around the world ran 50k every day of his journey! We truly are born to run. Of course you can't run a pr every day. You must also have strong tendons and good shoes! And do you run on trails?
I do believe that you will improve slower without more rest and hard days. But you probably still are becoming a stronger runner with all the miles.
First, sorry it took me so long to find this.
I am VERY excited to see that you are able to crank out the high mileage and repeat workouts, because that just sounds like FUN. :)
Well, I made it 22 days in a row not that long ago..and then took a rest day just because it was a scheduled down week. You just never know where these injuries will come from though- you are right. This last one has me thinking that perceived effort is more important than garmin time and calculators - maybe even more than heart rate, though I just can't run tempo and watch my HR at the same time. Things were going swell until the run home...going easy... :)
I do think things happen for a reason.
Gosh, how did I miss this?! YOu sneaky little thing. I guess I miss most posts these days but try to watch out for yours. Hoping you don't find your limit anytime soon either. You've got me thinking here...More in a bit..I'm about to burn my chicken.
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