So in my last post, I mentioned that I had signs of plantar fasciitis, and at the time I had taken a day off, taken some advil, and the pain had gone away. While that was true, I found that when I tried to run again, the pain came back in a short time.
Over the past couple weeks, I've gone through a couple cycles of days off until the heel felt pretty good, then running again, and having the pain come back. At first the cycle was only a couple days. Then I went just about an entire week without running (last week). Things were feeling good until Saturday, when my heel was sore again - even though I hadn't run in 6 days or so. But once again, I took some advil, and on Sunday things felt better. In fact, they felt better enough that I opted to try a quick 3 mile run. This time, I did a couple things differently: took advil immediately after to control immediate inflammation and tissue damage(hadn't done that before - duh), and reverted more to my older style of running, which uses the calf muscles less.
At that point, my new plan going forward changed quite a bit:
Running 5x Per week
Due to the fact that I'm behind on the build up to running 7x per week, the the apparent higher probability of becoming injured when running on a daily basis (due to no rest) - I ended up deciding that I'll likely settle on running 5x per week. This will provide both a mental and physical break, and provide opportunity for the occasional bike ride or swim session during this training season.
Revert back to my previous 'form' of running.
Since mid last year, I've been trying to make changes to my running form, with the two major items being cadence and limiting heel strike impact. Immediately upon trying the higher cadence, I had found my HR increased by about 3-5%. Doesn't sound like a lot, but when you consider that an easy run for me should be around 150 bpm, and a tempo run should be around 160 bpm (less that 10% difference) - 3%-5% is quite a bit. I initially thought I just needed to give my muscles time to adjust - but after going through the couch to 5k and subsequent build up - my HR was still higher. I've ended up deciding that while both Daniels and Galloway say that the fastest runners use a cadence of 180, that cadence benefits may depends naturally on speed. In other words - a cadence of 180 may impose a certain overhead in terms of HR - and at 9 min/miles, that overhead is more of a penalty than the cadence may deliver in benefit. Perhaps when you are able to throw down 7 min/miles, the equation changes. I'd be willing to bet that neither Galloway nor Daniels did much of their testing on subjects that were doing 9 min/miles.
Regarding limiting heel strike impact - last year I ran a couple times with no shoes to get an idea of the mechanics of barefoot running. I found that it resulted in a lot more landing and taking off from the front half of the foot, and that the heel barely contacted the ground at all. I then tried to emulate the mechanics while having shoes on. However, shoes have a natural slope to them - the heels are thicker than the front of the shoe. So when wearing shoes, your foot and angle is already at a greater than 90 degree angle. In order to have your toes touch first while in shoes, the angle has to be increased even further. I suspect that this had a part in why the plantar fasciitis started to creep up - trying to emulate barefoot mechanics with shoes resulted in an overcompensation condition.
So - with all that in mind, the current status is that I ran three miles on Sunday, followed by five on Monday, and yesterday (Tuesday) as a rest day. Tonight and tomorrow I'll run again, and Friday will be a rest. Even though I'm not going with Daniels 7x per week plan, I'm still going to follow the main aspects of his formula - train based on your current level of performance, and I'll probably have two quality days per week. It'll be very similar to the Galloway plan from last year, but without runs longer than 15 miles or 2.5 hours, with a phased approach to the types of workouts on quality days as opposed to mixing it all up throughout the entire season, and doing an easy run on non quality days as opposed to no running at all.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Running build-up update - 4/12
No posts recently because there hasn't been a lot of new information to post about.
I've been following the build-up plan from the last post - going from running 4x per week, to 5 times. This is the final week of the 5x sessions, and next week starts 6 times per week (actually, we'll see - more on that later).
There are a couple of things worth pointing out, though:
IT band and stretching
Absolutely no issues with the IT band. I've been pretty good about stretching it after running (averaging around 5x per week). Also been trying to stretch the quads as well (I probably do them 3-4x per week, I'd like to get that up), as hamstrings (maybe 1-2x per week. Definately want to improve on that.
Acclimation to running multiple days in a row:
Last year, I ran 3x per week - always having at least a days rest between sessions. A couple years ago, when I was training for the half marathon, I was running 4x per week. However, many of the runs were able to be done in 30-40 minutes, aside from the weekly long run. So this years running is definately more intense and requires a lot more dedication than for years past.
During the last week of running 4x per week, and the first week of running 5x per week, my legs often felt dead. It was a struggle, both mentally and physically, to finish the 45 minutes. In fact, a couple times I finished up early - after completing a 4.2 mile loop in the 42-43 minute timeframe, I decided that was enough for that day. There were usually 'justifications' for this - either not wanting to overdo it on the 2nd day of a planned stretch of running 3 days in a row (something my body wasn't used to doing), or having just finished 3 days in a row and not wanting to overdo it, having already done the minimum of at least 30 minutes. I suppose I put 'justifications' in quotes, but in reality perhaps the slightly shorter runs are worthwhile. After-all, we are talking about more intense running than I've done in a considerably long time - so as long as I'm meeting the minimum goals (30 minutes per session), one could argue that the few minutes ultimately makes little difference in the grand scheme of things.
However, during the 2nd week of 5x per week, I noticed a distinct improvement. My heartrate settled down a bit - from the mid-high 150's to the low 150's, and there was more spring in my step. A very encouraging sign, and is actually a data point of anecdotal proof of Jack Daniels base-building theory that the body responds to stress, and it takes not a period of a few days to adapt, but a few weeks.
First minor setback
The past week or so, I've had a mild soreness in my left heel. I didn't pay a lot of attention to it at first, because aches and pains are common and they often go away. Also, based on where it was located and the conditions in which it was sore (when the calf is flexed, lifting the heel off the groun), made me think that it was an overuse symptom of the band of tissue that goes between the heel and the mid-point of the foot. This made sense, since I've been landing mid-foot a lot more recently, paying particular attention to not heel-strike. Additionally, maintaining the goal cadence of about 180 foot strokes/minute makes it very difficult to heel-strike. All in all, since I've modified my form, it was perfectly reasonable to conclude that some piece of connective tissue had a bit of catching up to do.
By the time I got back from my run on Saturday evening, it was obvious that the soreness wasn't going to go away. I had given it several days, including the two rest days of the week, and it was still present. A quick internet search revealed that I had the symptoms of plantar fasciitis. Basic treatment included anti-inflammatories, and stretching the calf muscles.
Of course!
I had been concentrating on stretching the IT band and the quads so much, I had completely skipped out on stretching the calf muscles - something I had done a decent amount in the past few years. So after a couple days of taking a couple advil, stretching the calfs, giving myself an extra rest day by skipping yesterdays run - the soreness has largely abated. I'm not sure I'll be able to get all 5 days of running in this week with my work schedule, though.
I've been following the build-up plan from the last post - going from running 4x per week, to 5 times. This is the final week of the 5x sessions, and next week starts 6 times per week (actually, we'll see - more on that later).
There are a couple of things worth pointing out, though:
IT band and stretching
Absolutely no issues with the IT band. I've been pretty good about stretching it after running (averaging around 5x per week). Also been trying to stretch the quads as well (I probably do them 3-4x per week, I'd like to get that up), as hamstrings (maybe 1-2x per week. Definately want to improve on that.
Acclimation to running multiple days in a row:
Last year, I ran 3x per week - always having at least a days rest between sessions. A couple years ago, when I was training for the half marathon, I was running 4x per week. However, many of the runs were able to be done in 30-40 minutes, aside from the weekly long run. So this years running is definately more intense and requires a lot more dedication than for years past.
During the last week of running 4x per week, and the first week of running 5x per week, my legs often felt dead. It was a struggle, both mentally and physically, to finish the 45 minutes. In fact, a couple times I finished up early - after completing a 4.2 mile loop in the 42-43 minute timeframe, I decided that was enough for that day. There were usually 'justifications' for this - either not wanting to overdo it on the 2nd day of a planned stretch of running 3 days in a row (something my body wasn't used to doing), or having just finished 3 days in a row and not wanting to overdo it, having already done the minimum of at least 30 minutes. I suppose I put 'justifications' in quotes, but in reality perhaps the slightly shorter runs are worthwhile. After-all, we are talking about more intense running than I've done in a considerably long time - so as long as I'm meeting the minimum goals (30 minutes per session), one could argue that the few minutes ultimately makes little difference in the grand scheme of things.
However, during the 2nd week of 5x per week, I noticed a distinct improvement. My heartrate settled down a bit - from the mid-high 150's to the low 150's, and there was more spring in my step. A very encouraging sign, and is actually a data point of anecdotal proof of Jack Daniels base-building theory that the body responds to stress, and it takes not a period of a few days to adapt, but a few weeks.
First minor setback
The past week or so, I've had a mild soreness in my left heel. I didn't pay a lot of attention to it at first, because aches and pains are common and they often go away. Also, based on where it was located and the conditions in which it was sore (when the calf is flexed, lifting the heel off the groun), made me think that it was an overuse symptom of the band of tissue that goes between the heel and the mid-point of the foot. This made sense, since I've been landing mid-foot a lot more recently, paying particular attention to not heel-strike. Additionally, maintaining the goal cadence of about 180 foot strokes/minute makes it very difficult to heel-strike. All in all, since I've modified my form, it was perfectly reasonable to conclude that some piece of connective tissue had a bit of catching up to do.
By the time I got back from my run on Saturday evening, it was obvious that the soreness wasn't going to go away. I had given it several days, including the two rest days of the week, and it was still present. A quick internet search revealed that I had the symptoms of plantar fasciitis. Basic treatment included anti-inflammatories, and stretching the calf muscles.
Of course!
I had been concentrating on stretching the IT band and the quads so much, I had completely skipped out on stretching the calf muscles - something I had done a decent amount in the past few years. So after a couple days of taking a couple advil, stretching the calfs, giving myself an extra rest day by skipping yesterdays run - the soreness has largely abated. I'm not sure I'll be able to get all 5 days of running in this week with my work schedule, though.
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