Reflections at 20 Week progress mark: Good & Bad both

The Good:

One should give credit where credit is due even if that credit is due to you. Congratulations on completing 20 weeks streak of not missing a single week with 95 total runs in 20 weeks averaging close to 5 days/week running. After a long hiatus from proper training, this wasn't easy for sure. This also wasn't flawless and indeed needs dissecting for learnings. So, let's get to it.

 

I made the decision to run most of these runs at slow easy (zone 2) pace and I was able to diligently follow it. Running fast without being in good shape was painful so sticking to easy running in summer months made it tolerable. I wasn't very sore/fatigued from these runs but I was stiff like a stick. 

There is no hiding of my disdain for stretching pre/post runs. I have mostly avoided it so far in my running and I got away with it when I was young and reckless (Thank God) but at 40+ (42+ actually), my chickens have come home to roost. Right around week 15 of the program, I began to feel tightness in my calves and past demons of injury began to haunt me. In my previous posts I have talked about a very peculiar injury colloquially referred to as "Calf Heart Attack". This has nothing to do with heart but is an injury which happens at the junction of Soleus/Gastroc insertion point. This is jokingly called "Calf Heart Attack" because it can happen out of the blue during a run and acute sharp pain causes you to stop in next few steps. No willpower will make you run through this injury. You stop dead in your tracks and limp/walk back to home base.

This time when I started to have the feeling of tightness in my legs as miles were adding on, I joined a "Yoga" group in the clubhouse of my housing society. I knew something had to be done. Yoga class is run by Ms. Sushma Arora and has on average 15-20 people in the class. Class has people of different skill levels and it was a bit intimidating in the beginning for sure. Sushma mam leads an hour long class focusing on various muscle groups on different days or differents sets within the same class. I began to feel benefit of yoga class by the end of the second week. 

Shakira said "Hips don't lie" and for runners attempting yoga postures, my hips let me know how inflexible I really am. I feel for the first time in my life, I discovered how various yoga postures are able to stretch Gluteus Maximus (grand name for a grand set of muscle group) which leads higher degree of freedom for the hip joint. This combined with Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutations), Yoga with the aid of a yoga belt began to unravel (slowly and glacially) my inflexible body. A shocking revelation to me was the fact that years of running has made my Achilles tendon (actually whole of lower leg) very inflexible. During various yoga poses (squat pose for example) I'm unable to keep my whole foot planted and my heels lift up during those postures.  I hope with regular practice, some improvement will happen. 

Running continues to be my first love when it comes to physical activity, but I am getting a feeling that with Yoga class I have found a missing link which maybe game changer. Fingers crossed as I don't want to jinx it. 

The Bad:

I'm still struggling to run in the mornings and >90% of my runs happen late in the evening. Sometimes I just go in circles (10-15 loops of 800 meter garden loop at Rodas) or try out the road (very carefully as speeding cars around you can be scary) in evening. I really miss my running group from Houston and camaraderie. Thane has many running group and Striders group is best among them, but my going to bed late night (beyond 1 am) isn't conducive for 5:30 a.m. run. Goal for next few months is to at least run two runs/week in the morning and try to join the weekend long run with a group. Mentally, I can make myself to run up-to 12 km on my own but beyond that my resolve begins to falter and I have to play mind games with myself to keep me motivated. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. 

The issue with Soleus/Gastroc junction is definitely there. The silver lining is that my research into it has led to discovery of some very good pointers which if I follow with discipline, should keep the injury at bay. To reiterate (or, Parul's manifesting technique):

1) Don't slack on Yoga classes

2) Include some flexibility drills post runs (at least pretend) :)

3) Strengthen your ankle with some exercises as weak ankle put extra strain on calf/soleus muscle group. 

Au Revoir.