Which Distance?
nick jordan
Posts: 5
Hi,
Yesterday I ran for 10 minutes! Great you cry! However, it’s my first run since early 2017 after which I had an osteochondral lesion on my ankle operated on in late September.
8 weeks on crutches and Some building up on the turbo later, I’m getting some sort of distance and power back on the bike. Also swimming fitness is starting to pick up again.
Before my ankle fell to bits I was doing Olympic distance triathlon and had just entered my first 70.3 (I never made the start line).
I’m optimistic enough that my swim and bike fitness will return to allow me to do either sprint, Olympic or 70.3, but have no idea whether my running fitness or tolerance will return for any of them. I’m currently trying to plan to train for something to have a focus, but do I go for the longer and steadier pace or the sprint hard pace? Will lots of steady miles be better or worse than pounding for a sprint....or is the Olympic The ideal in between?
I’m not sure whether I should just not enter anything yet and see how it goes, then maybe adapt as I go along, or just say...get on with it and shut up!
Any advice would be much appreciated...oh I’m just shy of 50 and work shifts by the way..
Thanks
Comments
Firstly, has what caused the injury been identified and eliminated so that it doesn't come back?
Secondly, don't rush you return. Recovery times given by orthopods can easily be optimistic by a factor of 2 or more. Be very cautious. There is no rush, there will be races from now until forever. There are an increasing number of swim/bike races to keep you competitive.
Thirdly, don't know about you but my 10km pace is not that much slower than my 5km pace and I give them both full gas. So apart from increasing distance how consider would your pace and hence impacts vary for each type.
Finally. Keep recovering and keep reviewing. When you can try some Park Runs as a check to see how your ankle reacts to running. As they are free and every week you could start at the back taking it easy and as you improve gradually move up a gear. When going well they could be your tempo runs.
Hope this helps
cheers Harry. Yes the injury has been sorted, it’s just recovery and rebuilding now. I’ve started with 10 minutes and will add on 2 minutes each time I run until it feels ok with no reaction afterwards.