Finally running again, and ramping up the training hours.

Last week has been my first full week on a new structured training program. Things have been going well with 13 hours of training squeezed in. I have been a little nervous to start running again, and have been putting it off for a couple of weeks to make sure that the ankle is in good nick. Since I ramped up the swim and bike training, the ankle rehabilitation exercises have taken a bit of a backseat. This is slightly worrying, as flexibility is still severely hampered, and the joint still swells up after harder sessions in the pool and on the bike.

My newly acquired program is in the 4 week preparation phase before proper base training starts. This week has been challenging in some respects and I can honestly say that the ramp in training hours can be felt. The program specifies close to 3.5 hours of running in the first week, and so far I am happy to report that I have been able to do about two hours of running without too many problems. Thursday night I went to the gym for a gentle 20 minute swim before jumping on the treadmill. I have never had a workout on the treadmill before, but running on a treadmill carries a couple of advantages. The first is that you don’t actually go anywhere, so the ankle became sore I could just hop off.

Another advantage is that the impact of running on a treadmill has nothing on pavement pounding, so I will try and do most of my running on the dreaded indoor running tool for the next couple of weeks. The first run was good and I set the pace way below my usual recovery outdoor speed. It felt good not having to worry about pacing, and I finished the 6km run in 35 minutes with an average heart rate of 120bpm. It must have been the slowest 6km I have ever done, but it felt really good to be running again. As far as the ankle goes, I could feel that the joint was fragile, but the run was pain free and quite rewarding. I think that run served as confirmation that I will be running the London marathon after all, so that is quite a relief. The sad part is it will be on very little training, so it will be a long slow affair, not the sub 3 effort that I have been building up towards before I smashed my ankle in the dreaded cross country race....oh well. Sunday night saw another swim/run double and I managed around 12km in just over an hour, so a good first week back onto the running train.

After missing out on an outdoor session last weekend I was happy to ditch the turbo trainer. The aim was to get up around 8am and head out for a 120km loop around Box hill and then towards Windsor. On closer inspection we worked out that it would be closer to 120 miles, we opted for a flat 100km to Windsor and back. The pace was quite brisk and we averaged around 30km/h for the whole ride which is probably a bit fast for the base period. The 3.5 hour bike was closely followed by a 5km shuffle to start getting used to running off the bike. It was my first proper run after a long training ride, and I can now see why athletes say they look forward to the run in an Ironman, as the different posture and position when running actually feels quite comfortable after hours in the saddle.

Last 2 weeks of training, click on image to see a larger view

Next week is more of the same and I will try and do even more running with a couple of quality Masters swimming and spinning sessions with another 4+ hours ride planned for Saturday.