I forgot to post this months Schedule a couple of weeks ago. It's above. Obviously my little injury niggles have meant that it has not been followed to the letter!
After last weekends inversion sprain of my right ankle I knew there would be no running this week. I was hobbling around Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I used good old RICE method.
Rest - certainly didn't do any exercise and tried to stay off my feet
Ice - Several icepacks a day until Tuesday
Compression - I wore a compression sock until Tuesday
Elevation - I sat with my foot raised whenever possible.
I also took ibuprofen until Monday too. Seemed to do the trick because I was back to walking 'almost' normally by Tuesday. Thank you for the suggestions in the comments last week about using the elliptical cross trainer at the gym.
By Wednesday I was walking normally, with just a twinge of pain now and again. I went to the gym and did an hour endurance pace on the cross trainer, on random setting on Wednesday. My ankle did ache when I first started, but happily it wore off quite quickly.
On Thursday I did an hour on the cross trainer doing a hill interval session. No problems with the ankle at all but thoroughly wore me out with that session. I was sweating buckets. I think I probably cranked up the machine too high, but I completed it. I did go and sink a full bottle of Lucozade sport from the gyms cafe afterwards though to top the sugar back up, in order to face the tougher evening challenge; 'the Tesco shop'. I completed the shopping in good form and slept well that evening.
On Friday I did my usual gym session, but with a little more care paid to my ankle, so missed out some squat exercises. I did however do some single leg raised weights to try and promote building that ankle back up.
On Saturday I went back to the gym for an 1.5 hour session. I did 45 minutes on the cross trainer; another tough interval session, followed by 45 minutes on the bike doing HR intervals again. I really sent my HR high and spent as many calories mopping my brow as I did pedalling on the bike I think!
Today I decided that I would try a run. It had been 8 days, not enough I'm sure most would say, but it was not like I was crippled last week. I know I made the right decision to stop when I did after 10 miles, otherwise this would have been a short sharp post saying I did nothing this week except nurse my mangled ankle.
I am however, not stupid enough to do the scheduled 3 hour session with a heavy backpack on a tricky trail. I simply set out on the road, as flatter terrain as I could manage, and would see how it felt but cap it after an hour regardless. Despite the odd twinge it felt OK. I ran for an hour and 5 minutes and did 7.5 miles as it turned out. OK, nowhere near a typical weekend 15-20 mile route, but what mattered was that I finished with my ankle in good condition.
It still doesn't feel quite right, almost as if something hasn't clicked back into place in the ankle joint, but well enough I think. I may still swap out some or all of my short runs this week for gym session, but I am still hoping to take part in the 23 mile hill event on Saturday near Leek. Of course If I feel that would be a bad decision as the week progresses, i'll change my plans. I'm still not 100% I am supposed to run this event anyway. It is part of a walking festival, so I'm trying to get hold of the organiser to clear it with them. If I do enter I will just have to be especially careful of my footing, even sacrificing some speed for caution. Even if I did have to walk the whole way, it may not be a bad thing.
Some of my new kit arrived this week from Raidlight in France; some of it for the MDS. Some boring stuff like signalling mirror and emergency foil blanket, which must be carried, but also a Tyvek shirt and Tyvek trousers. The Raidlight version is better than the one I took to France for La Trans Aq. It has a more plastic feel, definitely more windproof and doubtless warmer; both incredibly lightweight of course. A new improved pair of Raidlight’s gaiters arrived. The design has been changed so that the material across the whole front of the foot is more hard wearing (and not Lycra like the rest of the gaiter), and thus will not tear so easily if you scuff a rock or branch with your toe. The new Raidlight Evolution 2 backpack I ordered is going to be delivered in about a month, I hope in time to trial on the Round Rotherham 50 event on December 8th, which I have entered officially this week. There are lots of nice features on this pack, and I'm hoping it will be perfect for the MDS, assuming I can cram all my kit in (it's 5l smaller than my current pack). If not, I'm more than happy with the current Raidlight pack, even though it has picked up a lot of tears and holes now. Some I have patched up, but not all. It would need to be fully repaired if I were to take it to the MDS.
I am going to start thinking about my pack contents now too. I know I have been thinking about it for almost 2 years, and already have a good idea, but I am going to plan it down to the smallest detail and with all weights now. Time is ticking by and I want to know what weight I will be carrying in the desert, so I can ensure I am prepared. My rough guess is that with the distress flare and other kit given on the start line, it will weight in between 9 and 10kg. If I have my way it will be between 8 and 9kg, but we'll just have to see. I'll keep you posted on that front.
Have a good week; fingers crossed for my continued speedy recovery!
2 comments:
You seem to be recovering quickly Rich, fingers crossed! Glad you have been getting on ok with the ellipticals, by the sounds of it you shouldn't have lost much fitness with the work you've been doing at the gym.
Thanks Steph. My ankle was a little sore this morning after yesterdays run, so I think I will be doing more cross trainer this week too.
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