Rubriik: Vead

In Workout Week posts I will tell you everything about my last week’s workouts.

I’m going to start this week’s post with the end of last week. After posting my last Workout Week, I got a letter from my BodyPump and running coach Maris (who has been mentioned on my blog for at least 694873875 times because she is awesome). As I’ve stated before, I trust her 100%. She gave a ton of recommendations about what I need to do to recover from my ankle injury. To sum up:

1. 2–3 week break from running
2. Maybe skip the 10K race on Sunday
3. A visit to a physiotherapist to get some anti-inflammatory medication
4. Less walking (or anything that puts pressure on my ankle)
5. More swimming, cycling and strength training
6. More foam rolling

I don’t want to be overdramatic but I had tears in my eyes when I read all of that. No running for 3 weeks?! 😥 My world came crushing down. I love running. Forbidding running is like putting a heroin-addict into rehab. In my mind, I do understand that all of this is necessary in the long perspective. But in my heart, it hurts like hell. Maris said something very wise that I’ll remember forever:

Truth! I can take 2 weeks off now or half a year off later, it’s all up to me. I’m going to try my best to stay positive. Now is time to work on cycling and swimming to keep my fitness level and by doing that, also get ready for my triathlon in July. Find a positive in every negative!

This is not going to make me weaker. This is the time to show myself how strong I can be. I will never give up on my goals and dreams. I am running that half-marathon. I am competing in that triathlon. I will do it all…

…if I act smart now.

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Monday is usually a running day. Instead, I went cycling for 30 minutes in the gym (saw my running group stretching from a window 🙂 ) and from there went straight to BodyPump. Increased some upper body weights and replaced all lunges with squats to save my ankle as much as possible. In shoulder track Florian wondered about his weights and asked us if we wanted to see him die or scream. I answered: “Both.” 😀 He put on 8,5+8,5 kg. Out of solidarity I added some weights as well: my bar was 4,5+4,5 kg. Awesome workout! Walking home, my ankle was a little tired and uncomfortable but I wouldn’t say in pain. Later I also foam rolled at home for about 20 minutes to relax all muscles.

Tuesday was all dedicated to cycling. I spent 1,5 hours and 41,7 km on an indoor bicycle. Indoor cycling has one huge plus: I can take my study materials with me and read them while working out. Perfect! After that, I had a small break and then went to foam rolling for an hour. This is painful every time. Overall it was a good day: my ankle hurt only once when I didn’t think about it and sat on my leg in a misfortunate manner. Other than that: pain-free!

Wednesday: cycling (30 minutes) + BodyPump. I had a great day. My legs were a little sore from Monday (2 squat tracks!) and there was a spot on the back of my thigh that felt weird. Nothing painful but still: I have to be careful. I didn’t tie up my ankle and it didn’t hurt at all. YAY! But when I was walking home, my left ankle did feel tired and had some pain but not in the injured spots, it was on the outside part. Nothing major though. I was pretty optimistic about recovering fast and not feeling as sorry for myself. Finished the day off with foam rolling. By the way, my foam roller is breaking and doesn’t really work anymore. Bummer! 😦

On Thursday I was up bright and early and jumped in the pool just around 8 AM. I did my longest swimming session ever: 1,5 hours and 3,1K. I started with 1500 m of front crawl, then switched to 1500 m of breaststroke and finished everything off with 100 m of really slow backstroke. I was so tired I almost wanted to fall asleep in the sauna. All I kept thinking in the pool when I was getting tired is how much respect I have for the people who do Ironman (3,86K swim, 180,25K bike, 42,2K run) or Half-Ironman (1,9+90+21,1K) triathlons. Respect. I ended my day with some foam rolling (taking it seriously this week!).

Friday was cycling day again. I was so not in the mood but after cycling for about an hour, it wasn’t that bad. All in total: 1,5 hours, 42,2K. I realised I just cycled through a full running marathon. 🙂 And ofcourse: some foam rolling before bedtime.

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I will write more about Saturday and Sunday in my race summary coming up next week. To conclude: I raced the 10K, it didn’t hurt my injured ankle and I accomplished all possible goals. A total success!

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In total:

• 1 hour 30 minutes of running
• 4 hours of indoor cycling
• 2 hours of strength training
• 1 hour 30 minutes of swimming
• 3 hours 40 minutes of foam rolling

This week was all about recovery. I stayed off me feet as much as possible, didn’t even get close to 10 000 steps a day from Monday to Friday, foam rolled every single day, cooled my injured ankle, skipped running for 9 days straight, wore compression stockings a lot, tied my ankle up with elastic support. Everything was about getting better to run again. 

And I ran! 🙂

Narva Energy Run 21,1K: in less than 5 weeks.

In Workout Week posts I will tell you everything about my last week’s workouts.

On Monday I had so many great emotions that I made a whole blog post. You can read it here. To sum up: I ran 16K!!!

Tuesday was a rest day after the 16K. My leg hurt even more. 😦 My ankle was painful, so was most of my left leg from my ankle to knee. Not good… I went foam rolling. Oh my god, this doesn’t get any easier. It was so painful. Hopefully it helped my recovery process. 

Wednesday was a miserable day for me. I got a C (on an A–F scale) for an important exam that I had studied and worked for very hard. Now my diploma cum laude is in serious danger… 😦 I guess I don’t even have to explain more how bad I felt that day. I relieved my stress and sadness in training. 

First, I had Jooks Jõud Venitus. Since most of us ran 16/10K on Monday in Elva, it was time to take it easier. We ran to Raadi manor park, did around 20 minutes of running exercises, ran back and worked on core muscles. Without the running exercises: 5,91K, average pace of 6:33 min per km. 

I started to realise how serious this injury I have could become when Maris told me about her past injuries and surgery. After running for 25 minutes, we stopped to stretch and do exercises. The moment I stopped, my ankle was so painful it was hard to walk, not to mention run. I took everything really light that day, my only goal was not to hurt myself too much. 

But my whole world started to crumble a little that day. I was so happy on Monday and by Wednesday night, I was sad as hell. Failing (= anything besides an A) at school and not being able to do what I love aka run without pain. It’s like the moment I acknowledge that I’m actually happy, the world just (excuse my language) sh*ts all over that.

After running I went to BodyPump. It was Walpurgis Night (= everyone partying) and the usually fully booked class was half empty. I mostly used my regular weights but for lunges I only held some 3 kg dumbbells in my hands since I didn’t want to put too much pressure on my calves and ankles. It was a good workout.

All in total I spent roughly 3 hours in gym clothes that day. But I still couldn’t get my mind off that C…

Thursday: 2nd rest day this week. My leg still hurt. I went for an hour long walk with my dog (wearing compression socks) and I LIMPED back home for the last kilometre. Things were serious! 😦 Then I cooled my swollen leg in ice-cold water, wore compression stockings around the house, tried to elevate legs as much as possible etc. I needed to recover! I ended the evening with a short foam rolling session.

I was supposed to have Zumba with my best friend on Friday but my ankle was in no condition to do that. I cycled there, chatted with my friend for 30 minutes and then cycled back. Cycling (about 33K, 1 hour 40 minutes) didn’t hurt my leg, I was so happy about that! There is still some hope. 🙂 However, walking my dog for 30 minutes did still hurt… 

Saturday was supposed to be a running day (14K according to my training plan). I didn’t even think about running, it was clear that I couldn’t. If I want to race 10K next Sunday, I need to recover and be smart about things. I went cycling instead. Beautiful weather, amazing scenery. 1 hour and 45 minutes and around 32K.

On Sunday I hopped on my bike, cycled to the city (roughly 7K), swam for an hour (2000 metres) and then cycled back. Swimming was pretty good, the first 100 m my ankle felt a bit weird but that feeling went away quickly. I did 250 m of breaststroke, 1000 m of front crawl, 250 m of breaststroke and then 500 m of backstroke. I was going a little slower than my usual speed but since I was subconscious about my leg, that’s OK. Later on I also made walk with my dog and my ankle was almost pain-free. 🙂

 

In total:

2 hours 50 minutes running

2 hours 30 minutes of walking

4 hours 10 minutes of cycling

1 hour 30 minutes of strength training

1 hour of swimming

1 hour 30 minutes of foam rolling

 

To sum up: I’m not happy with that week at all. The week started so great but everything just rolled downhill from there. Right now I’ve almost gotten my positive outlook back but I’m still really worried and anxious. I need to run a 10K race in just 7 days. One week. How is this going to happen for me? 2 days ago even walking for more than a kilometre hurt a little. I was better today but still…

I sincerely hope things will get better. Right now I’m not even sure what to do tomorrow… I have booked a running workout but I won’t be able to run intervals like everyone else. Go and jog? Skip it? Do something else? I don’t know. I just don’t know how to play this situation smart.

Advice is very much appreciated and welcomed.