The Long and Arduous Path to Fitness

It’s been a little over three months since that fateful night in BHS when my ITBS struck and dashed any hope of setting a HM PR at the Globe R4H.  My injury could not have come at a worse time.  I was already at the peak of my fitness, itching to make amends for my lackluster performances at the 2010 KOTR and 2010 QCIM.  As fate would have it, it was not to be.  I was dealt a bad card and I just had to roll with the punches.  At the time, all I could do to cheer myself up (aside from switching my hydration of choice from Gatorade to SMB) was to see to it that I would come back much stronger.    

I realized, however, that returning to full fitness is easier said than done.  After the mandatory 2-week leave from running, I tried to get in a few runs, only to find out that my ITBS was not completely healed.  Hence, I could only turn in short runs, few and far between at that.  Out of curiosity, I checked out my running log and I discovered that in the 12 weeks since my 2-week enforced leave from running, I averaged only 11km per week.   In fact, I was lucky to get in two runs in one week.

With my weekly mileage down the drain, it was but expected that my fitness would follow the same path.  At present, I am registering T-pace heartrates even for short easy runs.  However, I am very much hopeful that all this would soon change.  I am now able to run without any pain in my ITB.  Also, bowling season is over, thereby giving me a couple of nights more a week to hit the track.  Did I mention that our firm bagged the 2011 Inter-Law Bowling Tournament?   Don’t take my word for it.  As trial lawyers would say, the best evidence would be the res, which in this case, was the champions’ trophy.  Our trophy haul would prove this fact beyond any reasonable doubt. 

Our team practically bagged all the available team awards

*Photo credit:  Ian Mondragon

 

With the bowling season out of the way, I hope to get in more runs on a weekly basis.  In fact, just last week, I was able to run thrice (oh joy!), which included a 10k at the track, my first in more than 3 months.  This week, I have already turned in two runs for a total mileage of 13.8km.  I plan to do a short run later and another 10k or 12k on Sunday.  The plan is to get my weekly mileage to the mid-30′s by month’s end.  I know that I cannot rush back into regular training lest I risk a recurrence of my injuries or, worse, suffer new ones.  This early, in fact, my foot is already showing signs of my difficult comeback:

 

Nasty blisters

 

I have quite a few races in mind already but I won’t go back to regular training until and unless I am able to build a good mileage base.  I reckon that I would need at least two months for that.  In the meantime, I’ll just take it easy and thank my lucky stars that I am able to run pain-free again.  Sometimes it’s so easy to take such simple joys for granted.

 

 

 

     

 

 

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