In the early weeks after restarting training, following a layoff due to injury or other reasons, the body feels out of sorts, as if its various parts are just slightly misaligned, not quite fitting in with each other. It's been more than 15 weeks since that injury to my left hamstring-glutes area, sustained during the last long run before taper for the early April B&A Trail Marathon. That race turned out to be my first DNS. My usual modified 16-week training program has a 3- instead of a 2-week taper. B&A preceded May's Pocono Marathon (also a DNS), by six weeks. This nine-week period, consisting of mostly test runs and couple of test races (previously scheduled), easily has been the longest period that I've had to mostly stayed off the roads. In the six weeks plus since Pocono, I've been able to ease myself back into normal training, currently in week 7 of the 16-week cycle for the early September Potomac Marathon. Still, my recovery from the injury has been at a frustratingly glacial pace.
What's interesting, however, was once I got back above 30-40 miles per week, all those misaligned body parts seemed to just shift into their proper places. They all fit. Running felt delightfully familiar again, with that certain rhythm. This threshold of familiarity probably varies for different people, depending on the level of training. For elites, e.g., it may be 60-70 miles per week.
The human body is fascinating.
No comments:
Post a Comment