THE RETURN

Canada Day

It could have been renamed "Peter Day". For the first time in 13 months, I went for an outdoor run. To borrow an expression used in tennis, last year: I retired hurt. 

I went for a 3km run, wearing an appropriate shirt. 

My wife cycled behind me, and saw me complete the 3k at easy pace:

It felt wonderful to be back. What did I do to celebrate? The Mobot!

One week later

I ran the same 3k route at easy+ pace, wearing the same shirt in which I set my 5k PB of 19:15. 

2 reasons for the nice photographs. Happiness, and a great photographer who captured wonderful moments. 

I almost said the same thing in 3 languages: "I'm back," "Je suis retourné,"Ich bin zurück."

The future

I will use a favourite piece of equipment: GoPro camera, both during training and for my comeback race. The comeback race will be a 5k. Videos from both will be  posted. I am still deciding what music I will use. Suggestions not required. 

10 weeks of reconstruction

Back to Square 1

October 18th last year saw me drop out of the half marathon at MEC race 7. I stopped after 14 km to avoid the catastrophe of completely knotted hamstrings. 

A break from running is the worst kind of break, but I took the next 2 weeks off. I used the time to plot my comeback for a fun 2016. 

Gentle start

November's plan was to do short distances at low speed. My first run back was a quiet and easy 5k. 

Just a week later was the Banff Winterstart, 8km in the dark. While I could see the attraction of it, the dark and therefore unsighted slippery patches had me on edge. Feeling uneasy, slow and rather weak, I was relieved to finish more than anything. 

The rest of November was uneventful, just as I had wanted. 

Base Camp

December and January was the next phase: building a base. Very small doses of faster speeds went into fairly low but gradually growing mileage. 

Persistence, even on Christmas Day and patience in watching speed, strength and a little endurance gradually return. 

MEC race 1 in mid-January, a 5k, was a nice early early test. I performed quite well despite the cold and lack of grip. 

Even though my new watch goes a little funny at the start of downtown runs - I didn't actually run through the Provincial Court by way of a karaoke bar - I have gradually been piecing myself back together.

Yoga has been part of injury prevention, and a de-stressing counterbalance to life in general. Heart rate 40-90 bpm. 

Sharpening 

Now the tough work, the specific training plan, begins. 

145km ran in January, my highest monthly total since September. It's all uphill from here. 

Post 50k legs

Uncontrolled exits from buses. Falling like a tree into bed to avoid bending the knees. A vendetta against stairs. Needing a crowbar to get out of a car. Or into it.

Such are the consequences each time I run a marathon, or in this case a 50k. 

Stats from my race show that I was stationary for nearly 7 minutes. I consumed a whopping 4,049 calories, the equivalent of about 3 days' food. In hindsight, my condition improved over the final 18k, gently easing myself to the finish. I was much better at the line, and the gradual recovery has continued since then. 

A marathon or ultra is done for the challenge. It certainly lifts the spirits when lots of praise comes your way. 

The main drawback is not being able to get right back into running straight away (lacing up after even a half can be done within as little as 2 days if taken gently). 

The first steps of the day open the eyes. 

It seemed like I couldn't extend my leg forward. Bending at the waist to shift weight forward starts a gradual falling motion, which could perhaps be called "walking". That first set of stairs has you wishing for the ability to walk on your hands. 

On tuesday, I did my tried and tested first post-race workout. 20 minutes on the exercise bike and a 10 minute walk. Without bringing on fatigue, it engages the body's recovery mechanisms and flushes the muscles of broken fibres and lactic acid. 2 hours later, stairs no longer brought on a grimace even if not completely comfortable without using the rail.

A gentle weights routine the next day and stretching, and a repeat of tuesday's workout on thursday and friday. I went back to my full core/ weights workout on saturday, only feeling a mild burn in the quads.

Sunday, a return to running. It felt odd at first, mainly because it's odd to not run for 7 days. "10k, try to keep it quicker than 5:00/k." 

Settling in after 10 minutes, a little devil on my shoulder whispers "faster, you know you want to..." Another 5 or so minutes and despite the heat it got easier and quicker. Eating up a steep hill, accelerating at the top, it was a quietly thrilling return to action. 

The extra benefit

Just a thought. When runners think about the benefits of running, there are the obvious ones of the various ways in which health and fitness improves. We could also get into the psychological side of it. I could talk about that for days, literally without stopping, if only breaks to the little boys room weren't required. 

This week I was reminded of one more. On monday my stomach felt slightly uncomfortable. Back from the gym, I felt rather faint. It was time to go home and throw a sofa at the problem. 

I stayed home and cross trained on the sofa all next day. By early afternoon, my hands no longer needed to stay under blankets to be warmer than a frozen haddock. 

Quite simply, there you have it. A higher level of energy that helps with the everyday, including being channeled into a powerful immune response more potent than a sedentary person could ever hope to muster (as witnessed by my sofa).