Runner's return: Phase 2 complete

I'm well into Phase 3 now, but here's what I did to keep myself on track, injury-free and eager to do more in Phase 2. It's got me revving ...

When I was planning my return to running, I was conscious of this study, written up in The New York Times here.

…by far the greatest contributor to injury risk was modifying an established running schedule in multiple, simultaneous ways, whether that meant increasing — or reducing — weekly mileage or intensity, moving to or from a treadmill, or joining or leaving a running group. The study found that runners who made eight or more alterations to their normal workouts, no matter how big or small those changes, greatly increased their likelihood of injury.

So when you compare what I did in Phase 1 compared to my log here in Phase 2, you’ll see that there is a gradual change in a couple of places, and I start leaning more heavily on a couple of types of exercises. But nothing too drastic. I’ll walk you through those on the other side of the tables.

As a reminder, this is a 10-week structure I have programmed for myself, split over 5 phases, of a fortnight each.

Here’s my Phase 2 log over the past two weeks, followed by my Phase 1 log again for comparison:

Second 14-day block of workouts

Workout Log - Phase 2 of 5

First 14-day block of workouts

Workout Log - Phase 1 of 5

Analysis

• My intention was to increase my running time in my 6 minute intervals of run/walk combination. So, this increased to 2 minutes of running in each interval (instead of one minute), and 4 minutes of walking (instead of 5). I felt strong and this still felt good - sticking to heart rate Zone 3 for the running intervals.

You can see the 6 running intervals quite clearly here in my heart rate plot. Also, see how my heart rate drops back down. It’s this controlled criss-crossing of heart rate zones that will help me to achieve better aerobic capacity. Recorded, using Heart Zone alerts via the HeartWatch app.

• I have dropped the indoor cycling for now, and have brought in some High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) at the tail-end of this phase. I’ll be using that more for workouts that increase my heart rate significantly, rather than just sticking to low heart rate zone aerobic workouts, or just outside that threshold. I’ll bring some higher intensity spin cycle workouts back in during Phases 4, 5 and beyond. But rest assured, my HIIT workouts look less like this, and more like this - much less risky (bodyweight only) but still focusing on short, sharp intense intervals .

  

  High Intensity Interval Training session for 10 minutes sees a rapid increase in heart rate that is sustained, but you see some slight recovery dips too.

• You’ll see that the yoga sessions have been maintained, but I’m leaning more heavily on core workouts, and fewer pilates workouts. In practice, the core / pilates workouts seem interchangeable in the way Apple Fitness+ offers them. But I did start a 30-day core challenge super-imposed on this 10-week programme. 5 minute sessions of core are perfect for me, and I’m already feeling the benefit. Those sessions increase to 10 minutes per session from Day 16 of that challenge.

• I’m keeping strength sessions to one per week. I might throw in another session per fortnight, once I get through the core challenge.

• You’ll see that some days are pretty light - and that’s intentional. Adaptation and recovery happens between harder sessions, so I’m making sure I’m leaving enough room for that to happen.

Take home

You can see I’m not changing too many variables at once. The load / time on my feet in running and walking is changing gradually, and I’m doing plenty of mobility and strengthening exercises to support my progress.

I feel like it is working.

I’m feeling the strongest I’ve felt in months, and I’m having trouble holding myself back during these track interval runs. Nevertheless, my eyes are on the bigger prize of injury-free longer distance running by the end of this year.

Maybe even by Q4.

I already clicked over 5km in my first track interval of Phase 3. More about that when Phase 3 is completed.

I hope this is useful for you - if in any doubt, please make sure you consult a health professional before you start a programme of exercise if you’ve been pretty inactive of late. Take care out there, but have fun.