Runner's return: Phase 4 report
A catch-up report on Phase 4 in my self-designed 10-week programme to get me back to injury-free and happy running.
Let me catch you up on Phase 4.
As a reminder, this is a 10-week structure I have programmed for myself, split over 5 phases, of a fortnight each.
This was completed before I went on my trip to the UK in late September / early October, and before I got Covid on my return. I’m still recovering from that brush with the coronavirus, and managing a home where several people were both infected and sick at the same time, as well as one who managed to stay virus-free, owing to some stringent mask use and shared-space management.
Check out my Phase 4 fortnight of exercise and running, and compare it with Phase 3 (and Phase 2 and Phase 1 too if you like).
Here’s my Phase 4 log over the past two weeks, followed by my Phase 3 log again for comparison:
Fourth 14-day block of workouts
Third 14-day block of workouts
Analysis
My main running goal in this phase is reducing my recovery time (from 3 minutes to 2 minutes), and increasing my actual run time (from 3 minutes to 4 minutes, meaning 24 minutes instead of 18 minutes running - a 33% increase in running workload). You can see that the plan is still the same - to stick to a pace that falls into a easy pace as far as heart rate zones are concerned - slow, but not slow enough for my running mechanics to start breaking down.
I’ve kept the number of core, yoga and pilates workouts around the same, and the same goes for the strength workouts too - with a slight change in distribution. I wanted the change in accumulated running time to be the main change in this Phase. Evidence is that people tend to get injured when they start changing a lot of variables in their training at the same time. I wanted to minimise this risk.
Note how my walking distance has continued to start higher than it was on non-running days too. This is all about low-impact, low heart rate activity that increases the chance of improving my mitochondria numbers and processing efficiency - an investment for when I start running longer distances and need to draw about energy processes more intensely. Mitochondria are the energy powerhouses within our cells.
Take home
Not much has changed here in terms of types of exercise I did in Phase. In relative terms, the amount of actual running I’m doing has changed a lot again with a further 33% increase in running time in those workouts - but in absolute terms, the workload is still manageable and is designed to gradually increase the amount of time on my feet, engaging my running mechanics and keeping good form.
Stay tuned for a catch-up post with Phase 5 later soon.