Having aborted the initial restart in May, I have finally been brave enough to try again.
The May restart went well to begin. The first two runs appeared to cause any niggles at all, then being impatient, I did a third run far too soon, not allowing enough recovery and ended up off work for three days with a sciatica flare up whilst waiting for new medication to kick in. This was probably the point where I was at my lowest no clear end in sight and it seeming that I was never going to be able to run again.
Jump ahead 4 months and this time I was determined to get back to running regularly and accepted that I would need to take things slowly. Really slowly.
12/09/18 Run 1:
Just to get a feel for things, I popped up to the local running track to have a try.
Advantages:
- A good, soft and flat running surface to begin on.
- Help close at hand if necessary.
- If things go wrong it was just a short walk to the car to get back home.
Disadvantages:
- I hate doing laps.
- Spectators and other runners could witness my failure.
So I took it slowly and was amazed that I got round the first lap unscathed and stopped to take time to stretch muscles that hadn’t been properly used fro 11 months. I then tried again at a similar pace. Again, no niggles or worries of any sort.
In order to ensure I didn’t over-do things, I kept my pace slow and stopped regularly, to catch my breath as much as anything. I limited the runs between breaks to two laps and eventually ran 4km in about 25 minutes (not including rests). Having made sure I cooled down properly I went home to shower and wait for any adverse reaction.
Amazingly, over the next couple of days, except for slightly aching legs there was no sign of any sciatica related pain. Is this the start of a return to “proper running” again? Let’s wait and see.
#running #wellness #reboot #runforwellness
M.A.D. Running 