The late start I've gotten on this blog has actually turned out to be quite useful. As I was running this first week of my transition I was progressing with Robillard's general plan and I was totally unaware as to how my body would react. Now I know that the rate of progression in the plan is a little too much for me, but you've got to start somewhere. In my experience I found this plan useful because it gave me some idea of how much progress I should be making. I just had to listen to my legs and cut down the mileage when I reached my limit.
As a piece of general advice I would reccomend that newbies like myself follow this plan to start out with. Here are some things I've learned:
The rolling pin worked amazingly for me. My achilles tendon was feeling tight, so I looked for advice on the forums and ran into this trick. You sit on the ground with your legs straight out in front of you. Place the rolling pin under one of your legs and bend the other to help lift your but off the ground. Place your hands on the ground beside your hips. Lift your but off the ground and slowlyroll the lower 2/3rds of your calfacross the rolling pin. You can also place your bent leg on top of the other to increase the pressure. Before I did this my achilles was tight and a little sore, but my calves felt fine. Immediately after I rolled it out my left calf was really sore. I stretched it and my AT pain immediately went away! I'm so glad I did this before I developed tendonitis.
Now that you've got all the useful nuggets, here's a little description of each run as I recorded them in my journal.
May 7th, first run: I went out to the track at my highschool. I warmed up by walking 1/2 mile barefoot. I stretched my calves and ankles before running 1/4 mile. So far I don't feel any issues.
May 9th, Run #2: Same warm up and stretching routine as before. Ran 3/8 mile. Still no pain or soreness.
May 11th, Run #3:The usualwarm up and stretching routine. I ran 1/2 mile. No sore muscles or tendons.
May 12th, Run #4: I know, I know. Today was supposed to be a rest day, but I had been feeling so good I just couldn't help myself. I did the typical warm up and ran 3/8 mile. I stopped because my AT started to feel tight. I discovered the rolling pin massage today.
May 13th, Run #5: I gota lot of sleep. My calves feel better than yesterday, perhaps it was the sleep or the massage. I did my usual walking warm up, then I ran 5/8 mile. I think I've gotten to a distance where I can actually recognize issues with my running (i.e. form, pace, cadence, etc.) and adjust them. My AT was feeling tight again today, so I dropped the pace down from about 12 mpm to maybe 16 mpm. That made everything go a bit smoother.
As a piece of general advice I would reccomend that newbies like myself follow this plan to start out with. Here are some things I've learned:
- Make sure you have at least one day of rest in between so the pain has time to catch up with you.
- Massage your muscles with a rolling pin (as you would with a foam roller) to identify any sore spots that would otherwise go unnoticed.
The rolling pin worked amazingly for me. My achilles tendon was feeling tight, so I looked for advice on the forums and ran into this trick. You sit on the ground with your legs straight out in front of you. Place the rolling pin under one of your legs and bend the other to help lift your but off the ground. Place your hands on the ground beside your hips. Lift your but off the ground and slowlyroll the lower 2/3rds of your calfacross the rolling pin. You can also place your bent leg on top of the other to increase the pressure. Before I did this my achilles was tight and a little sore, but my calves felt fine. Immediately after I rolled it out my left calf was really sore. I stretched it and my AT pain immediately went away! I'm so glad I did this before I developed tendonitis.
Now that you've got all the useful nuggets, here's a little description of each run as I recorded them in my journal.
May 7th, first run: I went out to the track at my highschool. I warmed up by walking 1/2 mile barefoot. I stretched my calves and ankles before running 1/4 mile. So far I don't feel any issues.
May 9th, Run #2: Same warm up and stretching routine as before. Ran 3/8 mile. Still no pain or soreness.
May 11th, Run #3:The usualwarm up and stretching routine. I ran 1/2 mile. No sore muscles or tendons.
May 12th, Run #4: I know, I know. Today was supposed to be a rest day, but I had been feeling so good I just couldn't help myself. I did the typical warm up and ran 3/8 mile. I stopped because my AT started to feel tight. I discovered the rolling pin massage today.
May 13th, Run #5: I gota lot of sleep. My calves feel better than yesterday, perhaps it was the sleep or the massage. I did my usual walking warm up, then I ran 5/8 mile. I think I've gotten to a distance where I can actually recognize issues with my running (i.e. form, pace, cadence, etc.) and adjust them. My AT was feeling tight again today, so I dropped the pace down from about 12 mpm to maybe 16 mpm. That made everything go a bit smoother.
