Monthly report: Oct-2010

Thueholmsøen-Albertslund

This month has consisted of one week of transition(40), one week of preparation(41) and two weeks of basic training(42 and 43). In addition I've participated in an ultra competition-6h race in Copenhagen, 30th of Oct.
The first week in the period was good. I did one session in each sport with low intensity and felt ready to start the basic training the week after that. In the first week in the basic period(42) I noticed pain in my knees again-especially at the end of my long run on Saturday. By taking measures such as days off and extensive use of ice I managed to reduce the pain to such a degree that I thought I'd dealt with the problem once and for all. It appeared later on that I hadn't. At the end of week 43 I participated in Copenhagen 6h race and had to back off after 3h due to severe pain in my knees. It's evident that I the cause of the pain is still present. The pain is just a symptom that something is wrong. The cause is of biomechanical nature. I need to adress it in that way. This is critical. In order to be able to train in future I need to correct this-preferably as soon as possible.
Apart from running I've carried out the training programme pretty much as planned.
My first measure when it comes to adressing the injury is to buy a new pair of shoes that corrects a mildly form of overpronation. After two sessions I'm not utterly convinced that this is the right measure. The shoes seem to prevent my natural pronation. I appears that I have a normal pronation. My next measure then is to buy a new pair of shoes that adresses this and try them out. In addition I think it's a right measure to reduce the amount of running compared to what I've planned in the fourth quarter. Most important to me now is to get injury free as fast as possible and no later than the end of this year. The amount of running was fourth times bigger in the second quarter and third quarter compared to the first quarter. It may be that progression has been to rapid. In addition the amount of cross-training was very low in both the second and third quarter. I also introduced lighter and more race-like shoes and used them extensively. It may very well be that my bones and ligaments hasn't been able to catch up with this increased workload.
Besides a par of new shoes my approach in the month to come will be to reduce the number of running sessions and only run light endurance-sessions. I'll start out with three sessions. If that works out I'll add another and so on till I reach five. After that I'll start quality-sessions, and finally increase the duration of the long run. I'm afraid my scheduled race at the end of this month is off if nothing special happens in the week to come.

 
1. Total activity:
-Workouts: 21, including 1 b-priority competition
-Distance: 231,9 km
-Time: 32h 6m 54s
-Verticals: 2.306 m
-Calories: 14.720 C
-Days off: 8 days of 31(26 %, one week is transition period).

2. Running:
-Workouts:10
-Distance: 200,57 km
-Time: 25h 06m 54s
-Verticals: 2.172 m
-Calories: 13.733 C

3. Bike:
-Workouts: 2
-Distance: 29,73 km
-Time:  1h 20m
-Verticals: 134 m
-Calories: 987 C

4. Strength:
-Workouts: 5
-Time: 2h 40m

5. Flexibility:
-Workouts: 1 (sportsmassage)
-Time: 50m

6. Shoes(as of 31th of Oct):
-Mizuno Wave Ronin (purchased 8.4.10)     : 522 km
-Puma Concinnity (purchased 30.4.10)        : 220 km
-Montrail Masochist (purchased 14.5.10)     : 415 km
-Mizuno Wave Aero 8 (purchased 28.7.10) : 219,3 km
-Saucony Kinvara (purchased 9.9.10)          : 137,5 km
-Puma Trailfox (purchased sep 2006)          : 85,5 km