The Process Part III

Sunday, May 22, 2016 · Mike Davis

Good morning! This past week I chatted about my calf and the recovery process, as well as my mistakes. The ups and downs of injuries are numerous and most of us do not do well with the process. As running coaches we often are helping runners work their way back from an injury and more times than not we are better at bestowing the benefits of patients than we are showing them as runners. Right now we are working with a great runner that broke his foot back in the late winter and has been ever so slowly working his way back. His eagerness to get back to his previous level is quite apparent and yet thankfully he is following our plan nearly perfectly. The results so far are what I would call successful as he has not had any setbacks. He (Bill) might not feel like his training is as successful as he might like because he like most of us runners feels that successful training means faster and further. Wednesday I chatted about how my faster pace resulted in my calf informing me that it was not ready to accelerate. Those first 20 minutes of feeling pretty good had me thinking I was ready to step it up, despite having run at that pace in over a month. Bill’s eagerness is similar except he wants to be back to the long distances that he was running prior to his fracture. Bill and I share the same passion for running and both have come to rely on the many benefits that running provides. Being patient means we have to do without some of those benefits that we have come to depend on. Vanity is not something we like to profess to but I can tell you that my legs look horrible right now! Sadly I have not adjusted as well as I should have when I injured my MCL and then my calf. Instead of easing back on calories and doing some other types of exercises I have allowed myself to lose some conditioning. I absolutely know better and am now paying the price of working my way back to better legs! No Finish Line Running has a great partner in Carrie Jose, from CJ Physical Therapy. Carrie is an experienced physical therapist that is also a runner herself. Carrie and I have had many long conversations about better preparing for a run but she is a huge proponent of “getting the body in shape to run”. She often says; “Running to get in shape is not ideal but, that getting in shape to run is.” There is so much more to a healthy running plan than just putting on running shoes and going out for a run. Understanding the particular dynamics such as how our daily functioning can undermine our running really make a difference. When we do a running form analysis it often helps the runner to improve their running efficiency. Carrie can often use that same in depth video to determine physical weaknesses that are either causing an injury or could lead to one. Combined we make a great partnership that gives runners amazing tools to work with. Back to my journey. So after chatting on Wednesday about my calf, Carrie dropped me a Facebook private message. She suggested I put some focus on my hamstrings and gluts as they have some effect on my calf. It is so awesome to have a friend and partner that can drop a few helpful tips! I did follow some of her instruction on Friday and also determined that I would stick with my plan of an “easy” pace. The results were fantastic, I ran 36 easy minutes without any calf pain whatsoever. I was really thrilled with having run the longest period of time non-stop than I have in over a month! Thirty-six minutes is far from where I want to be but, the fact that I had no pain in my calf is very encouraging. Bill and I have some work ahead of us and it will require patience and discipline. I have no doubt we will both get there though. Time to get ready for church! Have a great Sunday and see you on the road! God Bless! Mike