It never rains, but it pours!!!

History tends to repeat itself. Again, the weather has other plans for Miles. After completing his Monday cross-training swim, Miles had to skip the next two days of running.

The body seems to adapt quite well. Last week’s swim was broken into 4 intervals of 200m as Miles’ body was screaming for help. The swim session this week was much improved as Miles managed to complete the 900m swim non stop. Miles smiled to himself “I’m back!!!”

So this week was worst than last week, in that Miles had to skip two days of running in a row. And there was no way to make it up. Mileage dropped drastically right at the first half of the week.

“What can I do, just have to hope it will be sufficient mileage to proceed towards subsequent weeks” mutter Miles, though self-doubts have begun to take roots in his mind.

“Could this program be too ambitious? Will my body be able to take the load week after week?” Miles started to question himself.

Nevertheless, the show must go on. After 2 restless and rainy days, Miles was able to resume running on Thursday. However, disaster struck again! Even though Miles had 2 days of rest, the pain on his right knee have re-surfaced! He last felt it during last week’s 10km long run on Sunday. He had to cut short his run prematurely, though the pain only came in the later part of the run. Should he rest? Skip the next run?

Friday’s rest proved useful, and Miles was able to complete his Saturday’s 5km run pain free.

“Phew! Hopefully, there isn’t anything to worry about, my knee seems to have recovered after a day’s rest. But this back-to-back run on weekends may take a toll on my body.”… Miles was still worried about tomorrow’s long run.

The litmus test has arrived, and Miles started his 11km long run with his buddies Wade & Gallop. They started at an easy pace, lamenting about the weather in the past week and complaining how it disrupted their training. That seems to ease their mind on the grueling 11km journey.

Gradually, Miles started to slow down and started to lag behind Wade and Gallop. After the 5km mark, Miles was reduced to a run-walk strategy. He was feeling out of breathe, and his knee has started to flare up. Miles struggled for the next few kilometers. Thinking to himself that he had covered such distance with ease in the past weeks before, how can he stumble at this stage?

The unthinkable happened! He decided to DNF as his knee started screaming for attention. It wasn’t an easy decision for Miles, as memories of his DNF during his previous 10km time trial kept flooding his mind.

“Well, at least I covered a longer distance than my previous DNF” Miles tried to console himself, while limping to the bus stop.

He had waved Wade & Gallop to continue with their run, and that he will meet them back at the start point at his own pace.

The advantage of running in the neighborhood is that he can easily take a bus to cover the rest of the distance.

Wade & Gallop were surprised to see Miles back at the start point before them.

“Hey! How did you teleport yourself back here!!! I thought we left your sorry state back at the 7km mark?” Wade teased…

“Who cares! At least we can go for breakfast now!!! I’m hungry!!!” Gallop laughed as he put his arm around Mile’s shoulder….. “How’s your knee? Can you walk? What happened?” his tone turned serious.

“I’m fine! Just disappointed! Two DNF in one month, it’s embarrassing!” Miles replied in a melancholy tone.

“Well! Nothing a good breakfast can’t fix!!! We shall feast!!!” Gallop replied with a smile.

There’s nothing a good meal with good friends can’t fix, that’s for sure. And it’s this camaraderie that has push them along all these years.

Over breakfast, they reviewed and concluded that this 12-weeks Intermediate-1 training program may be too taxing for them, in particular Miles. After the grueling 5km and 10km training program, maybe the body couldn’t take it anymore.

While sipping over their morning coffee and tea, and after much discussion and differences in opinion, and with a little help from ChatGPT, they managed to come up with a customized 20-weeks program.

Legend:

Pink: Saturday Long Slow Distance

Orange: Fast Runs

Dark Green: Steady-paced Runs

Light Green: Easy Runs

A few considerations that they concurred on:

  1. Considering Mile’s knee problem, they decided to start with 3 runs a week, but gradually promote to 4 runs a week from Week-6.
  2. Increase the number of cross training sessions to twice a week, considering they are reducing the number of runs sessions per week.
  3. Inject a “fast” run every fortnight, so as to stimulate the body to run faster.
  4. Gradual increase in the long run distance.

A very conservative plan, but hey, what’s the rush? Better to do it at a gentle pace, than to rush things and end up getting injured.

Next week marks the start of a new beginning. A new customized program. Renewed Hope.

Let the healing begin…..

 

… stay tune to see how they fare next week.

Disclaimer

This is a work of fiction. If you think you recognize yourself in here, you’re probably mistaken… or you have a very unusual life. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents are either made up entirely or borrowed from the author’s overactive imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental — and if it’s not, well, that’s just awkward.