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The knee was on my mind this morning as after a couple of harder days of training it felt sore. I considered swapping training days and go for a swim instead, but after a few warm up exercises and massage the knee loosened up. I decided to go for a 10 min warm up and if all felt ok would go ahead with the planned 20 min tempo run. All went well and the run was pretty much pain free. If pain had developed, I’d have stopped and rested.
It was great to stretch the legs for the first time in a while. It was a crisp blue sky winter morning, a perfect day for a run. As always, I uploaded the session and analysed the run comparing it to similar runs of a year ago. For the same pace my heart rate was around 10 bpm higher today and for that heart rate about 15secs per km slower. Serves me right for looking. Disappointed? No. Motivated? Yes. What else could I have expected as I have not been able to train as consistently as last winter. One of the six principles of training is ‘reversibility’, which states that you lose the effects, the physiological adaptations, gained through training if you stop training. Detraining happens quicker than regaining lost fitness, but the good news is that through a well structured training plan you can get your fitness back. Keep looking forward and not back, you can’t change the past.