10K Training (Part 1: Rehab and Hills)

"Mind is everything. Muscle - pieces of rubber. All that I am, I am because of my mind." -Paavo Nurmi

I started my 15-week specific training for 10K racing on 30th of December. This 15-week training period aims to peak at 13th of April. The goal race is the Fila Race 10K in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The original training plan could be roughly divided to three phases for their emphasis on different training elements: Introductionary period (2 weeks), Hills training (4 weeks), and Race Preparation (9 weeks). But since starting with the program I had to make some adjustments because of injury, rehabilitation and to fix a weakness I found in my current state of fitness. 

Figure 1: Training Load during part 1 of 10K Training.

In this post I will explain what I did in the first 7 weeks of 10K training, what I learned, my adjustments and how I plan to go on from here. All this aims to run a good 10K road race on 13th of April, almost two months from now. Seldom the route to the starting line is straight and that makes training much more complex and interesting. My Training Load development is presented in the Figure 1.

Introductionary Period

Introductionary Period was planned to last for the first 2 weeks of the 15-week 10K specific training. Prior to the Introductionary Period I had been doing 8 weeks of Base Training and now was the time to crank up some intensity. The plan was to start running Easy Fartlek twice (monday, wednesday), and 6x200m relaxed wind-sprints (friday) once per week. I was feeling all right until the first wind-sprints practice when I strained my left leg hamstring. More details about the injury can be found in this post. So, my plans were forced to change drastically.

Rehabilitation

Figure 2: Finishing one of my runs in
the mountains during rehabilitation.

I maintained my aerobic fitness during early part of the rehabilitation by riding bicycle. One hour bike ride every day to elevate the heart rate makes sure that the built aerobic fitness is not going away while being sidelined from running. I did strength training exercises for the hamstrings and stretching. It took me 13 days to return to very easy running. First I ran very easy and shorter distances than usual, and then I started running hilly courses maintaining low effort level. After 25 days of highly adjusted training, I got back to the original training plan. I had lost three and a half weeks because of the strain, but I had gained a lot of information about my weaknesses. Some of the training I did at altitude (mostly at 1800 m).

I learned that the best thing you can do as a runner (or athlete in general) is to run hills when your hamstrings are the weakest muscles in your legs. And they usually are. I think running hills is way better than working with weights in the gym. One needs strength to not get injured and the muscle that is the weakest (at its' functional work) will get injured first. Running hills builds strength in the right places and then makes it possible to run faster. Retired athletes get injured very easily when they are not maintaining their strength anymore. The brain has learned to give orders and signals through nerves to the muscles to act and run fast, but the muscles are not strong enough to execute those orders anymore and that's why the muscles tear.

Hills

Figure 3: After rehabilitation. Colors in bars represent
time spent on Heart Rate zone in practice.
Red line = Average Heart Rate in practice.

I had to cut down the original 4 weeks hills training phase to 3 weeks. That will also shorten the following Race Preparation phase by one week. I experienced by first hand the utility of hills training and I will not drop all the hills work anymore in my training. My training after rehabilitating my left leg hamstring is presented in Figure 3. 

I think my hamstrings are the limiting factor at the moment in my progress and I intend to do sharp short hills sprints on my easier days. To maintain the strength I think one time per week is sufficient and if I feel I still need more strength I will do twice a week. I plan not to drop out the hills practice in my next Base Training phase either. Also, my circulation practice just got easier because the hills sprints will do the lower body strength work for me. I will only do abdomen, back and upper body strength in my circulation strength practice.

My typical hills practice was a Hilly Run with 100m long medium steep hills. I run a 0,9 km course that has two of those hills, up to 24 climbs per practice. Emphasize is on the uphills, close to sprinting. You can check my week 7 training log in Figure 4. That is the most running I have so far done any week in my training.

Figure 4: Week 7/2014 Training log.

What's Next?

After the rehabilitation phase I have been running all the time stronger and stronger thanks to the hills training. My weekly kilometers have gone up again, even though the intensity has climbed up slowly as well. Last week I exceeded 100 km weekly kilometers for first time in my career. This week I did it again running 113,7 km in total. At the moment I feel confident moving on to the Race Preparation phase that will make me ready to run a fast 10K. I have the fitness in me, next I need to get used to my target 10K pace, which I don't even know yet.

PS. Yesterday was the 1st anniversary with my wife. Thumbs up for her for tolerating me inside and outside the running shoes.