I had promised to include my recovery program for those that were keen to hear about it so here it is.
Following my MRI and visit to the sports doc, he advised 5 weeks of solid no running – this was hard to swallow, but in the end magic for the legs after me smashing them for 3 years of hard running with very little break. I was able to ride the bike at the gym, swim and do my normal gym exercises without the leg portions. I also used the Power Breathe during this time, but had to wind it back from the 9 I was on to 3.5 again as the VO2 had scaled back. Don’t worry though as you can build it up again in 6 weeks if you work at it.
In week six he pronounced me healed, but advised building up the calf muscles through doing calf raises and heel drops daily for the first week (3-4 sets of between 12 and 20 reps).
Week 1: 3 sessions on non-consecutive days – ½ hour brisk walk with 6x1 ½ min jogs (jog pace for me 6min/km).
Week 2: 3x15 minute jogs
Week 3: 2x20min jogs, 1x30min jog
Week 4: 1x15min light run (5min/km), 2x20min jog, 1x30min jog
Week 5: 1x15min moderate run (4.40/km for me), 1x40jog, 2x20min light run.
Week 6: 1x20min moderate run, 2x30min light run, 1x15min hard run (4min – 4.15/km for me)
Week 7: same as week 6, but can start to add hills and after the two light runs can do some run throughs (6x75%)
Week 8: 1x20min hard run, 2x30min moderate run, 2x40min light run.
I hope that this can be used by others suffering similar injuries to what I did. Allow yourself the time to heal, eat right, give thanks and show gratitude and take time to change your life and come back stronger.
Stride for stride on a life changing ride! – Sean Muller
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