Tales from a Slow-Jog Comeback #3: Glorious Runny Sunday (Zombie) Morning

[CBDB]

I set my eyes on this weekend. This was the one I was going to start a new 0 to 5k journey! This was the one I was going to completely take my healed metatarsals off the injury couch and let them run free!

Well, not quite free. I knew I had to make my way slowly. And Saturday, although beckoning with its blue skies, was a workday for me so I was hoping for a blue-sky Sunday! And it didn’t disappoint!

I actually had my first “real” run on this latest 5k journey all planned out in detail! (I’m weird, that way, I know!) I had the route, I was going to do the Zombies, Run 5k plan. And downstairs awaited my new Altra Lone Peak 5 Zero drop shoes to start my running journey with a level foot.

But first I had to learn how to get all my gear sorted again:

✅ Long-sleeved T-shirt (and I chose a Rowing logo one)

✅ Sleeveless Hoodie

✅ Leggings 👖

✅ Injinji toe socks 🧦

✅ Scarf 🧣 or cap 🧢 ? Scarf!

✅ Gloves 🧤 yup, maybe it was that cold 🥶 !

✅ My V1 vest to hold my phone ❤️📱

⁉️🎧Now where were my earplugs! Panic! And finally, ahhh, here ✅

Then I made sure my phone was set ok:

☑️ Runkeeper, no voices, no audio stats, no workout

☑️ Zombie to 5k, audio on, use external music player

☑️ Spotify, get my favourite CBDB’s 145BPM playlist ready

And out the door! 🚪💨🏡🌳🌤

What I had forgotten?🤔

⁉️ Turn mobile on, not Bluetooth 🤦🏻‍♀️

⁉️ Check audio volume before you set off 💥📣😬

Fresh air, no cars that early, cold sun of the morning!

Loved 🥰 it immediately again!

So Zombies to 5k started of with week 0, an introductory chapter with a not as clear instructions to run and walk as I would like. But I’m hoping that the first proper run in week 1 will be clearer.

But I reconnected with my inner Runner 5. (Shame about my predecessor from Township Abel, though, whose runner gear I inherited! 🧟‍♀️ )

The 22min intro run in this week 0 was an easy run-walk alternating sequence, and I was taking it easy. I was feeling intently what it was like to run again in the fresh nature outside and also what was going on inside my own body.

✅ overall cardio fitness felt great! 👍🏽😊

💢 knees were ok, but I could feel some knee strengthening exercises wouldn’t hurt my left knee, which had been a weak spot in my first year of running

❌ My back did ache, and I’m hoping that will rectify itself as I get stronger again

✅ My feet and metatarsals felt brilliant in their new Altra Zero-Drop Shoe-home! (Although I did feel a tiny niggle once back home)

Feeling of being out there running was … well it can’t be described! Simply awesome!

My past 3 months of rowing has also given me more insights into the state of my legs. I know now that my

- Right leg has less ankle mobility and is weaker

- But my left leg has more ankle mobility and is stronger

I managed to even out the strength difference by rowing, but I still have quite a difference in ankle mobility. I had never noticed either when only running, but rowing really showed that up. And I do wonder if this was something that I hadn’t recognised in the past but had affected my left knee.

And of course those kinds of ponderings bring me also to the vital question of how to now fit all of my workouts into my working week?

I am now thinking of running only twice/week, rowing 5/week, and yoga daily as usual if possible or replace with the usual stretches and sprinkled in some targeted knee and back workouts!

But I could really do with that time machine to help with fitting it all in!

Happy Running everyone!

[dijep Graduate10]

That all sounds great. It feels so good when you can finally get off three IC and get out and run again. Great that the weather was there too welcome you 🌞Yes definitely need a time machine ☺️

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to dijep]

Yey! Yes, it feels great! But also yes to time machine! ⏳

[Doris8 Graduate10]

I wonder myself how your going to fit it all in. You’re a busy bee 🐝. I find with wearing same shoes as you my backaches but it could be my osteoporosis but wear my brooks most of the time. It’s hard to slow jog in brooks. You must feel a lot stronger with all the cardio with rowing , and hope your feet keep well. I even wear trainers to work but ok where I work . Must be hard in your job on your feet as well. Keep it up your doing well😊👍

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Doris8]

I hadn’t thought of that connection (shoes+backache). I’ll monitor it a bit. I’m planning to rotate some of my shoes a bit, and to take notice of my running style vs different drop heights. I’ll make sure I’ll note the issue with my back as well. Maybe I just have to get used to the shoes.

Thank you!

[Newbie59]

Great news, you are back out there running! What a feeling! 😀 👏👏👏🏃‍♀️

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Newbie59]

Yey! Great feeling, thank you! 🙏👍🏽

[roseabi]

Lol this is awesome!!!! I had these sorts of organisational issues with my return to swimming recently - cap, goggles, de-fogging stuff for goggles, swimsuit, towel, earplugs, nose clip, pound for the locker, credit card, argh! 😂

I'm so glad you had a good run, and that the new shoes were good. Hope you can get all the stuff sorted into a routine! 😍😍😍

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to roseabi]

Oh I can imagine! That takes another level of organisation! 🏊‍♀️👙🤿😅

New shoes seem great, so now just to fit it all in. How do you plan your week. Do you have a ratio or number of runs/swims/cycles per week?

[roseabi in reply to CBDB]

The plan is three runs plus one pool swim per week, and strength work every day - and I am starting to reintroduce cycling once a week minimum, but I'll see how it goes. I've been unwell for the past couple of weeks which has prevented me from swimming (and I missed a run!), so I'm going to have some extra indoor bike work to try and make up for it 😂 I will do more swimming later in the year when the sea has warmed up!

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to roseabi]

Warm sea…. Yeah that sounds good. And Wowsa. Are you gearing up for some more triathlons this year?

Sorry to keep on asking, but do you keep track of all your stats in one place or do you just have cycling and running on Strava?

(Annoyingly, I now have rowing in the C2 online logbook, running on Runkeeper, and everything else does not have a place. And I now feel like… if I don’t track it, it hasn’t happened! 😟)

[roseabi in reply to CBDB]

I am doing a triathlon, but not 'til September. I'm trying to go big on cross training because I've had an Achilles issue that has held up my marathon training - marathon is on May 2nd.

No worries! I have run, swim, and bike on Strava. These go through automatically from my Garmin, but I don't bother using my watch to record my strength work, and I don't like to go on Strava too much. For strength I subscribe to a streaming service, Suzanne Bowen Fitness, and everything I do I can view on her website for a while. But I also have a old-school paper diary where I jot down all of it plus my achilles rehab stuff. I really like doing that actually, the diary sits on my desk and I can just see at a glance where I'm up to.

So mine is a complete mess! 😂

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to roseabi]

A great, glorious fitness-y mess! Brilliant! Thank you, I’ll have a think.

And hope your health and Achilles will get better quickly!

🙏👏🏊‍♀️🏃🏽‍♀️🚴‍♀️🏋🏾‍♀️ 🥇

[roseabi in reply to CBDB]

Thank you! It's getting much better xxx

My diary

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to roseabi]

🤩🤩💪

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to roseabi]

Guess what? I got myself a paper diary! (None of this digital naff stuff, less flexible and not as beautiful as a real, physical diary! 🤣🤣🤣)

So thanks, I got inspired by your diary and am ultra happy with it! I’m also celebrating my first day out of isolation, so great coincidence!

Thanks! 🙏☺️😊💪👍🏽

[roseabi in reply to CBDB]

Awesome ❤️

[Instructor57 Graduate10]

Great to hear you are back out and running again !Good luck with the comeback 🤞👍

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Instructor57]

Thank you!

[Hidden]

What a great read CBDB. Thank you for sharing. So good for you to finally be off the IC 🥳

You just need to have more days in your week now. Simples.. 🤣🤣

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Hidden]

Simples! 🤣🤣

Saw you’ve just landed on the IC as I managed to get off it! Hope your back recovers! In Germany, being landed with a sudden onslaught of a bad back was called “Hexenschuss”, or translated literally “shot by a witch” 🧙

So hopefully the spell gets lifted soon!

Sending you lots of get well wishes! 🤕

[Irishprincess Graduate10]

Sounds wonderful! All that rowing and cross training has really paid off for your running 💪

I think most of us have a weaker side but the secret is to find out which one and where and then do the strengthening exercises. Since doing a particular exercise in Pilates I discovered that my left glutes are much weaker than my right and not surprisingly, I always had left knee problems! But regular strength exercises has sorted out the knee issue so they really do work 🤗

Lovely misty photo above 😍

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Irishprincess]

Let’s hope the rowing has paid off for running. But it’s been a great journey so far, just fitting it all in is a challenge.

Yeah, the leg strength/mobility differential is an odd one (is that an unwitting pun?). Maybe running is not exactly the exercise where you notice these things, but they will have an impact somewhere down the line!

Did you just do strength exercises for both glutes or did you strengthen only one leg to balance the glutes?

[Irishprincess Graduate10 in reply to CBDB]

Rowing is fabulous all-round exercise and works so much of the body.

I did both sides. I mentioned this to my Pilates instructor once and asked her if I should do more on the weaker side but she advised to keep it the same because the weaker side catches up and the stronger side stays strong 🙂

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Irishprincess]

👍🏽 yeah, that’s what happened with my legs. On the rower you can really measure the difference, and when I started it was scarily different. And 3 months on, they’re both the same. But one heel still comes off the foot rest more than the other, so I asked if I should adjust the foothold to even out.

But there was the similar suggestion to keep the same as the ankle mobility will adjust at some point.

Thanks.

[Irishprincess Graduate10 in reply to CBDB]

Both the same is good!

[Maddee_6333 Graduate10]

Sounds like you had a good time in the great outdoors 👍 so pleased you can get out there again. Long may it continue 🤞

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Maddee_6333]

👍🏽yes, definitely! I’m imagining my metatarsals having healed into a much stronger structure now.

[SueAppleRun Graduate10 60minGraduate]

Ooo back running 🏃‍♀️ welcome back… I didn’t know there was a plan on Zombies run, that may be my way back once my energy levels return to normal Good to know you are running again

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to SueAppleRun]

Thank you, it’s a separate app, and I had downloaded it before my subscription ended. So it was free as I had a 1 year subscription to Zombie, Run. The app is called “ZR5K”.

It’s good. I think it’s not quite as clear as the NHS app, but I’m only getting into it. So I’ll report on how it goes!

[SueAppleRun Graduate10 60minGraduate in reply to CBDB]

Look forward to reading about your increasing runs and zombie chases

[Catwise Graduate10 60minGraduate]

Welcome back to Abel township Runner5!

The first episode is just story, no real instructions. Once you start Week 1 there are very specific “ok 5, run now!” instructions. I felt the same way when I listened to The Story Begins, I expected more guidance, didn’t realize until i started the next episode that the first one wasn’t really part of the 5k plan, it’s just back story.

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Catwise]

Oh that’s great to know! I do like Zombies, Run so am looking forward to doing my 5k journey with them.

And, hello 👋 fellow Runner 5!

[buzzards Graduate10]

Wonderful that you are off the IC and back running again.❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹 Your rowing clearly helped to keep you fit all this time. Welcome back.☺️

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to buzzards]

Thank you!! And can’t wait till my next run! 😃🏃🏽‍♀️👍🏽

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate10]

HUGE well done to you... out there and enjoying?

I hope that the back ache eases and yes...knee exercises are so, so helpful !

There is plenty to choose from on the S and F Forum.. as you know, ( wink wink)!

Just good to know you are back out there; take it slow and steady... what else?

PS

If you get a Time Machine... pass on the retailers name to me please

Floss x

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Oldfloss]

🤣🤣😉

Time machine… yeah… will do! 👍🏽⏳

[Hidden]

Congrats on being fully of the IC! Sounds indeed like you need a time machine though. I know the feeling a bit, in my case it means I sort of gave up on my cardio exercises as I don't know where to fit them in now I am running again. Both due to time, but also because the cardio exercises are making me sore (stiff muscles) which risks me being able to run.

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Hidden]

Yeah, what a conundrum! I think we should all stop working and workout full time! 🤣🤣🤣 But then I couldn’t have afforded those running shoes… and my rower… and and and

… I think I’m back to the only solution being a time machine …

Hope you find your balance even without a time machine!

[Beatlesforever Graduate10]

Yay that's brilliant, well done 💪😀 👏👏👏🏃‍♀️🧟‍♀️🧟‍♂️

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Beatlesforever]

Thank you! 🧟‍♀️ 😁😀🏃🏽‍♀️

[GailXrunning]

We have lift off! 🙌 Best wishes for your renewed running journey.