GOT TO RUN AGAIN AFTER 21 DAYS OF NO RUNNING, BUT ...

Last Sunday, August 12, I finally got to run again after 21 days without running.  I ran at Camp Aguinaldo with my fellow 83nean runners:  Ernie Badong, Ed Balcueva, Bob Castilla, Ruben “Fards” Fajardo and Noel Guevara.  Joining us, too, on that Sunday morning was Art Puncia who biked around the military camp. 

The running felt good.  On the first 7-km loop around the camp, I tried to  match stride per stride with Fards, a faster runner than I. He was kind enough to slow down to let me in to his slipstream.  With this help, I got to finish the first 7 kms at 50 minutes flat.  On the second lap, prudence proved to be better than valor, so I went for a slower pace and got to tag along with Ed, a relatively slower runner than Fards. We did the second 7-km loop at a slower 57 minutes for a total of 1 hour 47 minutes for 14 kms.  Ed and I would have wanted to go faster but both of us were already running out of breath and had to utilize more Galloway walk breaks.

With my fellow 83nean runners enjoying the food at Camp Aguinaldo

The running felt good (and the after-running meal of kalderatang kambing and adobong kambing at the Soldier’s Mall inside Camp A was satisfying), but I think I have to be cautious about the return to running after my lateral ligament sprain in late July. The Runner’s World Big Book of Marathon and Half Marathon Training  at its Return to Running table on page 191, prescribed dropping mileage by 50% for 7 days if a runner misses 2 weeks worth of  running.  It added further to expect that it would take 3 to 4 weeks to regain one’s fitness.

I think I have to heed the words of our HMI-accredited orthopaedic doctor, Godofredo Pineda Jr., M.D. FPOA, that I have to rest more my knees. He suggested that even without running, I could still work on my cardio endurance with swimming and treadmill stuffs.

Cut down on running, rest more and do other stuffs. These do not sound fun for me but I have to follow the zen-wise.  As Noelle Q. De Jesus entrancingly   puts it in her article “The Zen of Running” (Runner’s World-Philippine Edition, July-September 2012 Issue), “..when you find yourself needing to stop - - whether it’s an injury that’s hampering you or you’re just not into it right now, don’t let that  stop you from calling yourself a runner.  You’ll feel that surge and drive again.  And you will run. Don’t be afraid to stop.  Older runners are never afraid that they won’t run again.  They know they will.”      

The Zen of Running – delightful article at the latest Runner’s World issue.  Check it out.