April Plod Progress - failed ParkRun?

On my follow up appointment with the podiatrist I was given the ok to do “slow and short” runs! So this month I have run the grand total of 7km!

The day after I was given the ok, I of course had to go out for a run - it would have been rude not to considering it was a beautiful day and I’ve been whinging that I wasn't allowed! I went out and did a slow 2km along the beach as per doctor’s orders. It felt such a novelty to have to consciously slow myself down! Good news was no complaints from my ankle!

I followed this up a few days later with a 3km run. I’d gotten home from work after a particularly tough day feeling completely wiped but my run, although only short, reminded me how much exercise can pick you up! Even the shortest of runs can have a huge impact! However, I think I got a bit excitable and went a little bit quicker than intended which my ankle did inform me with the mildest of niggles that it wasn’t keen on! 

I then decided to do ParkRun with a few people from circuits, although I wasn't entirely sure if 5km was classed as “short”! It was a paced event so I made the plan to follow the 33 minute pacer to ensure I kept it slow. My local ParkRun involves 2 and a bit laps and unfortunately my ankle was complaining quite early on and so I had to revert to Plan B and pull out after one lap.

However, that little 2km run taught me a few lessons…

1. Making a decision to “quit” is hard! I’d said beforehand that if my ankle showed any signs of not being entirely ok that I would stop after one lap - after all it's not like you get a medal for finishing (not sure I'd be able to pass up a medal!) However when it came down to it, it was a remarkably hard decision to make! I know it was the right move to make and so I am actually a bit proud of myself! It would have been very easy to just carry on rather than get DNF but it was the sensible decision to make in the long run, so actually it wasn’t a failure!

2. I’m impatient! I’m pretty sure the reason my ankle wasn’t ok (despite previously being fine over that distance) is because I went back to doing insanity! I have been going during this time out from running, but adapting to take out all impact. But of course I got over excited at being cleared to start doing more, that I did the class as normal i.e. with all of the impact! Whilst my ankle was absolutely fine during the class, I think it has set back my recovery. Must be patient and take recovery slowly! 

3. A pace that was once tough is now easy! Go back a couple of years and a 33 minute 5km pace would have felt tough. I appreciate I only did 2km, but those 2kms were very easy! I was taking pictures and just generally feeling very relaxed in spite of the ankle niggles! So was again reminded of how far I’ve come, despite the recent running ban! Below are my first few ParkRun results and I remember working so hard for those PBs so it really is amazing to think how easy I found the same pace on Saturday. 

Fingers crossed my May mileage will be slightly higher, but ParkRun taught me I need to take things slowly!