Running to Think

I'm gonna skip week 02, for the reasons I explained in a previous post. I deliberately planned for a break between two intense training blocks. Anyway my body anticipated me with a stressed posterior tibial tendon that needed to be fixed any time soon.
Week 02 has been dedicated to resting, specifically active resting which consisted of a bit of cycling at the gym and loads of repetitions of the exercise you can see in the picture above.
According to my physiotherapist, I could have started running again on monday of week 03, after 7 days of no running. That's exactly what I did.

13/01/2014
20' run and the usual exercises. I headed to the gym a number of times to strengthen some muscular groups that needed some intervention, such as hamstrings and shoulders, upper back and abs. Running, running, running is not exactly what every runner should do. Sometimes we have to plan some workout sessions at the gym or, if you feel more like Rocky Balboa at the steps of a stadium in the suburbs of your city ;)

14/01/2014
30' trail in Sart Tilman in Liege, wearing trail running shoes. This session was characterised by the usual amount of hills and irregular terrain which made it a tough and quite stiff experience. At some point I was scared that the tendon would have collapsed again. I was really waiting for the running session to finish as soon as possible. Not fun, at all.

15/01/2014
Of course my physiotherapist kicked in, discouraging me from running on irregular terrain for at least one more week. She was quite diplomatic by avoiding the more appropriate "you are an idiot" conclusion.
I proceeded as requested by wearing softer road running shoes for about 40', finishing on the track and field. I still felt a bit of stiffness in both the ankles and mainly on the injured tendon. Way less than the day before, though.

16/01/2014
52' easy run with no pain whatsoever and much less stiffness. I felt like I could have been running for 3 hours more, which I didn't do. This time, I would have really deserved to be called an idiot.

17/01/2014
again 50' easy run in the city of Bruxelles. Sore calves and both tibial tendons quite tired are probably the result of a week of training and exercising. I better close week 2 here, with a saturday of rest.

18/01/2014
Rest


I wish I could say "the gipsy is back". But I still don't feel that comfortable.
Yet.

The dinner following an intense workout like a 50 km run (ok, even for much less than that) is probably not very well appreciated if it is too heavy to digest or eaten later  than usual, maybe right before going to sleep. Even though I consider eating late quite negative for my body, I cannot hide that it occurred to me a number of times.
Here is a nice receipt that helps muscle recovery and tissue rebuilding with a good amount of proteins and vitamins.

Ingredients
100 gr of crab meat (this provides 18 grams of proteins)
1 spoon of olive oil
half lemon
1 teaspoon of sumac
1 tea spoon of black pepper
1 spoon of mostarde of Dijon
1 fresh tomato
6 brussel sprouts
1/2 red onion


Instructions
Prepare the crab meat in a dish and mix it together with oil, lemon, pepper, mostarde, add some salt and let it marinate for about 20 minutes.
In the mean time cook some brussel sprouts with a small red onion. Cook the sprouts slowly, using a lid and keep the steam inside.
Cut a fresh tomato in cubes and compose as in the picture. Sprinkle some sumac on it.