Crash Training (summary)

Decided to stop crash training one day earlier than planned. My right ankle is beginning to show signs of breakdown and if I look back, the day before crash training was a 10 mile cross country race.

So, I had seven days of intense training which included two races, one long tempo run, three long runs (20 miles +), one interval session and one fartlek (!) session.

I also managed one session on the bike, stretching every day, one strength training session, four sessions of eccentric achilles stretching, and daily ankle massage.

Felt extremely tired on Thursday afternoon and had a nap but apart from that I didn't feel much more tired than usual. Also used a product from Science In Sport called Nocte. This is designed to aid recovery whilst asleep - used this three times (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday). I definitely found it beneficial.

Also used ice after every run from Wednesday onwards and increased my intake of carbohydrates and vitamins C and B. Began using ibuprofen on Friday to control possible inflammation.

During the seven days (15 - 21 June inclusive) I ran 130 miles. The four weeks before that had an average of 59 miles.

Stats then:
during that week I ran for 18h 50
cycled for 45 mins
stretched for 1h 27
did strength training for 35 mins
performed eccentric ankle stretches for 59 mins
and massaged for 37 mins

This means that, taking the last 28 days (25 May - 21 June), an average week was:
running: 11h 04
cycling: 1h 19
stretching: 1h 12
strength training: 57 mins
eccentric achilles stretches: 1h 10
massage: 33 mins

At last, I've now reached the stage where eccentric achilles stretches (for achilles tendinosis at the start of the year) need only be done once every three days.

Next week will be an extremely easy week but as this is my first tapering week it isn't a problem at all. My four runs will include a club handicap, a tempo run and two fartlek sessions.