Blood letting.
The sign on the wall of the blood collection cubicle at the pathologist's rooms listed advice for patients about what they could and couldn't do for the rest of the day after having their blood samples taken. A little alarmingly for me, it included this:
4. Avoid all strenuous activity and exercise.
Hmm, well if I'm to take that seriously it puts a bit of a dent in my day and in particular my training schedule. The nurse, having extracted the requisite amount from my arm is laboriously writing my name in full on the labels of the three ampules that she's taken. I wonder briefly if there's any point asking her if that sign and its apparently paranoid caution really applies to a super athlete like me, but her grasp of English doesn't fill me with confidence that she will either appreciate the subtlety of my humorously ironic reference to higher forms of athleticism, or actually understand what I'm asking at all, given that she seemed hopelessly confused by my initial inquiry as to whether she'd had a busy morning or not. I decide to let it pass and take my chances at sticking to my schedule with its combination of a strenuous intervals session and cross-training.
Blood samples successfully taken, I return home and almost immediately launch into a strenuous intervals session, the first of this campaign. I'm doing Yasso 800s, and have set my aim high; perhaps too high, but I prefer that to being overly cautious. My schedule called for 5 x 800m, each 800m stretch taking 4 minutes, followed by the rest interval of a 400m jog. To add a little spice to the 5:00/km pace, I'm attempting them on a 2% incline, which may not sound much, but adds a surprisingly noticeable veneer of difficulty. After the requisite warm up, the first 800m catches me by surprise, and I wonder if I'm being overly ambitious. But the recovery jog settles me down and thereafter the session goes well; difficult, certainly, but incredibly satisfying to complete. And nor were there any complaints or signs of bruising etc from my blood-letted arm.
But all that was yesterday. Today my schedule called for yet another run; my fourth in five days. Mrs MLCMM looked at me in alarm when I told her I was running again today, and doubtless, my physio would have countenanced strongly against it. However I felt good, my legs were strong and despite the intensity of yesterday's intervals session, I was in fine shape, so why not? Besides, it was my physio who told me to run a minimum of 50km per week, and ideally work that up to 70km per week, all whilst avoiding consecutive run days. Well, he may be a good physio, but those kind of distances are simply not possible for me unless I run four or five times per week, which obviously require consecutive days of running. When the schedule gets especially manic, it may even demand four runs in five days, and so it has turned out. Mind you, this still won't be a 50km week, so the schedule is going to get even crazier in the weeks ahead.
Anyway, the other good news is that today's run was also successfully completed, and while it certainly feels as if I have pushed the envelope ever so slightly, I feel fantastic, so no harm was done. I now have two rest days to fully recover anyhow, so I anticipate being in top shape for my tempo run and the long run on Friday and Saturday. Consecutive run days are again called for, but I now know I can handle them quite well, so no dramas.
But I will enjoy the rest days.
Mighty May
