Still Testing How Far and Fast I Can Go...What Comes Next?
I'm still very far from normal after the right knee cartilage surgeries I had in 2020 and 2021. Even this far out from the surgery, I think there is room for improvement. I don't have full range of motion and there is still much stiffness and a little bit of pain to deal with. If I were to completely focus on doing what is best for knee function, I would imitate what has been done so successfully for athletes returning to team sports that require speed, strength, and agility. I would drop all this mileage and do some sprinting at least several times a week. I would work harder on strength training for the knee and surrounding muscles. I would probably greatly benefit from band work to strengthen and stabilize my knee in every plane of movement. After restoring as much function as possible, I could then resume running and perhaps be closer to "normal."
I'm not going to do that.
I'm 59 years old. I have grafts filling two holes in my right knee. Over long periods of time grafts do tend to fail. I'm facing the accelerating age-related decline in performance that comes with my age. I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to do this. I'm lucky to have had the opportunity to extend my running "career." If I manage to work myself into shape to take a shot at another crazy event...I feel like I have to take that shot...because who knows if I'll get another.
So how do I sort out these opposing forces of taking an extended period of time to get my knee better vs. doing events ASAP before the knee and advancing age end my chance to cover crazy distances in competitive times?
The answer for me is to "half ass" it...or maybe "three quarters" ass it. I'm in the middle of a 5-week period of doing short fast speed work (30s repeats) once per week. I'm continuing to do some strength training with a focus on my right knee. I've recently purchased a sliding trainer that I can use to do one-legged squats with my right leg. After this 5-week reintroduction to speed ends, I'm going to start the specific training for my next targeted race. (So...a little bit of time working on my stride, speed, and strength...but then I'm charging headlong into training for the next adventure.)
My next targeted race is a 24-hour looped race in the summer. I've never run a 24-hour race before. I've also not done an ultramarathon in the summer, where heat will be a major factor. Some interesting new challenges for me. My goal will be to run even splits for as long as I can...hopefully the full 24 hours. To do this I need to be very realistic about how many miles I can cover in 24 hours. I'll need to find ways to mitigate the heat. I'll need to really nail my fueling and hydration to reach my goals, so that will take a lot of practice. I have back up races in my mind (24-hour races and 100-mile races) in case I have setbacks and have to push my race into the fall.
I'm going to try my typical approach to ultra training that worked well for me before my knee injury. I'll start with about 5 weeks where I will focus on VO2max training. I'll follow that with about 7 weeks of "tempo" training. The final phase leading to the race will be about 6 weeks of "steady state" training. (I define these intensities similarly to how Jason Koop does in his excellent book, Training Essentials for Ultra Running.) Before surgery I would do speed work twice per week, but in a concession to age (and my knee), most weeks I'll probably do only one quality session per week (+ a long run, + a medium-long run). I hope to get up over 70 miles total in my peak training weeks with a long run well into the thirties. I'll follow a pattern of two "on" weeks followed by a cutback week with an extra day off and no long run.
Well that's it. This summer, I'm going to try to run further than I've ever run before. Perhaps I'm risking going too far. However, I think TS Elliot would approve.
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