Here We Go Again ...

After an almost 21 day long downtime from running to recover from a knee injury, I finally laced up and ran yesterday. Though it was short of a week from the actual intended time I was allowed to run again, it was utterly liberating to hit the roads again. I absolutely missed running!

But I had to really convince the wife that I was good to go again before she released the shackles from my legs ... LOL! She's been making sure I recovered properly and not sneak out the house in the wee hours of the morning to run, not that that would ever happen seeing as how even an earthquake couldn't wake me up in the mornings!

Jamie, who will be running the Gold Coast Airport Marathon in July decided to organize a training group to run on weekends. The group wasn't catered specifically for those running the GCAM and anyone who was training for a 10K, half or full marathon was welcome to join in. Even a newbie to running was welcomed.

I took that as a great opportunity to ease back into running again. Besides the fact that it's always fun running with a group of running enthusiasts, it would serve as a perfect platform to start my marathon training plans for the Standard Chartered KL Marathon in June.

What I like about group training sessions like these is the amount of knowledge and tips you can gather about running. No matter how much you think you know about running, there is always something new to learn from sessions like these, especially from the more seasoned runners in the group.

The first session saw a turnout of about 15 runners. After the initial tips from Jamie and the warm up session, the group headed out for a slow and easy 7km run, seeing as how this was the first training session. The agreed pace was exactly what I was looking for since it was my first run in almost 3 weeks. The legs were feeling fine after the three week rest but I wasn't about to push it and risk a recurrence.

I planned a slow 6:30-7:00 pace and actually managed to keep to that, at least for a while anyway. After the second or so kilometer, the legs actually felt pretty good and I decided to increase the pace a little to see if there would be any discomfort to the knee. The good news was, the knee was holding out just fine. But not wanting to really push myself, especially on my first day back, I capped the pace to somewhere between 6:00-6:15 all the way back to the end point.

While still a little sluggish and far from my best, especially stamina wise, I was pretty happy with the outcome. It's still a long way to go before I get back to where I was but the signs look good, barring any recurrence of the injury. I'm going to have to remind myself to go easy and not rush into things. I have this stubborn and impatient streak in me, which is why I get injuries pretty easily.

I haven't signed up for too many races in the first quarter of the year with only the Brooks Half in my race calendar. That leaves me about a month or so to get in gear for that race. The second half will definitely see me doing the SCKLM, a race which I have targets and goals to achieve, the Shape Men's Health run, a race of sentimental reasons, the PNM which will probably see me doing the half marathon this time simply because I see myself being involved with loads of work for that event.

My plans for the year is to put in a lot more time for training and target specific races with gusto and put all that training to action. I'm also looking at doing the Penang Bridge Marathon this year but have not made any decisions on that yet and might also partake in the Powerman again, sprint of relay, not really sure yet but chances are on the relay again if I can find a rider for it since I'm not that adept at cycling.

I will not be taking part in much 10K or less events cos I personally think some of them are priced too high but won't mind helping out as a volunteer for these events if given the chance. At least that way I can give back something to the sport.

With that said and done, it does feel good to be up and running again and am looking forward to what the year has in store for me, running wise. Let's hope it'll be an injury-free one!