Running myself back from an injury

Barely more than a week after my physiotherapy appointment I would head to Finland. And I imagined I would have time there to do my exercises. I also hoped I could start building up the running again. After seeing the physiotherapist, I had only run during my duathlon. After that, my exercise had only been my bicycle commute. So I hoped I could calmly build it back up. I had the impression from the map that the area around our cabin had some big gravel roads, and very few paths. But that was okay; I decided to just bring my road shoes.

On my travel day, neither running nor physiotherapy happened. That happens if you get up at stupid o'clock and end the day on a train! But once we reached the cabin things started to work out like I had imagined them.

I know my sister also does exercises, but she is less inclined to all do them first thing in the morning. But we were not in a hurry! So I could just fit all my exercises in before we would leave for our hikes. I had also added a stretch on my own initiative. I told my sister that if she thought the cabin was haunted, she was probably just hearing my agonised wailing trying to get my old ligaments to stretch.

From the first day in the cabin I also indeed started to build up my running again. My plan has been to start with a 4 km run, and then add another kilometre every time. But my first run went so well it was already 5 km, on the local gravel road. And my knees felt good! The next one was 6 km, some of which on a path. Still good. Then almost 7 km, back on the gravel road, as it had been raining. And the last evening when we had the cabin I ran 10 km. The full distance of my upcoming race (a trail 10k I had also done last year). And my knees were still happy! I felt confident I was ready for that race already. And it wasn't even July yet!

The driveway to our cabin: always the start of my runs

The path, probably a gravel road that wasn’t maintained anymore 

Wide views from the nearby hill (and there is a reindeer bum in this pic)

In Helsinki I did two further runs. One before dinner, when I just ran away from my sister's house for 2 miles, and then ran back a bit faster. And the last run was before breakfast. I am always slow when I haven't had food yet! But I was glad to get that out of the way, when I knew I would be spending a lot of time sitting on my arse in metal tubes of various description for the rest of the day. 

Urban beach near where my sister lives

View from a bridge over the water

Decorative house along the way

I know I tend to push it harder when I'm doing a race and I have to bear that in mind; the problem started when I was pushing things. But my upcoming race is a trail race, and also only 10 km. I think I will be alright! But I have faith I will be able to build it up all the way to half Marathon level again in September. And if I can, I am really back in business. Watch this space!