New watch: Garmin Instinct Solar!

[UPDATE: I sent it back. It had a problem. It froze twice in the first four days of owing it. Apparently this is a known issue. I imagine Garmin'll fix it, but I didn't want to own one while waiting for the fix.]

Despite what I said here, I bought a new watch!

And it wasn't one of the watches I thought I'd get.

Why the Garmin Instinct Solar?

• It's got good batter life
• It's light and small
  
• It looks cool! (Eye of the beholder and all that!)
• I don't need the metrics it hasn't got (VO2 max, running dynamics and training effect)
• It's got swimming heart rate
• It's got an easy to read screen (no dark, sapphire glass a lot of high-end watched have)

 

An upgrade?

As I'm coming from a Forerunner 935, I thought this change might not feel like an upgrade as I'd be losing some of the metrics I had with the 935.

Granted, I never used those metrics and found some of them plain annoying. For instance, the recovery advisor and training load function. But in theory, the Instinct is a lower-spec watch.

But it does feel like an upgrade. Many of the standard functions have improved from the older 935 to the newer Instinct Solar, and there are new functions I like, e.g. the power manager. Even the body battery seems half useful, much more so at least than just sleep data.

My calf/Achilles rehab plan

Luckily, I've had a steep recovery from what I thought might have been a long-term niggle. I'm just about back to normal training.

The only things I don't think I'm quite ready for right now are long runs with lots of elevation gain and high intensity running.

From what I've been reading and hearing about tendons (this video is excellent), the isometric exercises I've been doing and continuing to run have probably been the key.

I'm even rethinking my weekly day off from running (again!). Apparently tendons need an almost daily load to stay strong and functional. I think this is even more important as you age because the signal from training is weaker.

So it might make sense to run every day, even if just for 20 minutes on what might otherwise have been a weekly day off.

Of course, it's vital to be ready to take a rest day at the drop of a hat and rest upfront when you do get something more than a niggle you can run through.

Anyway, this time I'm not going to stop at just getting back to where I was before. My calves are obviously a weak point, so I'm going to make them and my Achilles stronger.

Calf/Achilles plan

1. Calf raises and holds a few times a day (already doing)
   
2. Keep running and get back to normal training (the Big Vert plan)
   
3. Heavy lifts a few times a week (e.g. 4x8 single-leg calf raises) with other leg training (e.g. squats and deadlifts) (start next week)
   
4. Skipping and other plyometrics, building up to the single leg jumps as explained here (maybe start this week)
   

 

Recovering faster than I thought, and happy I've discoved a weakness

Running didn't feel that great yesterday morning --- probably due to the physio session the day before. But my Achilles felt good later yesterday. And today it was heaps better. I barely noticed anything on my run this morning.

Calves: my weak link

According to my physio, the calves work hard when going uphill. It's basically the glutes and calves going up and the quads coming down.

Out of these muscles, my calves are surely the weak link. So once I get over this injury, I'm going to work though the progressions on this page to make my calves stronger.

I've always avoided calf exercises because they seemed to cause niggles. But precisely for this reason I probably should have focused on them.

I've started doing static calf holds four times a day (5x45" with a 15" break) in line the progression outlined here. I think it is already helping.

Rehab for increasing pain threshold

In this podcast, the researcher/physio interviewed explains why exercises help rehab.

It's not just to make the muscles stronger and hence more resilient to injury. Apparently doing exercises also increases your threshold for pain in the area worked, and this also makes you more robust. 

Fascinating!

It makes sense from my experience.

Oftentimes, calf niggles and tweaks seem to be from oversensitivity --- an overreaction to a brusque movement that no way could have caused damage and obviously doesn't most of the time because the pain's gone the next day.

So calf raises and skipping, here I come!

Reactive Achilles tendinopathy, apparently

That's what my physio told me today. Probably from the change in training to doing more climbing.

His instructions were to cut volume and elevation for a week or so and then start building slowly. Also to do isometric calf holds. I found some good resources online for progressing these. This page, for instance And this podcast is really good on tendon injuries in general.

So I can still run.

I'll keep to the flat for a while, but I may take some time off. I really don't want to make this any worse. Although apparently I should do what I can to make sure the area doesn't get weaker.

My physio and the Internet tell me pain should be my guide: do what doesn't hurt too much or makes it worse within 24 hours. Then build from there.

I'll swim and cycle, too.

Just when I thought I was feeling good...