You thought I’d lost count didn’t you?  Well I actually did, I just had to count the sessions since my last appearance.  I missed the clinic so much that even if I’m anything but good I just had to attend it—and I’m glad I did.

After two weeks of being AWOL I’m finally back to blogging about the clinic.  Being away for a relatively long time, I noticed a notable drop in participant count, early Christmas vacation perhaps.  We’re probably just about half of the typical count.

I didn’t see some of the familiar faces I’m used to seeing but I was able to see some new friends from Takbo.ph (sorry I didn’t recognize you early, I don’t really see well in low lighting 🙂 ) so I wasn’t really “alone.”

Back to the clinic: this week is called “Recovery Week 1” and its aim (from the Nike Run Clinic website):

To recover by decreasing mileage and intensity of the workout after 3 straight loading periods.  Before performance reaches a plateau, we have to give the body time to recover.  After the recovery week, intensity of the training workout will increase or progress.

I figured I can handle this session since it was lighter than the usual:

Program: 3K Warm-up, Stretching, Drills
Main Set: 2×14 Different Drill Exercises (High Knees, Butt Kick, Back Pedal, etc.), 2× Core, Abs and Pelvic Exercises (plank, bridges, etc.)

I guess my knee was obvious so the coaches advised me to take it easy and just walk.  I already had a 2K walk on the way to Ultra so I was pretty much warmed up for the drills.

The drills and my knee injury proved to be beneficial as the coaches noticed what was causing my knee problem: my running form.  I thought that my form was good since I’ve run quite a few races and never had a problem until this injury.  It seems that my right foot doesn’t fall the right way as with my left so an injury was really bound to happen sooner or later.  It turns out that these “little” things matter when you run long distances, and for me to progress to longer distances it has to be corrected.  Now that I know I can do something about it.  Thanks to the coaches and of course Nike.

I did pretty much all that was listed except for the run in which I managed only a little over 1K (plus some walks to complement my shortcomings).  The drills and stretching were as usual very interesting and it can be a bit tough too, thankfully it’s not too tough for my knee.

If you still haven’t noticed, the schedules on the clinic website have been updated so you may now reserve slots from December until March (yes we have an assignment run on Christmas and New Year!).

I’d love to join the next few sessions for the year if my body allows me to, but realistically we also need to know when to stop.  After all, recovery is needed for us to improve.  With that said, I hate to admit it but this session could probably be my last for the year!  I sure am going to miss it this yuletide season (now I can recover the weight that I lost 🙂 ) so to my classmates run safe and Happy Holidays!