Recovery from injury: a painful process

It took longer than I expected.

I had been in recovery from injury results of the run on 26 July 2013. Since then, the more I run the more deteriorate it is. For the first week after the injury, I insisted to maintain the training because it seems to be mild and able to "run through". Not improved, I cut down the volume but still maintain a 16-24km session per week. 25th Aug, feeling enough tapering for three weeks, I went to completed a cut down pace long run. Proved that I was very wrong. At this stage I figured I won't make it to December Fubon. The mild pain become worse each time I try to catch back the training. So I decided to really cut down, rest one week, start slow another week. Feeling the second time of two weeks rest is enough, I ran a 50km+ week, with one 20k medium-long run on mid-Sept. At this stage, I still haven't see how much time I need to recover. It seems the more eager I back to the road, the longer the duration become.

After 15th Sept, I made up my mind (but not fully made up) to cease training for some time.
16 Sept - 30 Sept (two weeks) - Nil run with a test run of 5.2 km easy on 30th Sept.
1 Oct - 6 Oct - Did 3 sessions of run (5.2km, 6.2km, 9km). Knowing still not able to resume training.
7 Oct - 20 Oct (two weeks) - Nil run, with 3km on 20th.\
21 Oct - 3 Nov (two weeks) - One 3 k run, one 6 k run.

Two weeks by two weeks. From 10-20 km per session, the run become 3 k every two weeks. This is the price of not stopping early. The run should have stop earlier. Cut down is enough? No it's not, now two weeks is not enough.

The frustration is there for the months that not able to run. Feeling of losing the fitness. Eagerness to resume training. Depressed. Digestive system was bad. Losing appetite. The sense of well-being was dropping. Tried to get into swimming pool but refrain from enter due to owner not paying management fees. Tried to get short term gym membership to utilize the stationary bike for cardio workout, and the recruitment staff replied, "You should join our class, what you want to do with the gym only?" Alright. What for?

Back to run on November slowly. Three sessions per week, rest one or two days between each training. Week 1 - 6km, 6km, 7km, Week 2 - 6km, 6km, 10km and so on.  It seemed that the injury has recover with some "phantom uncomfortable" at the site. The fitness has dropped a lot, the leg power is not there. Still, getting back on the road is good.

It's a painful process. It's always said that avoid from injury is as important, to balance up recovery and training is essential. The "balance" is the hard part. Like a pregnancy, one can only take the time and tell yourself to be patient for the time being. You can either love your pregnancy (injury) or you get nervous and depressed. However, there's always something to gain and learn from an experience. In this case, it's either the joy of getting a child (if one love the baby), or the joy of running into the wind again.