When can I start training?....

It's been over two months now since the decathlon and the heel bruise is almost all gone. I walked an hour today with very little sensation of the bruise afterwards, which is pretty good. I think I'll be able to start running again consistently here about the first of November, which is pretty good timing for next season. It would be good to be training already for the indoor season, but I want to be as healthy as possible before I start running for real. I'm still gunshy about all the injuries from last season, though, so I'm curbing my enthusiasm to the degree that if I start getting injury after injury again next spring, I probably won't follow through. For now, I'll hope for the best.

The main training objective for next season, besides not getting injured, is to lose weight. I had my body fat % checked three weeks ago, and it came in at 10.3% at 183lbs. I noticed that I was weighing about 186 at the time of the decathlon, and I realized that's too high. Because of the injuries since March, and the fact that I wasn't able to run consistently, I just wasn't as lean as I can be. I wasn't paying that much attention to how much I was eating, either. I should be closer to 175, which should make a big difference in my running and jumping. Being lighter helps 7 or 8 events in the decathlon, especially for older guys. When you're young, you have to have the muscle for the discus and shot and sprints, but as you get older, your energy and stamina and spring can't overcome any extra weight. According to one website I found, every pound equals 2 tenths in the 400, and about 1.5 seconds in the 1500, so thats a lot of points if I can lose another 8 pounds. The jumping events will be helped, too, of course.