Training wise it’s been a really disappointing year. Having only gotten back from a broken toe in March, by April I was having pain in both my Achilles. As with all injuries that you dont treat seriously , it eventually comes back to haunt you. Stubborn as I am I decided to push on through until mid-July. The right foot was never a real problem. A small bit of stiffness here and there. The left whoever got progressively worse. I tried different treatments like dry kneeling, ultrasound, self-massage and gels.
In May I was quite stressed out. It was clear the need to look for a job I was feeling constantly tired. Rightly or wrongly I decided to try and train my way out of the slump. I did a spinning class every day in May. Over the last few days of the month, I took a 10 day holiday in Sicily. I was conscious of the Achilles pain. I was supposed to run every second day to let it recover a bit but I ended up running every day. I knew was bad in June I started to run to 2.10 for 800 m. My season was going downhill fast! For the first time in four years, I was driving to work. The hours were longer than before. It was starting to affect my lower back. Now two months later, I still haven’t quite figured out what is causing the issue. I’ve always had a suspicion that my desk chair does not provide great back support. I may need to buy a standing desk.
Over the whole course of the summer, I have only run a couple of good races. I ran a 2.06 in training. In early July I won the club 1500 m Championships n a time of four minutes 18 seconds. Under normal circumstances, that would be a poor season-opening, but this year it was as good as it got.
Whilst injured I have been going to the gym a lot. I’m really getting the use of my gym membership. I started doing upper body training twice a week and lower body at least once a week. My core strength has been building up slowly but it still has lots of room for improvement. My back, in general, has been an issue. Whilst it has been tight at the top my lower back has been particularly troublesome. I have introduced spinning again. I can figure why some days I can’t get enough and then on others I don’t want to get out of bed.
Every year I tell myself this year will be your best, this year you died will improve, this year you want focus as much on running and will do other things. I’m not sure why it is but I am mediocre at all of the above. I will train twice a da, yet I wont stick to a strict diet. I’m not saying my diet is terrible far from it. Truth be told I need to lose around 7 kg to get to my best. At 34 years of age I’m starting to question whether my best running years are behind me.
Nowadays I long to go out and run a marathon. Having enjoyed middle-distance all my life this would be a change. My reasoning for wanting to do this is not the healthiest in the world. I’m hoping that the extra mileage will make me lose some weight, give me some new motivation and propel me to better middle-distance times as a master over the next few years. Right now my aim is to figure out what is wrong and get healthy for Lanzarote in November. Healthy doesn’t mean running. Healthy means having a positive mental attitude, enjoying life, having a positive outlook and learning to relax.
