The Worry – Week Beginning 30th October


Sunday 5th November 2017

This week was the first proper week of training after tearing my calf at the National 6 Stage four weeks ago. Since starting with some light jogging last week I have gradually built up the volume, whilst adding slightly more intensity towards the end of the week.

My calf is fine. I know this, not just because I managed to run 127km this week, something I am told is not possible with a calf tear, but because the scan last week showed that what once resembled a large hole was now a smooth meaty chunk of well formed muscle tissue. However, this doesn’t stop me worrying that it is suddenly going to go again. I find this amusing. As runners we train ourselves to be able to ignore pain; it is an incovenience that needs to be overcome at all costs, a sign of weakness and I’m not weak, thank you very much. But when you return from injury the opposite happens. You become aware of every little tightness or sensation of discomfort, convinced that it is a sign that the injury is returning. The kind of small niggle that would barely raise an eyebrow under normal circumstances now becomes a clear indication that the injury is back again, and probably worse than it was before.

This may well be down to the fact that in order to succeed in this sport you need to be all-or-nothing with it. You will not manage to put in all the hard, difficult training if you aren’t convinced that what you are doing is the most important thing in the world. Sadly the flipside of this belief in the importance of what you are doing is the sense of loss when you cannot do it. The fear of this triggers irrational reactions to pain and a heightened feeling of worry.

I hope it passes soon.

My Week:

Monday: AM 8km easy / PM 12km easy, hurdle drills (20)

Tuesday: AM 8km easy / PM 12km progression at 4:03 average, 2km easy (22)

Wednesday: 13km easy (13)

Thursday: AM 9km easy / PM 16km progression run at 3:45 average (26)

Friday: rest (0)

Saturday: AM fartlek + parkrun in 16:26 / PM 8km easy (24)

Sunday: AM 16km easy / PM 6km easy, drills and hurdles (22)

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