A Game of Cat and Mouse

Again I find myself with a mild niggle; some sort of pain in the right hand side of my lower back. It's a bittersweet moment as I am glad that I have recognised the problem as soon as it started, but irritated that I find myself once again not being able to run for a few days. The irony of this current issue is that I think it was caused by doing my rehab exercises too many times, whilst I was still too tired from the previous day's training.

The main thing I am aware is that I do not want this to start becoming a mental problem as well. From my previous experience of injury I find it is quite easy to start slipping into a pattern of thinking that my running will always be like this; essentially projecting into the future without seeing any positive change. Already thoughts like: "Is this what it's going to be like for all my running for the future?" or "I am just going to have to accept that I will always be injured" are bouncing around my head. It's a tricky process as there is no point in trying to silence those fears, they will always pop up every now and again. Though I don't always have to listen to them and can recognise that they don't have to dominate everything I do in my running. In any case the most important thing for me is to be patient in the process of recovering.

This video by Casey Neistat provides a good example of how I have been feeling about my running highs and lows, since August, but not to such an extreme level:

 

During the Summer I did try and experiment with the speed of my 1 mile intervals. One of my running colleagues shared this interesting article by Jack Daniels on these cruise intervals. Unfortunately my speed did not increase; however what it did teach me was getting a better feeling for my pacing and how to approach doing multiple reps for the intervals. I also think I do not run well in the heat.

My running club also discussed the approach of Renato Canova’s training plan. After reading it I think there are some principles that can be taken from it, but ultimately the key thing I could benefit from is increasing my average weekly mileage from now until London 2018. What I did like about Canova’s approach is that he openly advocates building a running plan from the ground up. I think I can be guilty of being too ambitious in trying to fit in too much running around the other responsibilities in my life. So what I take from this elite training plan is being realistic about what can  be achieved week-in-week-out;  though also recognising  that what is more important than getting faster or increasing the mileage, is being consistent in my training. I also liked Canova’s emphasis on making the long-run as specific to marathon pace as possible and the splitting marathon training into different phases. This is something that I hope to try and experiment with during my running in  the XC season. 

To end on a more positive note I am incredibly excited about the upcoming cross country (XC) season. It is one of the many great things about running. If one distance is frustrating you, then you can always switch to another length. Having played rugby, before switching to running, I really enjoy running through mud. I also hope it will contribute to the improvement in my short(er) distance times, as I run over the winter. So fingers crossed for some very muddy races ahead...