Rebuild...

So after my previous post, I thought things would progress with my recovery from the hamstring strain and man-flu. I thought I would be able to walk back into my running plan after five to seven days of easy running and prepare for specific sessions. Very much like Arnie below, I was going to return with vengeance.

However, things didn't quite turn out that way. Maybe I rushed things or I convinced myself that I had recovered from my man-flu. I  did  quite a bit of cycling as well weights, once my cold had subsided, and then tried to do some easy running. What it then led to was my hamstring  becoming aggravated again and my chest infection coming back. So I was back at square one with  my lack of running and being  more like Peter Griffin below.

I think there were the typical training errors that I made, in terms of not getting enough rest and  probably pushing things too hard. Though I also think that other things going on  in my life may have contributed to me stopping running. I started a new job in August, and whilst I have been enjoying the new challenge, it has meant sometimes my work has taken priority ahead of my running. There was never any danger of missing out on medals in the races that I took part in, but it has made my training slightly more difficult. The other thing is that my wife and I  are in the process of buying a house and it will most likely be outside of  London. It's a great thing  to be able to do, and something  I am grateful for, but  it is pretty stressful and diverts a lot of my time/ attention away from running.

Amateur running  is hobby/ passion/ favourite sport (choose your most appropriate label), and one of 

the most satisfying aspects  of it is  providing a release from the day-to-day to pressures of everyday life. When that outlet is curtailed or removed it can make things slightly more  stressful. This is not to complain about the  things that  are going on in my life, they are exciting, but to recognise that they might be affecting my running at the moment. So as I recover over Christmas, this  is what I will take into account as I create my marathon plan for 2018. It's not to say that I can't adjust my lifestyle to assist my training, but I think it is good to recognise that my life is pretty busy at the moment and realising that my training my have to take second place. It might sound negative, but am I going to be able to bash out a 20 mile run -with seven to ten miles at marathon pace- after having just moved house?

So I am going to focus on getting back to training hard in 2018 and aiming for a personal best at the London Marathon 2018 (as well as the preparation races for London). Though I am also mindful that my running isn't going to the most important thing in the first half of 2018. For the time being it will be about focussing on my recovery.

On a complete tangent to not being able to train, I have come to notice how my much pressure there is to spend in and around the Christmas period (including the New Year). From my observation there seems to be a genuine confusion between spending money and happiness at Christmas time for a lot of people. The other thing I find hard to reconcile during hot Christmas holiday season, is the bombardment of advertising saying that everyone should be happy; when there are people who will be homeless at Christmas, and/or may be facing other severe challenges at Christmas. It just seems like we are being forced to be happy and spend our hard earned cash, regardless of our personal situation. It is more worrying that one of Britain's mainstream economic reporters -Robert Peston- is advocating fundamental changes in the way British society is run. From a personal perspective I think this could start with the build-up to Christmas. That said- and with my rant over- I hope everyone has a relaxing break over The Christmas holidays.