Non-Negotiables

In last week’s blog I mentioned that I tweaked my calf muscle towards the end of my Sunday run and didn’t think it was anything serious. Turns out it was a Grade 1 Calf Strain ☹ which in the grand scheme of things is actually not too severe and required non running activity for the week. Before writing this Blog post I thought to myself jaysus anyone reading this must think “this lad is always injured” and to be fair lately that has probably been the case which can be frustrating! Spoke about this with Dara from DC Fitness Physio (who people must think I’ve shares in at this stage as he’s been mentioned in a lot of my blogs lately 😉) Dara got me thinking along the lines of rather than looking at the negatives, look at the positive that we’ve found areas of weakness and areas that I can and need to improve on which we’ve looked at and at this stage I need to implement a plan to make me more durable to handle the rigours of training and for me these are non-negotiables in the same way that a long run, tempo session, easy run, intervals etc are generally a pre-requisite of a runners week. As runners we love to run but sometimes we’re not as good at finding time for the little extras that can make all the difference and might be something for you to consider: Do I make enough time in the week for the little extras that enhance your overall running ability?

Usually when I can’t run for a period of time I usually find I can be quite cranky and difficult to be around but last week I actually didn’t find it too difficult. I cross trained most days which gave me that daily endorphin hit that I get from running and worked on some of the weaknesses that need to be addressed. I also got back into a bit of reading which I haven’t done a lot of this year which is weird for me as I’m quite an avid reader. Found it quite soothing and definitely its one of the things that I find other than running gives me that escapism from reality that sometimes we yearn for 😊

So yesterday I tested the calf with a very easy 3 miles and luckily all felt good. Its funny I mentioned to one of my mates how nervous I was before this run yesterday it was like the hour leading up to a Marathon. I know this can be the case for a lot of people on their first run back. I think its because you’re nervous about getting a flare up or whether the injury is fully recovered! Got out for another easy 4 miles today and again all good. I’ll keep things low in terms of intensity and volume this week and take a long term view. If I’m being honest I’m just happy to be out running at the moment 😊

Many who have had to cross train their way through niggles over the years will likely testify to this but I don’t think I’ve lost any fitness during the week of non running and the cross training has definitely helped in that regard. Anyone who watched the British Olympic Marathon Trials will have heard how the Women’s winner Steph Davies runs relatively low mileage for an Elite Marathon runner but compliments this with many hours of cross training on the bike. I think this is food for thought for many who may want to jump to the next level but are fearful of increasing mileage due to their injury profile. Its definitely something I’ve been thinking about. Loved the British Trials mainly because its pure racing and I think its something that needs to be done more of in Ireland; the best racing each other on a regular basis with tangible rewards on the line.

I always say to anyone I coach even paced is the best way to run any race especially a marathon and Chris Thompson proved that on Friday winning the men's race which was unbelievable to see him come back into it in the second half of the race with pure emotion crossing the line. Got a bit choked up watching it I have to say! I’ve included an image of the 5k splits of the leading runners on Friday and take note of the 2 winners and how even their 5ks splits were which really shows how effective running even paced can be:

Source: @RicmondRunFest Twitter

Anyway folks thanks for reading and have a great week’s training 😊

Cheers,

Noel