Things have been up and down since my last post. My last post was a day before my birthday, of which I did enjoy with close friends and family for the whole weekend. And on Sunday it was my first full day off work since January 1st, so I was really looking forward to it. I worked a normal Saturday (which was my birthday) started off Personal Training in the morning, then I had 2 Sports Injury clients, short break, then straight to work for Bromley RFC 1st XV. Watched a bit of the England match, then straight out to celebrate and then chill out on the Sunday.

So I had my bit of pleasure, a cheat meal and some drinks with friends. Come Monday I was raring to go straight into the training. But I had slacked off a bit with the preparation and hadn’t done any training since Friday. Was too busy on the Monday to run so changed it Tuesday. Got 3 miles in and BANG! My plantar fascia was on fire and burning like mad in both feet! So stopped, went to the gym, rested, worked, went to the gym and ran on Thursday. And yet again the pain was still there so I stopped again and rested. Amongst all of this, I really didn’t feel well, my stomach just didnt want to work! Felt more exhausted and just a bit lethargic with training.

So again I took a couple of steps back and took some time to think about what was going on. Although I am strict with my diet, my birthday outings had taken it out of me & I wasn’t get what I needed from my diet. So I decided to revise what I had been eating for the past few weeks, which I haven’t done because I have been busy looking at other peoples diaries (can’t complain with being so busy). I realised that with all the training I am doing, I haven’t really adapted my nutrition properly for it in terms of the amount of calories. I also noticed that I wasn’t eating as much yoghurt as I normally do, which contributed toeards my stomach not working properly. I have also found it hard to find a balance with nutrition for strength training and running.

Some refinement, a lot more food, some BCAA’s and L-Carnitine helped me have a good 9 mile run on Tuesday. I started at West Wickham, ran onto the mad mile, through Spring Park (bad idea as the paths turned into streams), upto Addington and returned to West Wickham. And I felt good. No issues again. But it has prompted me to get my Gait analysed. Gait is quite simply, how we walk or run. Gait analysis looks at the alignment of joints, positions of joints in relation to other joints, movement patterns and weight distribution while you walk or run. I feel Gait Analysis is important for a runner because you can identify weaknesses, improper technique & tight muscles which you can therefore recorrect as you have direction.

Very often I get runners saying, “I swing/rotate my foot out” or ” I wear the inside/outside of my shoes more, is this bad?”. Gait analysis can identify what you are doing, when, and how to correct it. I am getting my Gait analysed by Pro Feet in Fulham as one of my clients works there and the set up is good. It is an advantage training for a Marathon & Ultramarathon with the fitness and sports injury background and knowledge I have. But unless I see how I am running, I can’t recorrect the issues I have, which are clearly causing me pain. And I really want a good 4-5 weeks of training until Brighton Marathon.

Todsy is a rest day, tomorrow I will run for 2 hours so that im fatigued for the Gait Analysis. I am slightly worried at the lack of miles at the moment, but things can change with a good week this week. I haven’t completely stopped training, as I have been going to the gym keeping my legs conditioned. I have also been getting treatment in the form of Sports Massage & an Ayurvedic Massage. The Ayurvedic Massage (from Garden of Pomegranates) is much more holistic compared to a Sports Massage, can’t blame me for having one! The Sports Massage has really helped with the tightness and recovery. Yes it hurts, but you need to undone the stress of training.

So this week I have learnt that I am not superman, I do need to make more time to rest and look after my body, rather than constantly training and working. Marathon training really isn’t easy, so you need to make time to have some downtime. Find thebalance between training, rehab and recovery. As I’m typing this, I’ve just had a couple more bookings tomorrow, oops!