Recovering From A Setback

Now the Olympics have ended there will be many people reflecting on their performances during the two week period. Some will be retiring at the top, some will be deciding that enough pain is enough, others will be seeing it as a stepping stone to their next championship and a few will be rueing an untimely injury or illness and vowing to come back stronger. If you’ve read my blogs over the last couple of weeks you’ll be aware that I have myself succumbed to an injury, agonisingly close to my own Olympics, the European Masters Champs. I thought it was a pull, rested it and tried again but it’s now clear it is a tear in my hamstring. So my dream of another European medal is over but I too am vowing to come back stronger. It would be so much easier to decide it was an injury too far and surely, at my age, it’s time to do something more sedate, but if I stopped running now I’d have no excuses as to why I couldn’t accompany Carole around the shops every Saturday.

This week I popped in to see a physio operating out of Cottons, Easyfit Physiotherapy, I was lucky to get an appointment to see Stephen Lunt. Stephen carried out some analysis and looking at the pictures it was obvious I have some problems. We then discussed what I could do to work on strengthening my weak areas, he also worked around the problem area to loosen up tense muscles and followed the chain to give me some massage around the neck and face, which was quite a unique experience and not altogether pleasant.

What next for me? Well there are a number of options but I’ve decided to do the following. Whilst I can’t run I’ll focus all my training of the problem areas, once I begin to run again I’ll continue the strengthening work but slot it into a regular training pattern so I can gradually build up my run training. I have decided to forget race planning for the moment, that takes the pressure off me trying to get back to race fitness quickly, meaning I’m less likely to injure something else. This side of xmas I’ll just be racing for fun, getting involved in cross country as a means of getting to know my new club mates and build up my aerobic endurance. In November I’ll make my start on more focussed training with the aim to be in good shape around spring 2013. It’s been a long time since I trained purely for fun, I think I deserve a little of that.

So 2012 is done for me, at least I achieved more than 2011. 2013, I think is going to be a good year. I’m up for it already, despite not being able to run, and I know the one thing I’ve lacked since I left Edinburgh, cross country, is back in my repertoire. Roll on the mud, be patient Salford, you may see me at my worst but I’ll come good in the end.

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk