Uncover your inner athlete!

Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be eaten.. Each morning in Africa a lion awakes - it knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle or it will starve.


No matter if you are the lion or the gazelle, when the sun comes up you had better be running!



Saturday, July 31, 2010

What we do and discover on the road to recovery

As many of you will know, I have been plagued by a touch of ankle trouble and have been sadly only able to do the majority of my training in the pool, gym or bike the last two weeks. This can not only prove to be slightly depressing, but also can foster feelings of self pity.

I have taken a decision not to let this weigh me down and feel in alot of ways extremely grateful for all the things that I have in life. Doing work with various charities and less able bodied sports allows me not only to give back, but to fully appreciate what I have and can do.

Little things that we have like the ability to walk, see and hear as well as having enough to eat are way too often overlooked. As my dad always told us growing up and when we showed any self-pity ‘There is always someone worse off than you’. Looking at life this way often trivialises any whinging I have about a slightly sore ankle or a few sore muscles.

Instead of wallowing, I am adopting the Greg Welch approach of learning as much as I can so that I will have new plans to implement when I return to hard training. After talking to various coaches, I feel it is important to not only have new goals on different courses, but also to try various weird and wacky training programs and events (at least just to keep running interesting, fun and so that the interest does not wane).

A friend described to me how last year he took part in a Santa Claus fun run at Christmas. He was not aiming to be competitive (everyone had to wear a Santa suit), but it was a bit of fun with his mates and they got to help the charity that the event was in aide of. They were able to laugh and enjoy the run and take loads of photos of how silly they looked and yet they were still running and doing something together that they all enjoy.

My collection of running books has come off the shelf and is now strewn around my home and I am enjoying reading and in many cases rereading the likes of Noakes, Pfitzinger, Paula Radcliffe, Jeff Galloway and Lisa Tamati. These books provide me not only with information and knowledge, but also the reassurance that even the best were (and are) at times struck down with periods of injury and having to cross train. This is important for all of us to keep in mind if we wish to keep running into old age.

I strongly believe that if we are sensible and keep mixing up the training that the body will thank us long term and the interest levels will remain high. Another friend of mine (now in his late 50s) epitomises this. He has come to accept that he can only do a finite amount of hard running in a week and so supplements this with riding his bike, walking long and lifting weights to keep his body strong. Despite only doing a maximum of 58km a week of running, he still manages to run a sub 3 hour marathon proving Noake’s theory that there is no correlation between length of time training and end result of the marathon. – Sean Muller

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