Running and I for a long time have had a love hate relationship. The times when I love it….most of the time, who couldn’t love something that gets you out in the great outdoors, gets you fitter and stronger and allows you to eat whatever the hell you want. The love of running can be known as rojo, running and mojo combined; a rather wonderful way of describing the love of running, created by the great Lynsey Palmer and myself on one very early morning run around the toon. The times when I hate it…when body and mind do not want to play ball.
Before I had even completed 100 miles, I had already resigned
myself to the fact that my body would need a well-deserved rest, and it didn’t take
much encouragement for me to set a period of at least 5-6 weeks off running
post ultra. Christmas came and went, there were still niggles when testing the
water with my shoes, and then came the snow, needless to say my running shoes
had begun to gather a rather thick layer of dust.
For the past couple of months I have pretty much said
everyday “I’ll go out tomorrow I don’t want to overdo it”, the irony being that
you can’t overdo it when you’re not actually doing anything…
A play around with diet and nutrition, a few experiments
here and there and a bit of HIIT training at home and on the gym bikes have
kept me in relatively ok shape, but crunch time has come around very quick,
especially signing up to my runs for the year, suddenly it became very clear…I
was going to have to man up and start running again.
Hilarious as it sounds, having completed hundreds of miles
last year, I had suddenly developed a fear of running! What if I couldn’t remember
how to run? The truth of the matter was that I was scared of how unfit I had
become and entering beginner mode and the pain area again.
A few days into training, yes it hurts, a lot, however in a
sick way it is incredibly enjoyable. For a first week back into training my
body has held up relatively well, clocking up over 20 miles in just a few days
and some bike training; not bad for a couple of months off!!
So I have answered my own question that no I haven’t forgotten
how to run, in fact I’ve found a love of running that was lost quite a long
time ago even pre ultra-marathon. Some of the down sides are still there,
hobbling around with blistered feet, ice baths to keep the niggles at bay,
constant stretching, battling with heavy legs and pushing through that little
voice saying what the hell are you doing.
But amongst all the discomfort there is truly some comfort
in knowing that I’ve got my rojo back…
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