Coping with injury and upcoming events.

The theory on injuries always tell you to rest, that is harder said than done when you are active but on Monday I had  planned to take a day off from training anyway as I felt tired from the event and also I had pain in my left calf. So my only activity apart from the working day was recovery massage using a foam roller and an ice pack on and off.

Ive seen the sports guys using the rollers as part of their recovery regime so I thought I'd follow suit and see what the fuss was all about. Trevor who is a fitness lecturer and also runs his own remedial sports massage/training academy business sold me the roller and  I can tell you that its the best £15.00 that I have ever spent. I was really struggling early on this week and limping around but with using a combination of Ice pack and massage, I was recovering fast. More can be found about Trevor at www.absolute-fitness.co.uk He is also in action on you tube http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAkpRVGlqlvEJlntGeStAXQ?feature=

With my leg feeling ok, I went swimming on Wednesday but still had pain if I tried anything other than freestyle. So I did laps of four with a little rest inbetween for about 30mins. I looked on envious at a swimming in the other lane who just ploughed on and on with no rest for the full half hour. Maybe one day!. On the Thursday and Friday I did more rehab work and weight training just to keep some continuity going but no weight bearing exercises for the legs.

If all feels good I plan a run on Saturday and a Cycle session Sunday as I have upcoming events on the horizon!

Upcoming Events

My involvement in Triathlon was never ever going to be above just doing the one event, more of a journey to see how far and what I can accomplish, with a long term goal of completing an 'Ironman'

A lot of people will just jump straight in and go for the big prize. My strategy is to tackle each event in a series of increasing distances and therefore hopefully an increase in my fitness, strength and stamina, coupled with decreasing waist line!

With this in mind as well as my regular training schedule (Which I will post on request) I have the following planned:

April 28th Bradford 10k road race (with pals Marc, Rob, Paul and others)
May 6th    Tadcaster Sprint Triathlon
May 12th  Leeds Half Marathon (Not sure if my legs are ready, but I'll complete it, no fear)
May 16th - 23rd Holiday/Training/Booze/Sun Tan/ Watch Tony and Rob Ironman.etc etc)
June16th  Allerthorpe (York) Sprint Tri
July  13th Ripon Olympic distance 1.5k swim, 40k cycle and 10k run - Step up in distance.

That's as far as Ive got so far but I may fit some 10k runs in between these as I see fit. Lets hope that I stay injury free.

My friend Marc writes a fantastic and comical view of his couch to runner bean experiences at http://hemingwayrun.wordpress.com/ He has over 600 followers.