Wednesday 23 March 2016

From indoor to outdoor

Sunday marked the end of my indoor season. I competed in 5 competitions in the end, all of which taught me something and will help me prepare for the upcoming 100m races I have. My body has held up pretty well and I've managed to come through the last three months injury free, which is a really positive step. My body is slowly getting used to the training - the operative word being slowly. But I'm not complaining - every day feels like a step forward. I've managed to do dips and pull ups in the gym for the first time in 18 months without being in pain - win. I'm back under 87kg - win. My left leg is now as strong as my right leg again - BIG win. Taken in isolation, these are small things. But when added together, they amount to proper progress. It's this combination of small things that gives me hope. The last race of the indoor season was the Middlesex County Championships, where the standard was pretty high. Watching back video footage of my race, I can see that my flexibility still needs some work, especially my in my hips and lower back. Equally, however, there were some good points - my shoulders were relaxed, I was driving with my arms and I didn't panic when I felt people move away from me. I've now got two weeks to get my body in the shape I need to make me competitive over my preferred distance of 100m. Lots of stretching and gym work are on the cards, and the clocks going forward means I've got sunny evenings to look forward to on the track. It's hard to get that instant real time feedback in my sessions now that I'm not with my coach any more, and not having an elite athlete as a training partner means I'm not pitted against someone better than me whenever I train, so I don't learn as much. However, I was fortunate enough to learn so much from them both in the time we worked together as a group, and I still apply this every time I train. Without this bank of knowledge I think trying to make my comeback would have been much harder. Looking at my times, I'm currently running at 95% of the speed that I used to. That might sound pretty close, but in a sport where a hundredth of a second is the difference between winning and losing, it's a long way away. If I can get to 98% of my previous speed by the end of August I'll be happy and I'll have a solid platform to build from through the long winter months. I'll be updating again in a few weeks when I've done my first few outdoor races, hopefully to provide some good news. In the meantime, thanks for your continued support!