‘Nothing in nature blooms all year’. 

I remember hearing this quote a couple of years ago and thought how appropriate it is to running. 

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve accepted that the training block at the start of the year that netted a couple of PBs has been and gone. 

I did pretty well carrying the momentum from last year’s marathon in Berlin into 2024 but at some point I was going to plateau. 

The calf injury bookended a period that I’ll look back on with a great deal of fondness but it’s time to start a new chapter now. 

That has meant accepting that I’ve lost some speed and fitness – that's okay. As long as my body is fit and healthy then I can hopefully work my way back and perhaps scale even higher heights... metaphorically at least... give me a flat marathon any day of the week. 

The next target race for me is the Wroxham 5K but to be honest I’ve been using the last couple of weeks to properly assess how my legs are feeling. 

I feel like my calf is in a good place but the age-old knee soreness has been creeping back and it’s time to get control of it. 

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I’ve parked a lot of the general strength and conditioning I’ve been doing to focus on getting stronger in my hips and glutes. I’ve also stepped up my foam roller game... it’s probably been as unpleasant for the foam roller as it has been for me... but it’s working. 

For the first time in a very long time, I’ve been finishing runs without a deep soreness setting in that takes at least 24 hours to relieve. I’ve even been able to run on consecutive days... crazy times. 

If I can get on top of this then I might be able to add a bit volume to my mileage, which can hopefully have a positive effect. At the very least it should mean I’ll be able to run with friends more often. 

At rather short notice, I have thrown in another entry for the last Yarmouth 5M race next Wednesday. 

I’m not expecting great things and I’m honestly not doing the old trick of trying to take the pressure off myself before pulling out a PB (we all do that, don’t we?). 

But I want to rediscover some race sharpness and the best way to do that is actually enter some. 

It won’t be at the expense of general training and I’m not going to be tapering into it at all – I just want to have another hard, honest effort. 

The GEAR 10K was a bit of a shock to the system and it would be nice to have a more positive experience to look back on. 

After all, this is just the start of another build that will hopefully culminate some decent runs in the second half of the year. 

Let the next phase begin... I just hope I’m ready to bloom in Berlin. 

 

Dereham 10M 

I felt for the runners at the Dereham 10M event on Sunday. 

The heat was a huge factor for many and I know more than a few people who counted the cost of not adjusting their pace. I’ve been there myself. 

Not every race can be a PB; a lot of things have to come together for one and the weather is something that will always have a serious bearing. 

Adjust your pace or you’re going to be humbled. Something to remember with the warmer months almost upon us. 

I’m talking to myself here as much as anyone!