LATE SETBACK .

Due to fly out to new zealand on tuesday morning for the rotorua marathon on 4th may .As you may have read in my last blog training had been going well and everything was on track ...... untill 3weeks ago .The day after finishing a hot and tiring 30km run my lower left calf muscle was sore  tight and very localised , i rested it for 3 days and then resumed some small runs, not too bad starting to loosen up i thought ,then towards the end of a easy 14kmer it seized up again ,something was not right , even after a solid massage session it would tighten up after about 15 min of running .I sought treatment and went to a new guy who checked me out for every thing and discovered i had a couple of small muscle tears, not even grade one .where my achillies meets the bottom of the calf muscle ,solution stay off it for a week then resume at 20% capacity .After a couple of 3km run/walk sessions i am now able to run on it ,will it hold up for 42kms ? i will just have to see, its getting better by the day but i think i will be just running to finish as i have missed a lot of training the last month ,i have a good base so that should see me thru ,just have to pace it slowly and let it warm up .On my return im going to have to sit down and evalute my training as what i want to do and what my body is prepared to let me do are different ,After about 80km a week i start to get the niggles ,i need to train smarter and incorporate more recovery days into the training week .I sometimes really need to remember how old i am ! .On another note if anybody wants to talk to me about anything  running feel free to get in touch ,i may not have been the fastest but i know stuff! i have been a student of the sport for over 40 years and am still learning ! Thank you for your interest ,happy and safe training .

THE LAST PUSH

With just on a month till i venture over to new zealand for the rotorua marathon its time for the last push home .The last couple of months have been very tough training in the heat and humidity a fact borne out in my last 30km run ,despite starting at 8'oclock in the morning i was soaked in sweat by 6km and was forced several times in the last 8kms to stop under shade and let my body cool down despite taking on plenty of fluids. Finishing training runs with my i've been running in the sauna look has been a regular thing .Despite this the training has piled up my Achilles tendon is holding up despite a few scarces and i have probably erred on the side of caution with my buildup .I have one more big long run planned and will start throwing in more shorter faster runs . The barmaid coach is in the running for the coach of the year for her outstanding efforts in keeping me off the coopers beer and sending me home for early nights ,not only that she trained up the other staff to do the same thing  when she wasn't there !!!! what a woman! I was going to have a hitout on easter monday in an off road 1\2 marathon but wasn't prepared to risk my tendon on the rough terrain and decided against it again erring on the side of caution .Visits to the chiro and massage therapist are on the cards as  my body is like an old 2nd hand car, needs lots of maintenance .Im not expecting to set the world on fire over there just have a solid run and finish what i started 37 years ago . I bet rotorua still smells the same . Thanks for your interest .