Injuries are part and parcel of every sport. Whether you are a first time runner or an elite athlete – injuries have a horrible way of putting a stop to your plans. Once you achieve your peak fitness, it is a constant tight rope walk and sometimes a small mistake or overlook can push you over the edge, resulting in injury or illness. However, on the positive side, injuries allow you to really take a step back and learn from your mistakes. They also allow time to evaluate what really is important to you which is sometimes difficult to do when your entire life is immersed in the sport.
Over the past two months, I have put every ounce of my energy into the gym and cross training. What was once was just a steady 30 minute run outside, has become a soul-destroying 60 minute session on a Watt Bike or in the pool.
It's difficult to maintain fitness when your injury doesn’t permit you to run. Running works every muscle in your body and creates an overall fitness. Contrastingly, the bike obviously focuses purely on leg strength. Essentially, this means in order to try and maintain a certain base level of fitness – the volume of work of which you have to do is much greater. I have been doing a total of two hours of cardio a day – which includes a mixture of sessions on a Watt Bike and aqua-jogging in the pool.
The intensity of cross training is also greatly reduced much less due to the lessened impact. Therefore, to keep my heart rates close to their normal zones – I have been doing more interval sessions, almost daily.
As well as all this daily cardio work, the remaining hours of my day are spent in the gym becoming stronger, doing drills to stabilise my muscles and stretching to maintain flexibility which can be lost due to the different mechanics of cycling. I had a lot more free time being a runner and it's something I'm beginning to seriously miss! I also miss the outdoors and breathing in the fresh air whilst running along the trails, roads, mud and grass... being stuck inside staring at a wall just doesn't have the same thrill.
It does all get a little disheartening when your energy levels are completely drained day after day, your body cannot physically sweat anymore and your quads may actually rival Chris Hoy's! But I have to remain positive and hope that when I eventually get back to running – all this will be worthwhile! Everything happens for a reason and it is up to you to decide the final outcome.
I have had my mind set on The World Championships in August for the past year but unfortunately the clock is starting to tick. It will be extremely challenging to get myself into shape in time for the qualification period in July but it's still possible so I will do everything in my power to be on that start line. This isn't my first injury and it most certainly won't be my last. It's not been as serious as a previous injury but it's definitely not been a walk in the park!
It's safe to say, that after doing two hours of cycling every day – I definitely don't envy elite cyclists. My legs cannot take any more of a battering and so I won't be swapping sports any time soon. Fortunately, I can finally see a light at the tunnel and have managed to start jogging again on an anti-gravity treadmill this week – albeit for two minutes at a time! It's an extremely weird experience running at only 80% of your total body weight, bouncing along like an astronaut but it is progress – and that’s all I'm looking for!
