Lifestyle
Runners in lockdown: a time to heal?
I am what you would call a typical running enthusiast, what that means is when I am not running the its safe to assume I am thinking about running; when I see someone running I get a jolt of Adrenalin because I want to be that person. And most training I do not only does it include running but when I am in the gym I am training for running. Ok, less enthusiasm more obsession.
Like most runners when covid-19 made its way to our shores and the government released their guidelines I panicked a little, the thought of not running with the freedom I once had was worrying. But I have actually come to see this as an opportunity.
So often as runners goals can take over our lives from pace goal, distance goal, race goal, training goal and I could go on. And this is not necessarily a bad thing for many of our incredible young people and me that structure is the catalyst that is needed for big changes and goal setting will always play a massive part in my life. But for this blog I want to focus more on healing, for many runners running with pain has become a norm – “if I can physically run then am fine… just a little pain” – and we push actually addressing the issue further and further away till that pain just becomes “yea I’ll just got used to it and I am fine”.
So, the last few weeks I have come to see that these uncertain times are an opportunity, an opportunity to heal and become stronger.
Since my first ever marathon, London 2015 – ahh the one where I found out that I was pretty tough – lets just say I had played it over and over it my head, running 26 miles feeling great and even though it was going to be hard I was going to be prepared to finish strong and confident…. it went nothing like that :). One of the unfortunate byproducts of not fully preparing for a marathon is injuries, mine was my right knee, and I have been pushing back addressing the issue further and further. Well, you get the point.
This may not be how any of us envisioned starting 2020, a new decade. Its been scary but lets use this time to get better and we do that by healing and I mean actually healing; that niggle that has been annoying you take a look at it, that pain that kicks in after 10k take a look at it. And for me, hopefully I will finally have a healthy knee to match my other one.
In the coming days and weeks I will be sharing some tips to help us come out of the other side stronger and in less pain, so follow us on Twitter and Instagram to see what we are up to.
Till next time
Claude
Programme Coach
