Nearly four months ago, I was struck with some shin pain. I had been feeling it for the last two weeks, but I had made myself push through because I had just had some of my best cross country races of my life. I was hoping this good form would continue and I was worried some time off would damage my fitness. The pain started just before nationals but I managed to make it to the race, because I had been looking forward to it all year... however this is where more problems started to arise. I had a pretty shocking race at Nationals and as I was running around the course, nothing in my body hurt, my legs just felt dead. However the following day I couldn't walk up the stairs because of my hip flexors. I didn't know at the time, but they just felt really tight are were very very sore. At the same time my shin was also still sore... I mean I couldn't even touch it, without serious pain. I don't know whether I had a bad race because actually my body was falling apart and the adrenaline was hiding the pain or I just had a bad race. Two weeks later I had inter counties, a race I had worked so hard to qualify for at Kent Champs (blog post here). I will say this now... I should NEVER have raced inter counties! My body was not up for it. This was a race I had been so excited for and instead it turned into a race, I hated every second of. The expression on my face in the photos say a thousand words, because at the time, I wanted to be anywhere but that field in Loughborough. Yes this may sound negative, but its the truth. The pain I was in and the lack of running I had done the previous few weeks (because of my injuries), just made me feel pretty rubbish! Again this was another horrific race. However this time when I crossed the line, I discovered yet another pain... this time in my foot. Right so for any of you losing track, yes... I currently have three injuries at this point. My shin, my hip flexors and my foot. So on 17th March, I find myself in Leeds at the English Schools. Right now, you are reading the perfect example of what not to do when you are injured. Again my stubbornness, stopped me from withdrawing from the English Schools... why? Well this was my first and last opportunity to race at the English Schools and was not something I was going to give up lightly. This race wasn't actually too bad... I mean I would have liked a lot more from it but I'll take my result with a bit of a smile (you can read the blog post here).
... Next week, I'll be posting part 2 of this blog, where you'll get to find out more about my injury journey and where I am now. G x
0 Comments
Many of you who have been following my Instagram, will have seen I was recently in Spain on a lovely relaxing holiday in the sun. This was my first holiday since finishing my exams and I feel like my body so needed it! Training while on holiday can sometimes be super easy or can actually prove quite challenging. The fortunate thing with running is you can really do it wherever... maybe the exception if you are on a sailing boat or something. I have put together some of my top tips onto how to enjoy your holiday and training. TOP TIPS: - Firstly don't stress if one day you can't squeeze a workout in; a holiday is for enjoying and one extra rest day, isn't going to do much harm, your body might actually even appreciate it. - Personally for me when I am on holiday with my family, the best time for me to workout is in the morning, because they all wake up pretty late. I try and get my workouts done before breakfast, as I don't like missing time with them when they are awake. In addition to this, I also often workout in the midday or afternoon, this is because we usually go on holiday to the middle east which can get pretty flippin' hot at the peak temperatures of the day (I have this to look forwards to in a few weeks time). - Often when you are on a summer holiday, you will have access to the sea or a pool. Make the post of this cross training benefit. If the pool is small, then perhaps swimming lengths isn't the most exciting prospect, but instead maybe try some aqua jogging. A really simple aqua jog session could be; 5 mins warm up 10x 2 minutes hard with 30 seconds rest 5 mins cool down - Open water swimming is also a great solution and this is something I made the most of while in Spain. If you are nervous then you can stick really close to the shore line and can basically never swim in water deeper than you can stand. In Spain the water was so so cold, so I could never go longer than 30 minutes, but I just tried to do little and often. - When it comes to access to gyms, this is when it can become slightly more challenging. In Spain I had no access to a gym which I thought previously was going to be a bit of a disaster, however outdoor gyms are popping up more and more, which are free to use and thankfully we had one right next to our apartment. Also there are lots of exercises which you can do without equipment, heres a circuit session I made which uses no equipment. 10x press ups 10x sit ups 1 minute plank 10x burpees 10x comandos 10x mountain climbers 10x squats This can be repeated 3 or 4 times, depending how much of a workout you want. I have also previously blogged another non equipment workout in CORE WORKOUT which is a non equipment core workout. - If you are staying in an appartment, sometimes there are bikes and fortunately there was one where I was staying, so could ride it around a bit. If you are on a city break and don't have access to the pool or sea, you can often find places to hire a bike, which can be great for sightseeing but also allows you to fit some cross training in. - Last of all, ENJOY. Your on holiday make sure you have fun and you don't worry about training all the time. Have an ice cream and remember to relax! I hope you enjoy this little fitness guide and gives you some ideas of what you can do on holiday. I struggled in Spain because I couldn’t run, but managed to make the most of swimming and cycling fortunately to keep my exercise up!
G x So I got this idea of a blog post from Ellen or otherwise known as TeenRunner. I have in the past blogged about mainly my races, but as I have found myself not really racing currently, I thought this would be a great idea of a blog post. So my first love lately is... Cycling With my inability to run at the moment, I have rediscovered my love of cycling. My first few cycles back, after a long break from my two wheeled friend were a bit unsteady and I didn’t have much confidence. However my most recent cycle, everything seemed to click and I could feel my confidence growing and so did my speed! I’m enjoying exploring all the roads and countryside around my house, with each ride following a new route. No More Exams After living a pretty stressful couple of years with the lead up to my exams, it feels pretty weird that I actually don’t have any exams now. This week has been my first week, to sit back and chill. I’ve had lots of lie ins, many hours of sleep and finally started getting back into an exercise routine. This week I even went to a yoga class in an amazing location (photo below), set in woodlands and it was great because you could hear the birds during the class. I know many of you reading this may not have finished your exams just yet, but let me say, they go so quickly and you’ll be enjoying this freedom before you know it! Baking Many of the things I’m enjoying are related to having more spare time. Recently I have gone off porridge, which is weird as I’ve had it every day for like the last five years. Anyway a few days ago I tried making these pancakes, they were so simple. The recipe is on my instagram highlights, it’s so straightforward and they tasted really good. I’ll be making these for breakfast much more from now on and hopefully the way they look will improve! This week I'm planning on making some 'super hero muffins' which I have made before from the 'Run fast eat slow' cook book, which I loved last time! TV Series
Recently I have started watching ‘Our Girl,’ well lots of the old episodes. This is because the new series comes out soon and I want to watch all the previous ones first. I am absolutely loving it! It’s quite heavy going, but I will easily say I’m obsessed with it! I have also started watching the series ‘13 reasons why,’ okay, now this is definitely not for the faint hearted, but I’m on episode four and I’m sure I’ll be through them all very quickly! Thats all from me for now and I hope you enjoyed this new blog post of mine. This will hopefully be a new series of mine that I’ll be blogging about, maybe once every few months. G x |
HelloI'm Grace, a 18 year old runner, and fitness fanatic. Join me on my crazy journey through life, squeezing in an adventure in every second of spare time I have. Archives
February 2019
Categories
All
Latest Instagram's: |