Training April 7th - 10th

My calf was still causing me a lot of problems. The tightness would ease a little but the slightest twist or turn would set me back again. I knew I had to be patient with this one, but I'm not a very patient guy. I had a deadline by which I needed the injury to be healed as on Friday I'm off to Lanzarote for some warm weather training. To go with only one good leg would completely scupper all the plans I'd had. I wouldn't be able to raise my fitness levels, or hone my track speed. All I'd be able to do would be sit by the pool drinking cocktails and working on my tan. Not such a bad thing really, but it wasn't why I'd paid to stay on the sports complex with all it's great facilities.
I stayed away from any kind of sporting activity to ensure the calf was as well rested as possible. Lots of rehab work was done. After stretching, manipulating, ice, heat and a very painful massage, the calf was feeling much better. The day before we flew out I was unsure of what to do. Should I wait to try running on it in Lanzarote, or should I give it a test before I went so I'd know exactly where I stood. I chose the latter option. I tied my shoes once more and headed out of the door for a gentle 30 minutes. I could feel the tightness from the off and it was making my stride length a lot shorter than normal, but it didn't seem to be making thinks worse. The calf was stopping me from rolling up my foot onto my toes. My normal full extension was too much of a stretch for my damaged calf but as long as I didn't stride out to much and I landed on my heal rather than my toes, which is how I would normally run, I was ok - ish!
I knew I wasn't going to be able to put in the big mileage I'd intended at the training camp, but I now felt confident that I would at least be able to do something. I also felt that the extra time I was going to have could be put to good use by attending different strength and flexibility classes, something I might then be able to take away and implement into my normal training schedule.
So I packed my sun cream and shorts and headed off for a weeks training in great surroundings with excellent facilities and most importantly beautiful mood boosting weather!

LANZAROTE! Myself and twelve other members of my running club headed off to Club La Santa on the island of Lanzarote for a week of sun and fun, I mean hard work! As this was the one time of the year the others could act as full time athletes I knew I was in for a busy time, especially as I'm a big fan of complete recovery between sessions (or sleeping as often as possible as the others view it!)
We were delayed on the runway for two hours, which meant we didn't check into the resort until one in the morning. I thought this would get me out of the daily 7:30 morning gymnastics, used as a warm up for a 5k group run, but no, I was told to be at the side of the pool or there would be trouble.
I actually found it very refreshing to be up and doing light exercise before breakfast. It really set me up for the rest of the day. The gymnastics, or gentle stretching and aerobics as it transpired, helped ease the stiffness I often experience when I first get up in the morning, and ensured that I was alert and focused rather than suffering from my normal morning lethargy. Waking up at a set time is not part of my normal regime. I've learnt over the week that sleeping till you wake up is good in moderation especially after hard sessions, but that I shouldn't treat it as the norm. So already I'd picked up two things that I knew could easily be implemented into my training when I get back, and it was only 8am on the first day!
As well as various swimming, cycling and gym work on the first day, I joined my first flexibility class, “stretch and relax”. The writer of that particular description could be done for misrepresentation, as it wasn't the least bit relaxing. Ok, the first five minutes was, as we learned how to control and focus on our breathing, but the next 55 minuets was not relaxing in the slightest. As a long distance runner I am engrained with the thought process that time spent doing any other activity bar running is a waste of time, and stretching comes way down the list, but it shouldn't be so. I only tend to stretch when I've done a session, something many of my peers don't even do, or of course when I'm injured. Prevention is better than cure, and although stretching won't guarantee you'll stay injury free, being supple will defiantly help. So stretching as a session in itself was number three on the list of things to do.
For the first few days I'd been running only during the very steady “morning” runs. The rest of the time I'd been making good use of the bike, as well as the Olympic sized swimming pool, which is a long way to swim when your are used to turning and pushing off a wall every 25 meters. I'd already felt that my fitness levels were coming back and my calf was feeling better and better. So I turned up for a road race around the resort. I wanted to use it not as a race but as a good training session with lots of people around for company. I started off well and didn't feel any pain from the calf, so I upped the pace a little and still felt good. I then caught up with a friend of mine who was also taking things a bit easier. He enquired how my calf was, 'really good' I responded. I then informed him I was going to push on as it all felt ok. Ten seconds later and he over took me, 'It's gone again!' I recomposed myself and got back into my 'make do style' and although there was a little bit of pain, I was just enjoying running again, in the sun, by the sea, in new and beautiful surroundings. Mentally I felt so good I made a bit of an error. There was a 5k and 10k race going simultaneously. They were both run together, you just kept going for a second lap if you fancied doing the 10k. As I finished the first lap, all the sprinters from my group were there to cheer, or jeer, us home. They saw I was limping a bit by my running action and to their surprise, rather than stopping I headed out for a second lap. The loneliness of the long distance runner! I don't know what I was thinking! No, I do know, I was pig headed and I thought “no pain, no gain”. The extra distance would surely help my fitness. Wrong. That second 5k the pain got worse and by the end I was nearly hopping. I hadn't achieved anything I'd just made things much worse. I beat myself up a bit for being such an idiot as I hopped to dinner, knowing that the next day wasn't going to be much fun.
For the rest of the week I stayed away from running as much as I could, and yet again was a frequent visitor to the Olympic pool and the bike hut. I kept up my learning curve by attending as many strength classes as possible, picking up some great new exercises in circuit training, on the Swiss ball and the all important core work out