Non-racing. Recovery.

Its been a while.
"where have you been? - developed an allergy to racing?" was the question asked of me at Shelf Moor- where I wasn't racing.

No, this year hasn't been the most productive in terms of racing. I had a couple of them booked in, the cash had been spent, and places got  - months in advance, only for me to fall foul of a couple of niggles that encouraged me not to do something silly.

Been doing a bit of this instead.

Yes, the Spine battered me pretty well at the beginning of the year and took me out of running, let alone racing for a good few months. I got fit enough for Jura and Bryce Canyon, and also had Borrowdale and Nevis in the pipeline, however, it wasn't to be.

A badly twisted ankle (3 times in about 10 minutes) on a training run put a complete kybosh on my offroad training leading up to Borrowdale, and I didn't fancy running part way around the Lake district just to go over on the same ankle and have to walk back. I'd much much much rather DNS than DNF.

I did enter Cracken Edge, and again, went over on my ankle - as I had been doing regularly on training runs. Each time it has got less severe, and I think I'm just about back to normal now. However, I did end up with a hip flexor strain after stretching out just a bit too much at the end of Cracken Edge, meaning it was pretty sore to run on for a while - even slowly.

A week of walking a climbing in Skye has helped it get back on track, and I've been steadily building
back up again in terms of distance, and attempting some kind of speed as well. That being said, its the stretch and load of the speed work which is the worst - and until that and the stitch which I seem to be developing recently have been sorted out, I probably won't be gracing the racing arena much.

But why?!
Well. I enjoy running. I know I can get away with a certain amount of distance and speed and be able to run and train the next day and the next week. I can consistently get out and be happy, and while I might not necessarily be improving, I'm not losing fitness due to injury.
Were I to go out racing in the state I am in at the moment, it has to be said that I would probably end up overdoing things, stretching too far and ending up not even being able to run for a few weeks, not even training.
From experience -the beginning of the year, that isn't a good place to be in.
I'd rather be getting out and enjoying myself regular-like, rather than lurching from race to race with my excuses trailing behind me.