still no shifting it..

so I'm stuck in some endless loop of laying off the running, stretching the calf, then checking the Achilles .. and finding no change. i honestly thought I detected improvement this morning. but when I checked, I was wrong.

think I'm going to sort out some swimming and probably see if I can get the physio to do some more ultrasound. I'm pretty sure that's the only thing that's had any effect as yet.

last year..

just happened to be checking on my calendar for this month last year.. and maybe i shouldn't have. what was there waiting for me? a full schedule of half-marathon training in preparation for runtotthebeat last year at the end of Sep.

guess what's happening now.. am i pushing out fartleks, sprint-training, regular 10ks in the week? nope.

it'll come back. patience, patience..

how it stands..

it's simply not happening. neither the recovery or the rehab. the Achilles is showing minor signs of improvement, but I'm not stretching the calf enough and not really working at getting it all back together. think I need to sit myself down and have a good think about where this is going. I've blown the chance of being fit enough to shoot for a 1:20 at the Windsor half on 26 Sep, so perhaps I need to just give myself a reasonable target just for getting round. that, at least, is achievable..

two weeks down and no better..

i've let this fall back in the preceding weeks simply because i have felt so down about the running. i tried to keep a positive outlook over the first few weeks after getting the Achilles injury, but it didn't shift and is still hanging around. it's lifted a bit, but the short runs recommended by the physio didn't work and just made it worse. i took a personal decision to simply rest it - apart from lugging luggage in and out of a festival last weekend.

it's definitely reducing in intensity and i think there's light at the end of the tunnel. however, as i've got no training or running to report, this column is going to be dormant for a while.

i'm thinking i might well post short updates every day just to keep it ticking over and document the improvement, but the try and make something out of a day when i can't train is first difficult in itself and second quite demoralizing in that i have to admit each time that i'm not running still.

all that said, i've worn the trainers in quite well now, and they feel very comfortable. let's hope i get to really wear them out soon.