Balance. In many different ways, this is the word that is key to what I want to achieve this year. The literal/physical version - I need to improve my balance, strength and flexibility, to fix the pelvis misalignment issue, and strengthen my feet and ankles on trail, etc. So lots of work with the Bosu balance ball, for example, and single leg squats, deadlifts and more. I had a chat at the gym this morning with one of the personal trainers, and got loads of new ideas and motivation for things to focus on. Functional training. Which leads into the next use of the word balance: when I'm running again (hopefully soon, but could be a while? who knows?) I need to build better balance between my running and my strength work. I have learned that - for me - focussing wholly on the running and letting my strength and flexibility training drop away, was ultimately a poor decision. I know many very successful runners who don't do any cross-training, but I've learned that it's important for me to find the right balance.
Another sort of balance I want to strike this year is that of training and rest - I've generally been good at getting enough sleep etc, but it's important I keep this in my focus. Likewise, the "work life balance" is key - there have been times when I've allowed very busy times at work to derail my fitness plans, and while sometimes it may be unavoidable, I need to be careful to maintain a good approach this year. Work has, at times, been stressful - logically, it makes perfect sense that when work is the most stressful, that's the time to take a short break and get some activity. :-) And so, to the last type of balance I need to maintain in 2016 - I need to mentally find the balance to keep going, to keep focussed, and not let previous issues slice back in. In 2015, the first six months were focussed on weightloss, and the running, and then from then I allowed old issues to resurface a bit, and while running was still going well, the eating side went a bit "wrong", and I allowed negativity to creep back. My aim for 2016 is simply to treat myself better. And I must stop dwelling in loneliness - I have to face the fact that I am alone pretty much most of the time, that's just how things are and have been for a very long time, but how I feel about that is wholly within my own control, so I choose to just get on with things instead, and get outside of these four walls as much as I can.
I have lots of plans brewing for the coming 12 months, for when I can eventually run or hike again, and in the the meantime, I'm going to work on the whole Balance thing. I feel very positive about the coming year, and the challenges ahead - not feeling quite as upbeat about the fact I need to submit this post and go do my painful foam rolling now, haha, but needs must!! ;-) Happy New Year. x
PS. keeping a good balance between being active, and eating healthily, went without saying, yes?
PPS. yes, I used some of my race medals to form those letters - gosh, I'm so artistic!! Hehe. x
You are indeed artistic :-) Balance is great way to look at the year - like me you need the strength work to balance the cardio.
ReplyDeleteAlways on the end of the phone if you feel lonely xx
You got lots of thing right in 2015, made so much progress on weight and fitness. Sure there were elements in second half wasn't so stella with injury and a bit of wobble on the diet front, but you know you are capable of doing both now so once you get back onto an even keel you'll have a great platform to build on for 2016.
ReplyDeleteWith the foot injury I suspect it's wasn't related to lack of strength training or stretching, but simply that it was to do with lack of effective recovery. Recovery isn't just rest, it's eating well, managing stress levels, having fun. This concurs with the theme of your post - it's very much a case of balance in life.
One of the things I've noticed in my own life/training is that injuries happen when I pile too much at once, initially I seem able to cope with juggling lots of work and hectic time fitting in family life, training and racing, but eventually something starts to give but I'm too busy or focused on immediate goals that I ignore the signals. It's these times when we don't spot that lack of balance that are the most critical, spotting these inflexion points can be the difference to a fixing the balance soon enough and recovery a niggle, and doing it too late and having a full blown injury.
Once things have gone astray, the quicker I get back to a healthy balance between mental/physical stress and recovery the quicker I recover. The slow recovery from your current injury suggests to me that there might be things you can improve upon on the recovery side. Eating well, keeping cortisol levels in check, stimulating recovery when appropriate. Stimulating recovery would entail improving blood flow to the injury parts, doing gentle manipulations and exercise that improve muscle/joint coordination, easing stiffness in supporting muscles elsewhere in the kinematic chain (i.e. your calves). It might be that just stopping static stretching and intense use of the foam roller might be the right thing to do. If your muscles are feeling supple you don't need to use the foam roller.
Best of luck.