Investing in resting

I've not run for nine days now.  I ran to work and back on Wednesday last week and all felt good.  Then I got out of bed the next morning and felt a slight tightness low down in my left ankle, almost at the heel.  I remembered that I had felt something similar after the last two half marathons.  I remembered my long fallow period of Achilles Heel injury in 2014, and realised that I simply couldn't afford to hope this would go away - not with marathon season now underway.

So I went to see my colleague Sean on Friday and he confirmed that, yes, it's early stage Achilles heel.  He told me I'd be mad to race Overton 5 last weekend and said that doing the Crafty Fox half this weekend could be risky.  So I've stopped running altogether for the moment, and tried to do all the recommend things - resting, stretching, icing and strengthening.

It's a funny old injury, this one, because I just can't feel it.  Everything feels fine, and yet I know that not running now is my best chance of getting through the autumn season (particularly the Beachy Head marathon at the end of September) and beyond in good shape.  My consolation is that I have got on to this at an early stage, rather than waiting a month and bitterly regretting not taking it seriously.

Back to the strengthening.  Every injury I've had in recent years has seemed to come back to a single mantra - Strengthen The Glutes.  A lack of stability in the hips can cascade down the legs and cause all sorts of problems.  So I'm now making a concerted effort to build up my gluteus maximus and gluteus medius and try to tackle this at source.  It's buttocks or bust.