Training goes on, some new insights.

Training has been ramping up since July. From July to September, we trained once a week, and started full twice weekly training from September. Initially, we concentrated on basic fitness, mostly speed, strength and power, which is what we require most of. We are now into the skills part, where we practice entire runs as they will be run in competition.

On the up side, I am somewhat stronger. Work during the off-season in the gym has prevented any recurrence if the groin injuries that plagued me last summer. However, I have had further hamstring trouble, and have just strained a calf. These injuries have led to some new insights. The hamstring problems seem to be associated with coordination issues that develop under certain conditions, namely high effort, combined with fatigue. So far, the use of compression tights seems to be keeping this under control.

The calf injury is a new one for me, as my calves have never given trouble in the past. Again, fatigue seems to be a factor. I'll try going to full length tights, though I think the real solution lies in tailoring the warm-up and general fitness work to my specific needs, to take into account that I have very little natural middle distance ability, far less than anyone else I know with my overall fitness level, as well as putting in extra time to overcome that deficit as much as possible. Looks like a long chat with the team physio next week. :)