93 Days To Go: Injuries & Mental Toughness
93 Days to Go & aim focuses on this challenge. One of my motivations is recovering from all the injuries & illness I had over the years.
The surgies of the last two years has pushed my fitness back to zero. Well I say zero, the lung capacity went back to zero but my legs still had some sort of muscle memory, even though I hadn't run for quite a few months. So it was always a challenge as legs wanted to go faster than the lungs!
And recovering from my lung surgery back in Jan 2014, I maybe pushed myself bit too hard as I ended up getting a hernia after completing the Brighton Half Marathon in 2015, which meant pulling out of Brighton Marathon
So this year I'm making sure I take it careful. Though the biggest difference is I'm now doing gym work as well as the aerobic training. Using weights to build up my muscles, so hopefully less likely to get injury
My biggest running injury has to be when I got a stress fracture in my leg while running the Nice to Cannes Marathon in 2009, not that we knew it was fractured at the time. I was running with a friend, Michelle & we both thought I must have pulled a muscle in my knee and tied to stretch it out. This happened at mile 13 & thought at first I can run it off, but it got worse & worse until by the very end I was running on one leg. I was run / walk / run (using telegraph poles or other markers to work out how far I could run before stopping). It was only when I got back home from France, and my physio saying they didn't think it was muscle damage that I got an X-Ray to discover the stress fracture.
This injury taught me one thing, I know where the going gets tough, I will still go for it. The mental toughness to say I will finish this race, is the lasting impression. Knowing this, and knowing mental toughness will be the thing I need the most for this 100km walk. Knowing I have to walk through the night
Luckily having done the Moonwalk, 26 mile walk through London at night, and the night version of the London to Brighton Bike Ride has given me good idea of how my body reacts to this. So feel confident with a few practice night time walks this won't be a problem.
If you want to sponsor me you can do so. See below for Just Giving link
Walking 100km from Eastbourne to Arundel for Rise because they such an important & great charity
http://www.justgiving.com/NickBright100km