When stillness is progress

I had an amazing experience taking part in the New York marathon. Although my training wasn’t ideal due to injury, I’m happy I achieved my sub 4 hour target.

What has made the experience extra special is having my photo featured in NYRR emails and ads for 2017 marathon entry. Considering how many other great photos were taken, I’ve got to thank NYRR for selecting mine. And it’s been great to share this with my family and friends who’ve shared and tagged me in these posts recently.

There is that time after the marathon, that as a runner you ask so what’s next! For me it’s important to plan what I’m going to do post marathon to maintain momentum, and not to get lost in marathon blues.

My next target, is working towards the Tokyo marathon, despite what I’ve done before, I know I’m capable of more and that’s what drives me, as I work towards improving my marathon PB. If I don’t raise my standards then I’ll get the results I’ve had previously.

“Any time you sincerely want to make a change, the first thing you must do is to raise your standards. When people ask me what really changed my life eight years ago, I tell them that absolutely the most important thing was changing what I demanded of myself. I wrote down all the things I would no longer accept in my life, all the things I would no longer tolerate, and all the things that I aspired to becoming”. Tony Robbins

To improve my PB I need to up the quality and quantity of my training which has to be done slowly to avoid injury. I’ve run four times this week, in combination using my exercise bike, plus working on various core, strengthening and condition works etc. etc.

For my Sunday run, I’ve got to thank Stance for sending me a pair of the Bandit Crew Fusion Run Socks as shown in my photo below. If it’s cool enough for Charlie Dark of RunDemCrew then, I’m happy to wear them also.

However for my long Sunday run I felt a reoccurrence of my New York marathon Achilles injury… Due to the timescales I knew that as a minimum I probably wouldn’t be able to train for a PB in Tokyo, this is frustrating but my focus is my recovery first, PB second.

“I see that the path of progress has never taken a straight line, but has always been a zigzag course amid the conflicting forces of right and wrong, truth and error, justice and injustice, cruelty and mercy”. Kelly Miller

If a goal was easy to achieve then reaching it wouldn’t feel as special without these kind of challenges to overcome. 

When I do return to running, I will not only be wearing new running shoes, but thanks to Enertor I will be using my new Performance Insoles to help provide more support and help reduce injuries. To be honest if they are good enough for the multiple Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt then that’s good enough for me. If you want a pair of the Performance Insoles, you can get £10 off by using the code: MARCUS10 

With injury, forward progress means stillness. To stop and let your body heal. So although I can’t run at the moment there are plenty of other things I can do to aid my recovery. I focus on what I can do, rather than what I can’t do.