***This is me – coming back after injury & out of lockdown***

First up is my journey coming out of lockdown after a stress fracture and a slow return into my own training.
It’s been a tough start to the year, the last time I wrote back in January I was just bringing back my own training alongside my children’s training needs. Then a run through ice, bog and snow in some very stiff trail shoes brought me a stress fracture as a friend.
With my job being physical it’s hard to step back fully, but also I believe that you can workout but just have to change the focus. So I stepped back from any fast running, high impact work and turned my focus to core and upper body strength with my daughter and slower gentler run / walks with my boys whilst my amazing team helped lead the way on those high impact classes.
Fortunately within 4 weeks I was back injury free and building my fitness back up but this time it was different. Lockdown restrictions were starting to lift and I knew I couldn’t just jump right back into my pre-lockdown training regime, after over 5 months out of track training, the gym, boxing sessions and pole Fitness I couldn’t risk further injury.
I had to make a plan to bring everything back slowly.
One step at a time.
If you know me you’ll know I don’t do patience very well.
Pole Fitness was the one of the first things I brought back in.
Why?
Because I find it fun but challenging and so good for building upper body and core strength. After 5 months off it’s like going back to being a beginner and that’s ok. I’ve lost a lot of confidence on that pole and it’s where I need to re-start.
I also started back with just the 1 track session a week, having suffered many Achilles injuries over the years I already knew that this would be enough to begin with.
My gym sessions are my most recent addition but with a new training partner, my eldest son Bradley. It’s great to connect with him still through training now he’s back in full training with his college course.
Jasmine and I still workout together but our focus has been core as she’s now a shred 20 lover and joins every morning for her 20 minute fix.
Unfortunately after just 3 weeks back on the track an unusual niggle that only caused pain on sitting, set me back a few weeks but finally Friday night track night, with my youngest son Jayden returned this week.
I’ve still to bring in my boxing sessions but I am being patient.
This whole process of coming out of lockdown is overwhelming. At times I wonder how I fitted everything in before.
For me for the next few months my focus is on fitness fun, building consistency and establishing a well balanced routine and enjoying training with my children, something I knew I wanted to continue after lockdown lifted.
Reading AC have just released their first masters athletics match date. I am certainly not putting any pressure on myself to compete at the level I was at in the pre-covid world but I will be aiming to be at that first match to be part of the team and compete at club level which is where the fun is at.