So the paranoia phase of the lead up to a significant race has set in. The last couple of days I rested instead of running because I was experiencing some lower leg pain that took me back to when I began running. Strange that overtraining injuries let you know how much you have been content to just coast with training.

Yesterday headed out for an easy 5K to test the legs, got 2K in and couldn’t get the knots in behind my shins to loosen. So I decided not to risk more serious injury and ended up walking another 2K home again to make a pretty crappy contribution to the training diary. Today I wanted to have another go and see how I would cope, but I realised I was just being stubborn.

I read this article recently that suggested one important thing to remember in a marathon taper is to be paranoid, in that case talking about keeping away from people who are ill. But I figure it is also true of training stuff. I think it is better for me to be paranoid about potential injuries then wind up hating myself on the day. Or more to the point, if I end up hating myself on the day it won’t be because of poor injury management.

So while my stubbornness was yelling “Wimp!! Get out there and run 11K you pansy” I decided to use the exercise bike as well, working on my fitness by doing a good hundred minutes on the bike at reasonable intensity and hopefully thinking that the change in leg movement might help loosen up some of the niggles. And I feel glad that I did, because the only thing that is sore now is my arse. Bring on that flipping train.