Howdy!
I can't believe it's been a year already... I remember starting 2016 full of enthusiasm and energy, with the firm objective of running a half in March, the Berlin Marathon in September and a 50k by the end of the year. It turned out that the path of recovery is long and full of obstacles.
After injuring my foot again while trying to finish the half, I had to take 2 months rest. I managed to run 24k on marathon day, this time stopping before it's too late. I finished the year with random short runs now and then, when the weather and my health allowed it.
What have I learned from 2016? How could I make this year better?
Well, most important certainly is that you cannot rush the recovering process, at least in my case. A single mistake and you are up for 2 months rest, with the fear of never running again.
Second is undeniably that health should always come first before training. I ran a few times while being sick and it only made things worse.
And last but not least, being motivated is good but being reasonable is better and will bring me much further away, injury-free.
My new motto for this year of training is therefore "Happy, Healthy and Reasonable". Let's see where it brings me :)
I still consider 2016 as a very good training year. I started barely able to run 2 km and finished on a 24k injury-free. I shall continue on this path, even if I have to make sacrifices, like postponing the Eco-Trail de Paris to next year.
The winter is long and cold, forcing me to run early in the morning, before breakfast, hence getting to bed early. I recently bought a pair of Salomon trail shoes and discovered the pleasure of running on wet ground, snow and rocks. But probably the most important being my recent discovery of Phil Maffetone's work and the branch of slow running: Run slow to run long, and run on fat. I started this week his 2 weeks carbs-free test. I'll tell you more in another article.
Soooo... Bring on 2017, I'm ready! Let's run and live exciting new adventures, slow and easy, one step at a time :)
