Bowness back from early season injury woe

After a virus in February it is believed that going from 50-60 miles a week of running to absolutely nothing for 5 weeks caused the lower back to become very tight and affect the nerve function of the lumbar spine. To summarise I had a lot of nerve tension in my lower lumbar spine and it was affecting my glutes and hamstrings. A physio in Cockermouth, Cumbria, threw me around on the massage table, cracking my back every which way. Instantly it felt better and my hip flexors were a lot looser. Continuing from that, my coach Craig Winrow has been very helpful in my rehabilitation by helping me for around 45 minutes a day with stretching and mobilisation of the lumbar spine.

Before all of this I had got into a good routine of training. Over the winter it looked like the following;

Monday – 30-60 minutes steady AM – Weights PM

Tuesday – Bushy Park Session

Wednesday – 30-60 minutes steady AM- Circuits PM

Thursday – Tempo Session

Friday- Weights

Saturday- Richmond Park Session

Sunday – Long run often in excess of 90 minutes.

As we got closer to the summer the track work was introduced and generally the runs were reduced. Some of the lactate inducing sessions performed are so hard it's a feat to get through them, let alone run them well.

My favourite is the following;

200m – 2 mins, 300m -3 mins, 400m- 4mins, 300m-3 mins- 200m

When im running well they are all considerably quicker than 800m pace.

After a few of these sessions I ran at the Olympic stadium in front of 47,000 people , which was an amazing experience. Sadly our relay team got disqualified for a lane infringement, but it didn’t dampen the spirits too much, we had just ran in front of a huge adoring crowd. With regards to my 400m leg, it was about 49secs, which isn’t too special considering I’ve ran 48.04secs , but I knew that I wasn't right. The following day I woke up and was in a lot of trouble. Walking up the stairs was very painful as my Illiotibial Band on the left leg was ridiculously tight. Bending at the knee was very painful.

Rehabilitation has consisted of sports massage, glutes and core strengthening, spine mobilisation and plenty of myofascial release with a foam roller. As of today this was around 6/7 weeks ago and I did my first track session yesterday. Just a simple 10 x 200m off 2 minutes recovery at approximately 800m pace (but they always end up quicker). It went well and today im only feeling a little bit of soreness in the glutes and not the hamstrings.

With the season well under way im going to throw myself into races so plan on opening at the BMC in Eltham next week. I've asked to be put in the B race which could see myself embarking upon a showdown with former house mate Carl Goose. Beyond that I intend on racing in a couple of races abroad in Italy in mid July.

Hope you enjoyed the read.