Week 14 – Progress isn’t always linear…
Week 14 brought something that has felt slightly rare over the last couple of months, normality. Not perfect running, not a dramatic breakthrough, just steady training ticking along again.
38km of running went into the week, and perhaps more importantly the calves held up (ish). Mentally things are still in the right place too. Liverpool XC 2026 remains the long-term focus and despite the occasional wobble along the way, the direction of travel hasn’t changed.
What has been interesting is just how inconsistent recovery from injury can feel. Some runs this week felt excellent. The kind where everything clicks, the stride feels smooth, the legs feel reactive, and for a moment it’s as if nothing has ever been wrong. On those days it genuinely feels like my fitness hasn’t disappeared at all. The muscles are firing properly, the breathing rhythm settles naturally, and I feel like I’m back to where I was before the soleus issue interrupted things.
Other runs tell a slightly different story.
The speed is still there, but the durability isn’t quite back yet. When running on consecutive days you can feel the fatigue resistance isn’t fully rebuilt. It’s not pain exactly, more like the system just reminding me that it hasn’t quite caught up with where the brain thinks we should be. That durability, the ability to absorb training day after day without things beginning to creak, takes longer to return than we often like to admit.
To keep the aerobic side moving forward, two hours were spent on the stationary bike across the week. It’s become a useful safety valve, although it really makes my arse hurt. The running volume is progressing cautiously, but the bike lets me keep the engine ticking without constantly gambling with the calf. At the moment it feels a bit like trying to hold onto hard-earned fitness while it slowly melts away like butter left out in the sun. Not ideal, but not a disaster either.
Either way, we live, laugh, and move on.
Next week marks something slightly more exciting, a tentative return to track training. The planned session is not exactly a gentle reintroduction: three sets of two 700s and two 400s with forty-five seconds recovery between reps and a lap jog between sets. On paper it’s a tough one to come back to, but sometimes you don’t get to pick the perfect moment. I’m looking forward to giving it a go and seeing how the legs respond under a bit more pressure.
In the meantime, I’m also attempting to put my physiotherapy degree to good use and manage the rehabilitation properly. That said, if things drag on much longer it might be time to seek out someone with more experience than I have years on the planet. Seven weeks is beginning to stretch the patience slightly, especially considering I initially dismissed it as nothing serious and didn’t properly start rehab for the first three weeks. A classic case of do as I say, not as I do.
Two weeks from now is the Essex Relay Championships. I’m not entirely sure what shape I’ll be in by then, but that’s part of the process. The goal at the moment is simple: keep building the load gradually, avoid doing anything stupid that sets things back again, and keep showing up.
Sometimes progress in running doesn’t look like dramatic leaps forward. Sometimes it’s just continuing to train when things aren’t quite perfect yet.
Well that week 14 for you chaps, I’ll see you next week. Remember; breathe better, run better (unless you’re injured).