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Sometimes it’s far easier to dish out advice than to take it yourself. This week has been a fine example of exactly that, demonstrating the need to take my time in attempting to return to training.

Just when you think things are settling down and getting back to normal, you push it too far and feel like you’ve suffered a significant setback.

If this were anyone else asking me for my opinion, I’d be telling them to listen to their body, take a few days off and focus on the bigger picture. Unfortunately, I know all too well how difficult it is to take that advice and put your feet up for a period of time.

In the past week I’ve completed several ‘easy’ runs, including a long run on Sunday that totalled more than a half marathon. At the time, that felt absolutely fine so I thought of this as another big step towards full recovery.

However, I would hazard a guess that I’ve suffered something of a delayed response to that effort, based on my week so far: a Monday night recovery run that felt like wading through treacle, Tuesday’s 45-minute easy spin on the turbo and then last night’s 6.5 mile jog – the first half of which was fine, before the return leg saw me running in italics against howling winds with what felt like a crumbling ankle and an IT band ready to pop – both on my left leg.

As a result, today is most definitely a day off, my first complete day of rest in two weeks.

With the benefit of hindsight, that’s crazy and definitely not something I would recommend to a fellow runner. I might even take the rest of the week off.

However, when exercise is such a key part of life, you crave its full return to your daily schedule, overlooking the need for patience and pragmatism.

Recently I’ve read a few articles in regards to nutrition during injury recovery. As your body attempts to rebuild damaged fibres, it requires additional calories to start patching up the damage, particularly extra provisions of high-quality protein and supporting nutrients.

Counteracting this need for nutrition is my own psychological battle with weight loss, which has seen me reduce my intake in a bid to shift the Christmas timber.

Unfortunately, that’s an equation that just won’t balance, so prioritisation seems the key factor here – what’s more important; losing a few pounds that probably aren’t doing any harm or getting back to full fitness so I can resume proper training (and then go to war on the waistline).

As they, it’s a no-brainer.

Written down in this way it seems obvious and I know how I would advise anyone in my shoes. I think it’s time to put the running shoes down and take a healthy dose of my own medicine.