Still Running (weakly). Issue 42

PAST – inspiration – “Sometimes it's hard to get out of bed in the morning. It shouldn't be – I have a beautiful wife and an amazing baby daughter. They make me happier than I can express here without both boring and sickening you in one fell swoop. But still, sometimes, inexplicably, it's hard to do simple things,” said Andy Baddeley, in a blog for MIND, the mental health charity.

Baddeley, who holds a first-class honours degree from Cambridge University, ran for Great Britain in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics at 1500 metres and set a world parkrun record of 13:48 in 2012, has been very open about his struggles with depression.

He closes that blog by saying, “Writing this has helped, and talking to people about it has helped. Talking and trusting close friends continues to help. So that’s the why I am sharing this, because if anybody reads what I have written and it strikes a chord, I hope it encourages them – encourages you – to talk to someone.”

PRESENT – perspiration – So it was great to see Andy Baddeley making his elite competition comeback – his first since 2016, though he has run at an informal level in the meantime – at the Sportsshoes Podium Festival at the weekend, running the 1km time trial in 2:40 and talking enthusiastically about innovation in athletics.

The Podium series follows in the footsteps of events such as the Night of the 10,000 metres Personal Bests (Parliament Hill Athletics Track, FREE entry, 18th May this year), which attempt to make running races more accessible and enjoyable for a wider range of people.

FUTURE – suggestion – The injury I get asked about most is to the Achilles tendon, the strongest tendon in the body, connecting the calf muscles to the heel bone.

I am no physiotherapist, but this is what I have learnt and what has worked for me. It is not the actual tendon that is the problem, though that is where the pain is; it is tightness in the calf muscles.

Stand with your toes on a step and ease one heel at a time towards the step below – gently! Stretch each leg a few times a couple of times a day, preferably when the muscles are warm (when you have just walked upstairs, for example.)

I had terrible problems with Achilles pain when I was younger, but a few days of doing this cured me completely.