The big news  is  that I have decided to withdraw from the North Downs 100 this year. I spent a lot of time deliberating whether to withdraw now, later or see if I could get the necessary training in and hope for the best but the reality is that I don’t want to put myself through it knowing that I am not ready.

Last time I got to 60 miles but fell apart and I would have concerns over  even getting that far. I would rather take my name off the list and let someone else who wants to do the race have the chance. That said I am still hopefully going to be involved as I have offered to man an aid station if needed.

I wanted to write that the barefoot experience is a positive one but today’s run (albeit not barefoot but in my Xeros) has left me feeling quite frustrated and really coming to the end of my tether with running in general.

Running home my left knee started to hurt and progressively got worse until I had to stop, I stretched and started again after the pain went but it quickly returned. That was the summary of the rest of the run home, stopping, pain, stopping and so on.

The pain was located on the outside of the knee so can only assume its IT band related, so once again I am back to the drawing board and a frustrated runner who just wants to run!

However self pity to one side for the moment, I have a plan and am putting it out to the world to give a sense of accountability if I don’t stick to it.

I have drafted a daily conditioning plan below:

Morning

• 200 meters barefoot everyday – 2 minutes estimate
• Plank 45 Seconds x 3
• Single Leg Squat x 5 each leg
• Eccentric Calf Raises x 10
• Side-lying Abduction x 10 each side (use resistance band as strength improves)
• Pelvic Drop x5

Evening

• Kneeling hip flexor stretch
• Calf Stretch (Result Sport Calf Stretchers)
• Hamstring
• Groin (feet together, sitting)
• Quad Stretch
• Foam Roll
• Tiger Tail

Hopefully the combination of strength, stretching and running form work everyday will slowly get me fixed and able to run. I think the problem is due to my form changing and the muscles not knowing what has happened, so I need to basically re-train myself from scratch (I sound like a broken record the number of times I have ‘gone from scratch’)

The only race I have is in June and I am going to drop to the half instead of the full marathon and that will be a ‘just get round affair’

Anyway, hopefully in a few weeks time I will be in a more positive state.

Should anyone reading this have any thoughts/suggestions please leave a comment, any advice will be welcome.