Well the reset button has been set. I've officially withdrawn from the Ultra Trail Snowdonia 100. I now have no races planned until October, Autumn 100, which is outside of  London.

With the time change and longer days my enthusiasm has been renewed however I'm still harboring the piriformis injury. I'm running very little, have put my bike up on the trainer in the garage, and am doing all sorts of strengthening and stretching to make running pain free again.

Why is it that all the great ideas and motivation come up when you're injured? I've never understood that. One of these ideas is to actually get fast again. I have a long time before Autumn 100 so why not get fast, run a few shorter races, win the Wyre Forest Half for once, maybe go for a fast marathon? It's not hard to interject a couple speed work days in. Maybe that's what this injury is all about. A total reset. Stop focusing on long slow miles. Add in those hard, short workouts. I can always run long and slow, why not see if I can still break 5 minutes for the mile? I bet with the right training I can, and it won't take hours of training. Once that speed is back, add in the long miles. I just need to get injury free. 

The one thing that really keeps me going is the hope that I'll get into Tor des Geants in the future. There are a lot of races out there I'd like to do but the reality is most will be very difficult to do with a family. The majority of the US races on my bucket list fill that category, such as Western States. Obviously the cost but also US school times are different from the UK so it's nearly impossible to line up a family vacation with a race. I will get into the Tor eventually. It's in Italy, so close to where I stay here in the UK. I just need to always keep it at the back of my mind and be preparing no matter how far off that entry may be.

Sorry if this blog goes stale for a bit. Not much to post really when all I'm doing is riding a bike in the garage and doing strength work!