Editor's Letter
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Don’t let injury stop you in your tracks
ONE of my big regrets is that I did not train as hard as I could during a five-year spell on the sidelines with shin splints during my late teens and early 20s. Instead of working on speed and strength – neither of which would have aggravated my shins – I sat and sulked because I could not run 100 miles per week.
Eventually, I had a successful operation for compartment syndrome. But I returned to full training with 52-second 400m pace, whereas five years doing sprints, squats and sit-ups might have resulted in something much quicker, with knock-on effects for my main middle-distance events.
So I take my hat off to Steve Vernon, who is featured in this issue following his recent crosscountry successes. For years, a strange injury has caused his muscles to go into spasm whenever they are subjected to sustained pace on hard, flat surfaces. Yet rather than sulk, as I did, he has made the most of his opportunities by racing off-road.
Of course, he has been frustrated not to be able to make an impact in the more glamorous track and road events. But now (see p.26-27) a lifeline to the marathon in 2012 could have appeared. Many others would have simply quit, but for Vernon years of patience look poised to pay off.
Similarly, I was only a club runner – a modest 1:54 800m man – but the lesson of ‘doing as much as you can’ when you are injured is one worth passing on to athletes of any standard.
HERE’s a prediction – in three years’ time there could be more people ‘touching’ through pages of Athletics Weekly on an iPad than the traditional method of flicking through paper pages.
AW has already got off to a flying start when it comes to producing a digital edition of the magazine and it will be available on the iPad as soon as it hits the UK later this year.
ATHLETICS lost one of its great characters last week when Wilf Paish died (News, p.12). Among other things, Wilf was one of AW’s biggest contributors over the years. He was an avid reader, too, as he was always keen to remind me in the countless letters I received from him.
So much so that we had one of his many articles poised to go in this week’s issue (p.42) when we heard about his death. For a moment, we wondered whether to run it. But then we figured Wilf himself would surely not want his words to die with him.
Jason Henderson, Editor
From this week's Athletics Weekly, - available in WH Smith and all good newsagents, or on subscription.
