Hi,
I’m sat here writing my latest blog on the couch at my sister’s flat like a dole waller watching another DVD of The Sopranos next to a pair of crutches.
This is probably not what I expected, nor what I would have wished, but as most of you will know I suffered a three-inch calf tear at Friday’s Aviva London Grand Prix at Crystal Palace and I face a race against time to be fit for Beijing.
The injury is classified as a grade two tear - a grade one is the least serious and a grade three the most serious – and the injury normally takes about four weeks to recover.
Obviously, I don’t have that amount of time ahead of the Olympic Games but athletes can recover very quickly from the injury and that’s what I hope to do.
Going into the competition, I had niggle in that area and some might question why I competed? But nine times out of ten and athlete goes into a competition with a slight niggle or pain that is just how it is for an elite athlete.
I was aware I had jumped two of the longest jumps of my career this season – both marginal fouls - but I had put nothing official to show for my efforts and I went into Crystal Palace believing I’m going to jump a personal best.
After a reasonable first round jump in round two I suffered the injury. It was like being shot. I completed the jump but I knew in my heart of hearts I’d done something seriously wrong.
I hung around for five minutes hoping it may be a spasm or cramp. I went off the track before doctors said I might have suffered a tear -a fact that was confirmed on Monday. There were no tears but I was hugely frustrated.
People ask how I slept that night, but I genuinely slept well. When I was aged 21 my whole world would have shattered but with age and maturity you become more immune to such disappointments.
You realise family and friends and more important and have to put the injury into perspective.
Having said that I’m very down, although I’m trying to keep upbeat because I’ve read you have a 20 per cent greater chance of recovery with a positive mind.
And although some people might think I’m off my rocker I know I will be on the runway for the Olympic Games long jump qualification on August 16.
UK Athletics have been great and have given me every chance. I won’t be joining the team at the holding camp in Macau and instead I will be flying out with my coach, Peter Stanley, on August 11 – five days before the qualifying round of the long jump.
I’m on crutches at the moment and all I can do for the next few days is ice the injury – 20 minutes every two hours - for the first few days until the tissues start to align. After that I’m going to undergo intense treatment with UKA physio Mark Young.
I can also console myself with the thought that I’m not an endurance athlete. If I’d lost three weeks endurance training it would have been game over as far as the Olympics is concerned. However, as a speed and strength athlete you don’t lose too much fitness over a three-week period.
Oh, and why am I in my sister’s flat with my wife, Lucia? Well, our flat in Hampstead is being renovated and we are house sitting while my sister, Katie, a model and actress, is away in Los Angeles.
Anyway, back to The Sopranos and another ice pack. I hope to report much better news next time…
Chris