On Your Marks: Muscles - I have to tear '˜em, then repair '˜em

This pearl of wisdom came from Owen Callaghan, fitness manager at K2 Crawley, and my best buddy for the next few weeks while I prepare for the Run Gatwick Half Marathon (May 13).

This new phrase was introduced as we were doing an upper body session in the gym on Sunday morning.

I am having to work on my upper body because of the aforementioned calf injury, sustained during a treadmill warm up a week and a half ago.

I had laid off the running but by trying to be a hero at spin class last Wednesday, I seemed to make the calf worse.

Owen told me to lay off it for at least five days and to work on the upper body.

A few months back I wrote about mental health and will power. I have to say after the spin class I was completely demoralised and was pretty down.

This meant a couple of bars of chocolate were introduced to the diet. This was not great, as I had been good by cutting that out.

But after a good session on Sunday with Owen I am feeling good again and should be back on my (running) feet by the end of the week.

Now, back to the upper body session.We started with a resistance band. This is great bit of kit and really does expose where the weaknesses are.

My left shoulder/arm/chest were exposed - inevitably - as relatively weak compared to the right hand side.

So Owen introduced me to some new equipment which isolates each side.

The pieces of equipment used two stacks of weights - one for each side - rather than one stack, which I had been used to.

This was a great help and I felt my left side was getting a real work out, rather than just being compensated for by my right side.

The end of the session was all about stretching and mobility - and we also worked on THAT calf muscle. The resistance band came into use again and we used bodyweight to help strengthen the calf.

Although the injury has set me back a little, I am glad it came when it did, early in the process. Hopefully this means we can now strengthen it more and that can only help to make me be able to reach my goal of completing a half marathon.

On Your Marks: The snow has a lot to answer forOn Your Marks: ‘It’s mostly a case of mind over matter’On Your Marks: The challenge is set, Run Gatwick Half Marathon here I come!