Lo4: Commitment, showing perseverance and resilience
A couple of months after extensive training, I got chosen to take part in SEASAC. I never really trained consistently during the season thus by the time the competition came about I found it really difficult and challenging. The course we had to run on was the source of this challenge. It was very hilly, muddy, rocky and bushy. Taking risks and managing them has always been at the core of my values which explains why despite all these complications I still became strong and proceeded with the competition. Doing cross country was an unfamiliar experience to me so sometimes I really felt like it was too demanding and even went to the extent of trying to quit and switch over to football. However, my friends were always there to assist me every step of the journey by urging me to be patient with myself and persevere.
what mostly affected my commitment was the injury that I sustained from the start of the season. The fact that it was taking too long for me to recover and that SEASAC was approaching really quickly made me doubt that I will do well and thus at times I felt like withdrawing from the Sport. What I learned during that hard time was that indeed “indeed no man is an island”. I always thought that I could manage everything by myself and that I do not anyone to direct me anyhow but I was wrong given the lesson I obtained in the end.
The following pictures show the daily routine that I had to abide by to ensure I was back on my feet again and pave a way to SEASAC :
To give a brief summary of what is going on in the above-attached pictures, I ceased running for about 2 months and only concentrated on these low-intensity exercises just so I could get my body moving all the time. I muscle rolled both my legs, pushed weights, applied cream (to reduce inflammation), iced the injured leg every time after the gym, cycled and a lot other simple but effective activities that are not listed here. I also kept close contact with my Physiotherapist who constantly gave me advice and recommended me stretching exercises to do to get my legs back to their competitive state.