Paralympian blog

Training hard
24/10/2011

Training hard

This month has definitely been a month of sore muscles! Last month we had a mandatory holiday for 2 weeks just to recharge our batteries before we start our final push towards London 2012. Holidays are obviously a good thing - you get time to relax, be with your friends and family and recover mentally and physically from a tough season. However, there is a downside - a MASSIVE downside! The first few weeks back can kill you...

We started our first week back with a camp. As expected, this proved to be a big challenge - every layup left like a 3-point shot and the court felt a mile long. I think it's fair to say that to start with everyone was still in holiday mode, but we all worked hard and tried to keep the quality high. After 3 long days of training it was time to go home and rest... I wish! It was time to go home, sleep and get up bright and early to train the next day.

Despite this, I must admit that apart from the obvious aching muscles, it felt good to be back training and at such a high standard. That was until we went back into the gym, where we had a new coach and gym programme. The funny thing was that the coach's opening words at the start of the session were: "Don't worry, we'll go a little lighter and ease into things" - YEAH RIGHT! The session was so hard that I didn't actually leave the car park afterwards for at least an hour, as I was too sore to move, let alone drive. It has now been 2 days since that gym session, and with 4 court sessions in-between and another gym session, I can tell you that I hurt like mad and can't even lift my arms above my head! But hey ho, it will all be worth it come September next year.

You can follow Lee on Twitter at @lee_manning.