I have been running for 38 years, and for the last 10 years, a lot of adventure and ultra-marathons. These were done mostly during my 21 years in China. I played a lot of tennis then, and I have my own home gym which I used very regularly. I was younger too. So, I seldom have injuries due to the cross-training I get from playing tennis.
Since coming back to Malaysia in Dec 2014, and setting up a company to organize ultra-marathon events, I have spent a lot of time sitting down for long hours. I stopped playing tennis too, and visits to the gym became very irregular. My muscles were often quite tight, and my running movement was stiff. I started to develop persistent heel pains on both heels. It affected my running training and racing performance.
I visited and got treatments from physiotherapy centres. I was taught some exercises that I should do daily or regularly. But I found it hard to do these exercises regularly, with sufficient intensity and duration. My heels still hurt.
In early 2017, after frequent chatting with Roger Choo, I got to know more about Warrior boot camp and decided to try out at least once.
Upon joining the 1st session, I found out that the exercises are very similar to those taught by my physiotherapists and some more. I am convinced that these are exercises that will rehabilitate my body in the long run. The coaches are knowledgeable and motivating. There are sufficient varieties as well to keep the workout challenging and interesting.
After a few months, I noticed that my heels do not hurt anymore like in the past. I am able to run fast and long. I need to maintain these workout routines for the rest of my sporting life at least to remain healthy enough for my main sport. At the age of 56 going 57 this year, it’s even more critical to keep up the effort in maintaining strong muscles and joints.
Of course, the fellowship of fellow warriors is a great appeal too to keep coming back to warrior boot camp.
I live in KL now but travel to Penang 2 to 3 times a week. If possible, I’ll join 3 sessions a week, (Monday, Wednesday and Friday). I’ve learnt a lot this year. Learning the different exercises, the correct techniques of doing them. Initially, It was tough physically too, but I can manage all of them with relative ease now. I also work out most parts of my body now, instead of just the running joints and muscles.
My focus in future is super long ultra-marathon (road and trail), and full Ironman. Both of these requires long hours of training like back to back long runs of 30km each. Without heel pains now, I can train much more than before to achieve good performance. I am now in preparation for the biggest race this year: 836 km of training running on the Pyrenees mountain in France in Aug this year. On top of that, there will be 3 full ironman races this year too. Warrior Boot Camp activities will be a key part of my training workouts.
Keep doing what you’re best at, in the exercise routines. On top of that, it’ll be great to have a size of about 20 for each session.