If I had to describe May in one word: chaos.

I feel like May was a lot for me. I’m physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted.

There was a lot of stress and general busyness at work with UTA thrown in the middle.

I used rest days I had banked up to go to UTA and in order to have enough I worked quite a few days straight leading in. We drove up and as soon as it was done, we drove all the way back. I went straight into several high pressure days on my feet at work.

It was not the best taper or recovery strategy and my body has only just started to forgive me for it.

I’m already planning how I could do UTA better next year. Despite my “one and done” mantra at the race, I’m not happy with the result and I’ll be going back for another go.

I’m also looking to improve the race logistics. I’ve booked leave to reduce the pre race fatigue, an air bnb close to the start/finish line and started a savings account for the flights and car hire. As much as I loved the convenience of throwing all my shit including the bathroom scales and Hello Fresh meal kits into the car, the 9 hour plus drive each way was exhausting.

I would consider catching the train rather than getting a rental car but unfortunately Katoomba is a bit of a dump and all the good cafes are in the surrounding suburbs.

But all of that is 12 months away, so for now it’s all about rebuilding.

The issue with my knee at UTA is no doubt an additional consequence of the lack of mobility in my hips and strength in my butt. I’ve given it three weeks so this week it’s also back to the physio.

Despite all the chaos, I still managed three sessions in the gym, just one per week, to start rebuilding strength.

The plan is to build up to 2-3 sessions, with the stair climber to finish each session.

It’s been kinda weird having such low mileage and taking the time to let the knee and body in general recover. I’ve been on the elliptical, hiking in the bush and walking the dogs in between runs. Without a big race on the calendar there really isn’t a rush to get back to hard training.

I have some races at the end of the year that I would like to have a go at, but either entries aren’t open yet or other folks aren’t ready to commit to a team entry.

It’s a bit… meh.

With the taper and then the recovery, I logged only 197km for May 2023, but numbers never paint the whole picture.

I think for May I’m most proud of my UTA finish and being able to reframe the issues, to push through and to be proud even when it didn’t go to plan and I didn’t get the time I was chasing.

I’m most grateful for my health and my bodies ability to endure even when I treat it like absolute rubbish. There were days this month where I literally ate nothing but take out dumplings and Oreos and that had nothing to do with the race.

I learnt some tough lessons that have nothing to do with running.

I’m looking forward to all that June brings, colder weather, Surf Coast Trail Marathon, fluffy and puffy jackets and soups galore.

Hopefully my June recap will celebrate a pain free knee and some plans for the rest of 2023.