'It’s one of my biggest regrets in running': Olympic pain fuelling Paul Pollock's Tokyo dream

In an effort to break through to the ranks of world-class, Paul Pollock has all too often broken himself. Over the last eight years, the 34-year-old marathoner has spent as much time injured as he has healthy, his bones and his body all too often breaking down as he underwent the trial of miles. But the Belfast man knows, at his best, he can be right up there alongside the world’s best, writes Cathal Dennehy

Paul Pollock during the Men’s Marathon in the 2018 European Athletics Championships in Berlin, Germany. Picture: INPHO/Morgan Treacy

It's one of the cruel ironies of top-level sport that effort, all too often, does not align with reward, no matter what the inspirational captions say on Instagram. The relationship between the two is one that leaves the best performers — driven, type-A personalities that they typically are — sometimes scratching their heads.

For some, the downfall is not a lack of commitment or a phobia of any hard slog, but a failure to learn the precise location of the line separating supreme fitness and physical failure.