London: England middle-order bat Kevin Pietersen has said that his gruelling self-imposed Caribbean fitness regime caused his Achilles injury.
With the First Test against Australia just 10 days away, Pietersen is still not 100 per cent fit.
According to News of The World, Pietersen has already had a cortisone jab injected into the nerve in his spine to treat the injury.
He admits that too much running during England's winter tour of the West Indies fuelled his current fitness problems. KP's personal training schedule included:
- 3.5mile sprints on a treadmill the night before Test matches.
Running six miles from the ground in St Kitts to the England hotel instead of catching the team bus.
Mile-long shuttle runs up and down hills near the team hotel.
"Road running is what I absolutely love, but I did too much. I was doing huge runs in the Caribbean - too much - which hurt my back and was linked to the problems I've since had," he was quoted, as saying.
