Make up for lost ground and bring oneself up to date (7)
I believe the answer is:
catchup
'make up for lost ground and bring oneself' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'up to date' is the wordplay.
'to' means one lot of letters go next to another (I've seen this in other clues).
'date' becomes 'catch' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'up' put after 'catch' is 'CATCHUP'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for catchup that I've seen is " Sauce!".)