Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Hurts so good.

Today was a double delight day. Physio and intervals on the treadmill - what more can I say. Today was Day 4 with Lisa and although it was still painful and I cringe at the thought of going through pain, I actually look forward to it. Alot more focus was placed on the area of impingement of the Peroneal Nerve. It is half way up the outer part of my lower leg and believe me when she is rubbing I can pinpoint with direct accuracy the area. There is pain, pain, pain - OMG you really need to stop NOW. I see stars of all varieties - nice little white ones, shooting stars and even ones that spin around my head like a carousel. But it is doing me good.

My next appointment she wants me to see her boss who is an ex-ironman himself several times over. She wants to see if he can come up with any other idea as to what is going on and what else I should be doing. He can also advise me on the type of runners I should be wearing. The pair I am wearing now is coming up to its used by date as I have had them since September last year. The tread on them is still okay but I feel they are losing their cushioning and this could definately be affecting my running gait. Every piece of information I get I willingly accept. Being a total amateur in this arena I need to learn as much as I can if I want to stay safe and injury free for many years to come. Good piece of information I recieved from Lisa is that I don't have to alter my running regime - the only thing she wants me to do is not run on uneven surfaces like down near the river. She wants me sticking to the road or flat surfaces in general. The uneven surface made my knee ache a bit as I stated on the previous post, so its road running for now.

After physio I headed to the gym for an interval training session on the treadmill. I have never done this before so it was very new and alot of hard work to boot. A friend of mine from DailyMile, Sandi, who is studying to be a personal trainer set me up this program. It was sets of 400m with 800m rest zones inbetween. She said I could do between 4/6 reps but I only lasted for 4. And I altered the times cause I still cant run too fast but I was happy with the speeds I achieved. Here is how it went:
  • 5 min warm up
  • 400m @ 11kph
  • 800m @ 8.5kph
  • 400m @ 11.5kph
  • 800m @ 8.5kph
  • 400m @ 12kph
  • 800m @ 8.5kph
  • 400m @ 12.5kph
  • 800m @ 8.5kph
  • cooldown
I was happy with the outcome. I was also okay'd by the physio to do squats on the Bosu Ball so long as they were not too bouncy - they had to be nicely controlled. So I did :
  • 3 x 15 alternating squats on Bosu Ball
  • 3 x 20 ab curls on Swiss Ball
  • 2 x 20 oblique crunches
  • Core strengthening exercises with swiss ball.
All in all it was an extremely eventful day. I do believe I am making progress. YAY for me.

Your hard work will be rewarded.

"The path to a dream is paved with sacrifices and lined with determination. And though it has many stumbling blocks along the way, and may go in more than one direction, it is travelled by belief and courage and conquered with a willingness to face challenges and take chances" Barbara Cage