Lovely weather - for ducks.

Rain, rain and more rain is all I can see from every point of the horizon. Thick, dark clouds filled with loads of water and the promise of more to come, and no getting out for a run or ride in the open air. Nevermind, first things first - PHYSIO Day 3 and then to think about what I should do. What can I say, physio still hurts but on a good note, Lisa can feel some movement (Good movement) on the outer part of my knee. This means the knot I have is weakening and the muscles are finally giving way. Thats not to say it has come easily, God only knows I have the bruises to show as my badge of bravery, but there is light at the end of the tunnel now, albeit its the size of a grain of rice, but it's light.

Lisa my physio is really cool. She is always asking me if I am okay while she is massaging my leg - I wonder if all my sweating, grimacing and weird giggles of pain are a sign of my distress....mmmm I wonder. Maybe it's the beads of sweat on my upper lip and my cold clammy hands - either way Lisa keeps rubbing and when it gets too much to bear she stops. After all the rubbing I get a heat pack to place on the area she has worked on the most, today it was my lower leg. Ahhhhh bliss.

So while I was sitting there contemplating about what I should do today, I decided to reactivate my gym membership. With all this rain about I need to still get a run in. It's not that I mind riding my indoor trainer but I could see myself getting a bit bored and wanting something else. And after reading one of my fellow bloggers posts about weight training "To gym or not to gym" and saying that I stay clear due to having had some bad experiences, I decided today was as good a day as any to just get back in there and take the bull by the horns. Thankyou Patrick.

So I went home and got dressed : What do you think? Do I look the part?

Anyway, when I got to the gym I must admit I was very nervous. I made a B line straight for the treadmill that was set up in the darkest corner of the gym and I hopped on. I caught the eye of a trainer and asked if they could assist me in getting the thing up and running. She gladly obliged and we got to talking about things. Anyway, she took an interest in my goals and said that when I finished on the treadmill (3km later), to go get her and she would show me some exercises to strengthen my legs using the Bosu Ball. Oh my lord, that semi-circular rubber thing is hard going.

Talk about looking unco-ordinated, a newborn giraffe has more co-ordination. She had me doing squats, and squat jumps and this exercise which I have no idea what its called but you are swapping feet from side to side keeping your centre of gravity low. She then moved me to a bench and I had to jump onto the bench with both feet leaving the floor at the same time. Sounds easy but its amazing how easily you lose co-ordination and faith in yourself. Took me about 4 jumps before I mastered it and then she had me doing 360 degree lunges with a 7kg dumb bell in each hand. What a day I have had today - I am stuffed. I LOVE IT.

I will definately be back next week, the next two days are booked with swimming and training a friend. Bring on winter strength training - I am ready.

Bit the bullet - surprisingly, I felt good.

After feeling dodgy yesterday and waking up to a "stiff as a board" neck this morning,rainy skies and children with head colds I decided I had two choices. The first was to sit around and mope and feel sorry for myself or get on my trainer like I said I would, and just DO IT. So I just did it - got the kids all sorted out, did my regular stretching and strengthening, tidied up the house as I wanted no distractions and set myself the task of riding the trainer for an hour. The stretching I did previously made my legs feel wonderfully ready to start spinning. Usually they feel a bit tight and fatigued after only 10 minutes of pedalling, but this morning they felt great.

This inturn had a wonderful "Pay it forward" effect on the rest of my body. The more I pedalled the more invigorated I felt. The hour flew by without really realising it, even the kids were like "What the? Have you finished already?". Maybe the monotonous hum of the trainer as I plodded along made them fall asleep. I can't blame them really for getting bored. I, on the other hand, got alot out of today.

Realisation: I got it together today when it was so much easier to give in. This has made me feel extremely empowered and I trust me even more than I did before. I know my thoughts will never let me down, so when push comes to shove in the days ahead that will be harder than I can even imagine - I know I will be STRONG and push through anything.

I remember when I was younger and a competitive swimmer I thrived on the coach pushing me and making me try harder than most of the other kids my age in the squad. I moved up from the junior squad to senior squad in less than a year and I think it was because I had a bit of grunt in me. You would never have thought so, I was the smallest and skinniest but I was all for making my coach happy and I loved the feeling of being good and accomplishing something others thought I couldn't. Looks can be deceiving.

Now I know that I can achieve anything I set my mind too, even when I don't feel all that great. Now I know I am strong and everyday I am getting stronger - especially when I am faced with days like today. I should bite the bullet more often - it's amazing what you will learn

Where is the love.

All day today I have been totally flat. Not quite sure what is happening in my brain but it is giving me the proverbial "You know whats". I am tired and just feel beat physically and emotionally. I don't have my usual zing and I would like it back - NOW. I have a funny feeling the weather has something to do with it. The cold and I have never seen eye to eye and it always seems to be a battle of the wills during the colder months. For the first time in ages I have wanted to just crawl into a nice little ball dressed in the daggiest tracksuit and socks and close my eyes and sleep. It is quite unlike me and it has me wondering how I will cope when winter really sets in. How will I stay motivated to train when the mornings are FREEZIN, the days are cold and drizzly and the nights come to soon?

Maybe I should be signing up for regular Fun Runs! Signing up for monthly ones are possibly the way to go. So far I have signed up for the MS 8km Fun Run on the 6th June, and my first ever Sprint Triathlon on October 31st. But that leaves an awful lot of months inbetween to fit stuff in. There is another run in September called the Blackmores Sydney Running Festival and there are different races - 9km, Half Marathon & Marathon. Not sure which one out of the 9km and Half Marathon. Do I aim high or managaeable?

Hopefully today is just one of those days. Both my boys have head colds and maybe I am coming down with it too. All day today I had trouble staying warm and my hands have been stinging - much like when your hands are cold and you put them under hot water. My lower back has also been aching too. Time to up the vitamins throughout the household I think.

On a happier note. My daughter ran a 4km cross country run today, and although she placed 24th, in my eyes she is NUMERO 1. Taillah qualified for this run on a whim. She doesn't like running but when you see her run you just know that if she trained for it she would be a force to be reckoned with. I am very proud of you Taillah - your my GEM.

Try not to laugh

I think I said I would post some photos of the types of stretches and core strengthening activities I have to do, however after reviewing the photos I think I look quite funny. My intentions are good and if you want to see some professional photos I will add a link to them at the end of the post - for comparisons.

The aim with this one is to get yourself into more of an A frame - I would but my fear of falling onto my head or rolling off onto the side is high, so until I feel stronger this is about as high as I get.

I really like this one but it takes alot of concentration. I try to just barely rest my hands on the floor and raise my hips without having my feet wobble from side to side. It's quite hard but i am getting better at it. The aim is to raise my arms up above my head as I raise my hips - I can only do this once or twice.

I find this one hard, shows my weakness in my legs. The leg that is raised stays at 90 degrees and is the one that rolls up and down on the ball. The leg that is on the floor I have to bend up and down with, maintaining correct alignment with the knee over the foot. My hands have to stay on my hips and are a guide to make sure I don't raise one hip more than the other. Doing it in front of a mirror helps.

I think the plank is something you either love or hate - I personally don't mind it. However she wants me now to raise alternate limbs and hold for as long as I can. Very, very hard. I wobble all over the place to do it but as my core strengthens I am sure I will be able to do and maintain it.
Gluteal stretch feels good and hurts all at the same time. Not sure if you can notice in the picture that the outstretched leg is raised slightly off the floor - the aim is to keep in all on the floor, this aides in the stretch.

My hamstrings are so tight, this one hurts. Have to hold this for 30 seconds, toes are pointed directly over the top of my head. I then have to point my toes outwards for 30 seconds and then point them inwards for 30 seconds. This works different parts of the hamstring. Try it it really works.

I tried to take a photo of the Peroneal Neural stretch that my physio has me doing and you couldn't really see what I was doing so I found one off the internet. The aim is to lower and raise your foot so the Peroneal Nerve moves through the muscle sheath. When I do it lying down using a towel to support my foot I can feel it just on the outer lateral aspect of my knee.

All of my stretches and strengthening exercises I have to do 4 times daily. and although I am not great at it I can feel some flexibility in my legs and my stomach hurts, so I guess the core exercises are doing their job. Hope you enjoy. Oh, by the way, here is the link for the Physio Exercises.

Performax Women's Compression Full Length Tight - Sports Compression Clothing

Performax Women's Compression Full Length Tight - Sports Compression Clothing

I have just purchased these off EziSports. Here they are. Totally divine.The material is fantastic. The seams are flatlocked so there wont be any rubbing anywhere whatsoever. I absolutely love the reflective pattern on the calves and the added detail of reflection around the zipper. I got myself a Size 10 even though I am borderline Size 12 due to my height. But I figured the added tightness would help compression wise. I can see I will enjoy these immensely.

Physiotherapy Day 2 - New Drama

I have just come back from the physiotherapist and am a bit battered and bruised yet again. I mentioned to her about this feeling I get every now and then in my left leg and which had happened again on Wednesday (I think that was the day) when I went for my 7km run with Susan. My foot and lower leg kind of go a bit numb and I almost feel as though I sort of lose control - like foot drop. But it doesn't happen all the time - so I was not that concerned. Anyway when I mentioned it to her she kind of looked at me quite seriously and started pressing around the outer lateral aspect of my knee and down the outer shin and I felt like my leg was on fire. With that came the words "I think you have a Peroneal Nerve Impingement". With those words I thought I was going to lose full use of my leg and my eyes started to well up with tears.

Thank goodness she quickly reassured me inbetween continuing to rub the area. So why were my eyes still filling up with tears, oh thats right - the rubbing hurt like CRAZY. The cold sweats broke out again and all I could do was breathe through the pain - much like I did when I was giving birth. I find the pain hard to describe - it's like burning, red raw, pulled muscle kind of feeling when she is rubbing the area. Not nice, but after it is all said and done I feel good.

Anyway, I have another stretch to add to the combo - "Peroneal Neural Stretch" which should help dislodge it and allow it to move freely. I will give my daughter the task to take some photos of the stretches as I am doing them to show you what I have to do. Mainly they are leg stretches but she has added two more core stability ones as well. Should make for some entertainment as they involve using the Swiss Ball.

Saying for today "What doesn't kill me only makes me stronger".

Yesterdays swim session

Forgot to post my session yesterday as I was in awe of Sharon's efforts. Here it is:

• 500m Freestyle warm up
• 5 x 200m Fr/s for 100m Bk/s for 100m
• 10 x 50m kick with flippers 15 sec break
• 5 x 100m Fr/s catchup with paddles - alternating every 25m
• 300m Br/s cool down

If anyone has some other ideas to spice up my swim sessions please let me know. Look forward to seeing some variety.