It’s been a
while since my last musings, so what’s been going on? My race diary has been
empty since the Marysville Running Festival in November, as the week after my
10k dash my Achilles flared up and gave me grief.
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| I'd been burning up the trails! |
If I were a
car, I’d be the perfect car. You know how when you take the car to the mechanic
to get that issue checked and the car is perfect (I swear it’s the
International Car Conspiracy) and you feel like a twit, well the morning I was
due to see the Physio for a ‘just because’ check-up was the morning my Achilles
flared up. Perfect, I got to go and see Freedom Sports Medicine in Croydon with
the issue alive and well.
I had booked
in with Ross for a ‘Free2Run’ assessment. This entailed a range of movement
analysis, a running technique breakdown on the treadmill and the follow exercise
regime.
To make a
long story short, I had very restricted range of movement in my ankles/Achilles
due to extremely tight calves and the entire muscle groups of both feet. This
had compounded over time and resulted in the arrival of Mr Achilles Tendinitis.
If you’ve had the pleasure of meeting and running with Mr Tendinitis, he does
his very best to make each stride as painful as he can. I’d much rather run
without him. I also have an imbalance in the muscle development in my legs. If
I can describe it right, my right quad is underdeveloped while the calf muscle
is very strong. In my left, the Quad muscle is very strong while the left calf
is underdeveloped. Essentially I have this weird cross leg thing happening!
So how did
the Achilles Tendinitis develop? Slackness. For a long period of time I was a
religious roller and stretcher, hitting the calves, quads and glutes each
night. In the last six months I had gotten lazy and it came back to bite me in the
leg.
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| Me and #RoyalBay pulling the Trigger |
The
prescribed treatment was 2x 10 minutes of rolling each calf (hmpf, my 2 minutes
a day just wasn’t cutting the mustard) and 2 x 2 minutes of golf ball roll
overs each day (welcome to the house of pain!). This was to relive the
tightness in the lower legs to combat the Achilles. I also had single leg
squats, calf raises and glute bridges/ skier’s thrown into the mix to help
combat my muscular imbalance. I also figured it couldn’t hurt to get my sexy
Royal Bay Compression socks on each night for that little extra 1%.
I threw in a
self-imposed running ban right throughout November to give maximum recovery
time. This didn’t mean I got to sit on my arse and get fat, it meant hitting
the spin bike twice a week and dusting off the mountain bike for some weekend
adventures. And… I’ve loved it!
Since
getting back on the bike I’ve discovered some great new trails within riding/running
distance from home. As a bonus I've also managed to build up the strength in my quads!
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| This was my view for a while! |
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| Got me some new shades! |
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| Getting arty with the bike, #Strydaforce compression helped |
By refraining from running until late December I’ve
really enjoyed learning to run again. Every run is a focus on form, on
breathing, on taking in the world around me. Every run I’m getting stronger,
learning to find my feet again, learning to get back my desire.
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| Nothing beats a run with your mates! |
The recovery
process has been slow, but it has also given me time to focus on Mrs Fish and
her running. And, I was more than a little jealous that she got to run Two Bays
without me. It also gave me the opportunity to be at the finish line of one of
my favourite events and see all of my DTR mates racing strong.
Where to
from now? I’m hoping that my leg work is going to translate into some quicker
times over the coming year, allowing be to continue to grow as a runner.
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| You know where to find me... |
Well, till
next my friends. Now get out there and make friends with your roller!
Lachie
