I posted a few months back about my injury problems returning and how I had to miss at least the start of the season due to recurring calf/tibialis posterior tendinopathy and also a winged scapula that was causing pain when swimming along the deltoid area of my left arm. Well here we are, at the end of July and I thought I best let you all know what I've been up to and where I'm at. After pulling out of the Outlaw Half I didn't have anything else in my race calendar until the Little Woody which takes place on 23rd August, and then the Bala Standard which is on 7th September. As it is i have now withdrawn from Bala and deferred my entry to the Little Woody until next year. It's only been the past few weeks where I have returned to running and my swimming is a long way from where I would want it to be, although I'm not pain-free there for the time being.
So, that's where my race season is at present but what about my rehab, I've been absent from training, from races, and people might wonder whether I've dropped out of tri altogether but don't worry…I'll fill you in on all my various rehab exercises and the different lengths I have gone to to try and get over these recurring injuries and get back to doing what I love…especially now that I'm really enjoying swimming as well!!
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| Wales National Pool, Swansea - I bought a summer membership, 3 months for £40! #bargain |
I mentioned in one of my last blog posts about a pending appointment with Ace Feet In Motion, a specialist podiatry service in Cardiff.
What a professional set up! I met the lovely Tom and he conducted a thorough assessment which included me walking bare foot over a pressurised floor pad so see what my gait was like when walking - perfectly neutral! We then went into a larger room that had a larger space to run in so that the machine could take a reading of my foot strike when running. This showed that i am neutral-slightly overpronating, which is fine, my Saucony Kinvaras are fine for this, but what was interesting was that my left heel wasn't touching down whereas my right one was. This means that my tibialis posterior and calf in the left leg were being continually loaded and never getting any rest due to me not putting my foot completely down on the floor when running. It was suggested that rather than try and train myself to run differently an orthotic would enable me to carry on the way I naturally run but compensate by supporting the heel better and taking the load off. The first time I wore them the pain I had been experiencing in my leg instantly went away and I was very hopeful. As it turns out, it seems that having an orthotic in allowed the pressure to be taken off my tibialis posterior enough so that I could start to do some rehab work that was kindly sent to me by a complete stranger, Andrew Garwood, @garwood3000, who is a fitness trainer and athlete in Australia!
Unfortunately, however, after that initial progress, I was then finding my legs were getting very fatigued by the end of the working day from having the orthotics in and all I was able to do was get home, take them out and rest on the sofa! I persevered for a few weeks but ultimately I took them out and I haven't put them in since! In that time I have returned to see Tom who has made adjustments to the orthotic, reducing it slightly, should I need to put them in my shoe when training to ease things a little, but thankfully my leg has continued to heel (fingers crossed) and a lot of barefoot walking due to the wonderful weather we have been having has probably also been healthy for my feet to get stronger naturally.
If it hadn't been for Andrew though I don't know where I'd be because I was struggling to find out the problem, and then stumped as to how to overcome it! A trip to the local Muscoskeletal Assessment Service also diagnosed the tibialis posterior tendinopathy but an ultrasound scan showed no damage of the tib-pos, nor the achilles, nor the calf area. However, through the rehab given to me for the tib-pos i have strengthened the tendon and the pain I had is no longer and I can bounce on the ball of my foot without any pain :) Unfortunately, that's not to say that it was problem solved because I then started to have pain in my calf in an almost identical position just the outer part of my leg rather than the inner. This felt like a massive balled knot under the skin but no amount of foam rolling or trigger point release work (also sent to me by Andrew) was shifting it. My calf was feeling tight again and when I did try a short run I stopped after two minutes because of the pain I was feeling in this new area, knowing that it wasn't right.
I'd also learnt that my glute medius was probably weak so I have had rehab exercises for this too. I also learnt that the aqua jogging that I've been enjoying will help fire up my glute medius properly, as well as noticing that my running technique has benefitted from the focused time in the pool where you feel what your body is doing in great detail due to the water resistance you're experiencing.
The final set of rehab exercises I've been working on is for my shoulder. I went along to a physio who did a very thorough assessment and told me that my left scapula/shoulder blade was winging meaning more pressure on my rotator cuff, hence the pain when swimming. He gave me a number of exercises to do designed to strengthen the scapula. I'm hoping they're working and my last few swims the pain has felt less, although it's still there to some degree. However, the last time I swam I managed 3 swims in a week, increasing my distance each time, and also throwing in my longer intervals, like 300m, as well as some speed work, so definitely progress. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get in the pool last week due to a sports massage making the shoulder/arm very sore, as well as life getting in the way and not having the time to go when my shoulder felt up to it.
What the sports massage was good for though, with Vicki @vickiSMT was working the knot in my calf and my shoulder as my own trigger point work wasn't touching them. Since last Thursday my calf has felt a lot easier and I've managed a very short run of about 5 mins, as well as a longer 22 minute run tonight, with only a slight hint of the niggling knot in the calf. I've also been back cycling this past month, pain free, and loving being back on the open road! What I've been impressed with is that my average speed whilst keeping HR to my usual range has remained, and I even got some new PBs on strava which given I had been out for 2 months from cycling is pretty cool! It just shows that strength work does really make a difference so I can't recommend enough @bodybullet's #smarterNOTlonger approach as whilst my aerobic capacity will have been affected due to my injury layoff my strength work will mean it won't take me long to get back to where I was and quickly progress again! Nothing beats putting a bit of welly into the pedals and your bike responding by slicing through the air as if I were in the Tour de France!
So, what does a triathlete do with oneself when their season and training plans are scuppered?? Have some fun is what!! Back in June I went glamping for the first time, down to a truly beautiful site www.trellyn.co.uk in Abercastle, Pembrokeshire, with a group of mates from work. We stayed for 2 nights in an idyllic location in a dome, chilling out, drinking beer, walking along the stunning coastal path, and generally just having a good time with great food and lots of laughs.
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| Our dome! |
I have also been able to spend the majority of my weekends in July doing manual labour, helping my best mate and her fiancé, the lovely Si of Blossom Associates, prepare a farm ready for a naming ceremony they are having this coming weekend. It's been a lot of fun, as well as a great workout, so even though my training hasn't been what it would be normally, I've certainly been getting a cross-fit type workout hauling sand, stones, carrying heavy rocks, moving laden wheelbarrows, etc. It's also been lovely to catch up with Chris, my best mate, and her two beautiful children. I don't typically get to see them very often, but when I do it's always so fulfilling and grounding, as well as inspiring.
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| Walking the coastal path |
The final topic of interest, to top off all the silver linings that have appeared by having all this extra free time on my hands, is that 2014 is the year that I committed myself to finally starting private work. This has always been my intention, right from the start of my psychology career, but I decided this year to pursue my first love, sports psychology, to put into practice the MSc in Sports Psychology that I am in the final stages of (my dissertation is active, and next year I will spend writing it up).
I came across a few stumbling blocks in getting things together, but these past couple of days have been very productive with the purchase of my website domain www.youcanyouwill.co.uk where my services as a Clinical and Performance Psychologist will be advertised. I have also created a Facebook page: Youcanyouwill, as well as a new twitter account @DrHPsych . I'm in the process of acquiring a logo and business cards, and Blossom Associates +Blossom Associates @BlossomAssoc are working wonders on helping me design my website. It's an exciting time and who knows what the future will hold. I'll still be working full-time in my day job in mental health as a Clinical Psychologist, but I'm looking to help others maximise their performance, which might predominantly be in the sport/exercise setting, but there's no reason why this can't be applied to workplaces, businesses, etc. if they feel they need something extra to enhance performance. I'm looking to fit it around my training, e.g. meet someone over coffee after I've had a swim, and then it'll be informal, friendly, and maximises time all around. I will also look into getting Skype and chatting online is possible too. I'm intending to be as flexible as possible to meet the needs of those who want my help to achieve what they might not achieve without training their minds, alongside the physical training they are no doubt doing!
That's the thing…it's common place for athletes to have a training plan for getting fitter, faster, etc. but what about the mental side, the side that helps you overcome those dark moments when the body wants to give up rather than push through the pain of exertion, or the doubts that creep in when you're faced with a challenge that seems too much to bear. What about those people who have lost their mojo, or perhaps are stressed because of life issues like work, family, etc. and are finding that those things are weighing on their minds which has a detrimental impact on their training, their performance. Those are the people I want to reach, that I know I can help...
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| Meadow fields and more
I will finish with this wonderful passage that I stumbled across. Life isn't easy, but overcoming the obstacles put in our paths are what make us warriors. We're not perfect, but we persevere, and whatever you set your mind to you can achieve! #youcanyouwill
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| An inspiring quote! |
