Is there anybody out there ...?

The buzzword in academia at the moment - according to the rather uninspiring careers event I went to last week - is public engagement. So far, this blog has had over 400 hits but very few comments. If you'd like to leave a comment - be it advice, your experience, or something completely random thoughts - please do!! I'd love to hear from you :-)

Oh, the drama!

Turns out my lovely new trainers have caused me to develop 'bilateral achilles tendinopathy', which translates as pain at the bottom of both my calves. My physio seemed rather exasperated at how I'd managed to develop another problem since my last visit (in addition to getting hit by a bus last week and having my arm bandaged from an unrelated incident!). I'm reluctant to buy another new pair and am hoping that with a bit of self-massage, they might settle down ...

On a more positive note, my hamstring problem is getting better and I've been given a more fun exercise to get my glutes working - walking upstairs two at a time, very slowly. Seeing as I live in a ground floor flat this means doing the exercise at work so I'm preparing myself to get some odd looks from colleagues over the coming weeks!

I wonder if some people really are just more injury prone? If I didn't love running so much - and wasn't raising money for GSTT charity - I think I might have opted for the easy option and given up. But I haven't so I'll keep plodding on :-)

Back on track

Technically, I suppose the title should actually be "on track" since this was my first ever track session! After being in the running club for six months, I finally plucked up the courage to try out the Friday track session at Dulwich College track. Imagine my horror when I got to the track to find hurdles set up! Fortunately, they were from a previous session otherwise I might have cried!

I actually enjoyed the session - a pyramid of 100m, 200m, 300m, 400m, 300m, 200m, 100m. Luckily - especially with the intense heat - the coach went easy on the slower of us and so we stayed at 300m. My brain appears not to engaging my butt still as my hamstrings were pretty sore afterwards.

I'm also enjoying my fab new trainers - well worth the trip to Victoria where the lovely staff did video gait analysis and brought out pair after pair of trainers until they found the perfect fit.

It's official: I have a "lazy butt"!

I wonder if anyone ever goes to a sports physio and gets good feedback on the state of their body?! It seems that new trainers, some manipulation on my back, and daily exercises have started to make a difference to my respective arch, back, and hip-hitching problems. However, my physio has discovered the possible root of my hamstring and hip problems - I have a "lazy butt"! Yes, it seems that my brain is failing to engage my glutes when walking/running leading to an overload on my hamstrings/hips (especially on the right side). The scientist in me demanded to know why isn't my brain doing this? Has my brain had a falling out with my butt that I'm unaware of?! I'm content with the idea of my muscles not doing what they should but not with my brain failing to work properly!

Poor posture seems to be part of the problem. More exercises are the solution including practising walking using my glutes; I now feel like I'm mincing up and down the corridors at work. Hopefully it doesn't look as strange it as feels :-)

Brace yourself: this is going to hurt ...

And it did! I had my first appointment with my new physio last Wednesday and it was well worth the extra money. After a very thorough assessment, it turns out that:
1- I have a collapsed arch in my right foot and use my toes muscles to lift my foot, which is why my shins are sore and I have a "mashed shin" (his words!)
2 - I have a "back like an ironing board" (again not my words!) causing me to run with my pelvis forward and bum sticking out (like a duck, apparently) so that instead of using my glutes, I overload my hamstrings
3- The hip muscle in my right thigh doesn't work properly so my hip pops in and out of the socket and I overuse the muscle on the outer thigh (which is causing the pain in my leg)
4- My feeling of running lopsided is caused by me leaning to one side and "hip hitching" when I lift my left leg.
5- My trainers are completely wrong for my feet (damn Decathlon "gait analysis"!)

The good news? "None of this is life-threatening". Well, I could have worked that one out myself!
The solution: manipulation on my back (still aching from that bone-cracking!), sports massage on my hip (v painful), various stretches and exercises to do at home (to replace the ones given by my first physio), and some new trainers. Oh, and it helped that the physio was rather attractive :-)

2nd karaoke night photos!

We had our second karaoke night yesterday at Lucky Voice. Unfortunately, Dr G and Su-Bo had to drop out at the last minute. A good time was had by all (hopefully!) and particular highlights for me were the renditions of The Bloodhound Gang's 'The Ballad of Chasey Lain' and Justin Timberlake's 'SexyBack'! The only lowlight was having to admit that I was the one who put Justin Bieber on...

Benjamin treating us to some Barry White. Or was it the Bloodhound Gang?!

Gemma carefully considering her song choice ...

Or was she?!

355 days to go!

Yesterday was the day of the London Marathon, which I should have been running if it weren't for an pesky injury. It was also the first time that I've been to watch the whole race and after racing around (not literally) to see the start and then various points along the way (Greenwich, Westferry, Embankment), I was exhausted!

It was great to go and see where I'll be lining up next year and get some good practical advice on the course from JT. What a difference between the happy and excited runners at Greenwich (6 miles) and the tired and sore runners along the Embankment (24-25 miles)! I kind of wish that I'd only seen Greenwich and then I could fool myself that it was smiles and laughter for the whole 26.2 miles ...

I came back full of inspirations and with some recommendations from other people from the running club about which physio to try for some more specialist running advice than my former physio could offer. I now have a year to raise the remaining £1300 towards my target and no excuse for reaching - if not exceeding - it! It's our second karaoke night today, which should kick off the next phase of my fundraising nicely :-)