Monday 6 June 2011

So, just a couple of days recovery right?

Righto, so after the smash-fest last weekend it was time for a recovery week.  Shhhhh, don’t tell Mank, but I really didn’t have a choice – I was sore.

After finishing the “race”, and I use that term very loosely, I changed into compression gear as I have found in the past that it really helps.  Generally, I will wear for the rest of the day and overnight and it was no different this time.
After getting up and showering for work on Monday, I pulled on my other pair of compression tights and wore them under my work gear, again sleeping in them Monday night.  Surely a full 48 hours in compression would help with the muscles soreness, right?................Lies!!!!
I can’t remember being this sore after an event.  I’m sure I have been, but time fades the pain.  Fortunately, I was booked in for my regular Myotherapy session on Tuesday afternoon.  Unfortunately, Monique is some kind of sadist who takes great pleasure in telling me (and anyone else who listens) how much of an idiot I am.  Whilst it may be true, it’s not really necessary to tell everyone is it?
I regularly tell Monique that she is in the wrong game.  I believe her vocation should be one where she dresses in PVC, pulls her hair back in a bun and furnish a whip.  Nonetheless, Tuesday afternoon she was at her sadistic best and, despite her assurances she was just “going easy”, she successfully had me on the verge of tears for the better part of an hour – And I pay for this privilege!!!!
Whilst it was mainly my quads that were sore, when Mon started work on my calves, then bugger me!!!  Hello Houston……..we have a problem!!!  We found sore spots on my sore spots.  So whilst I was squirming around wishing for all this to be over, I’m sure Mon was sitting there with a smile on her face and thinking “You Idiot!!”
I know that the best way to get rid of all of the crap out of the legs is to stimulate blood flow (as it Myotherapy didn’t do that anyway) so it was decided a nice easy walk was in order with Guysy, who is recovering from a groin injury.  A solid 6kms in 50 minutes.  I must admit I felt a bit better after walking, although I still wasn’t up to my normal ride with the bunch on Wednesday morning.
In the meantime at work, the girls were having a great time watching me walk up and down the stairs, sending me on various wild goose chases for various bits and pieces and generally hanging shit on “the old man” in the office.  Thanks for your support ladies!!!  You will get yours in due course, I promise you……
Thursday morning was a scheduled run, however as per Coach Ruley’s advices I was told to take it easy (as if I wasn’t gonna anyway) and just do a little walk/run.  So it was off to the Little Running Group as per normal, however Guysy and I headed off for 3 laps of the lake instead of the normal run over to Mooroopna and back.  Guysy is just gradually easing back into the running, so of the 3 laps of lake (totalling 6km) we probably only ran about 200metres per lap or so.  Was significantly colder walking than it normally is running.
Thursday night (a rare spare evening for me) I decided to make the most of it, so flagged gentle tap around on the bike with a few of the guys.  In the end it was just The fossil and I who made the trek around the toaster loop for a nice 50km, at an average of 31km.  Pretty happy with that on tired legs and not bunch to draft off.
Friday morning was a write off as I had to be in the car by 6am for a 9am meeting in Melbourne.  Given I was going to be in Melbourne anyway, I finally had the chance to make an appointment at the Olympic Park Sports Medical Centre (OPSMC), following my referral from my GP.  My leg has still been hassling me, ironically enough, ever since I had my shoulder re-co just over 2 years ago.
To fix the shoulder the surgeon took a hamstring graft from the right knee.  After surgery, I experienced numbness down the outside of the shin, from knee to ankle, for the better part of 12 months.  Nothing so unusual with that following surgery, but the numbness was accompanied by a dull, aching pain in the 3 or 4 inches or so above the ankle.  The pain would come and go and there was nothing in particular that would specifically bring it on, and it would range from just a slight dull ache to a sharp, stabbing pain at other times.
There is also no rhyme or reason to when it would happen either, with it happening at times whilst running or riding, or at other times simply whilst lying in bed.  Obviously, since getting back into (semi) regular training over the past 3 months or so, the pain has been getting steadily more consistent and sharp.  So, after bamboozling my GP, he has referred me straight down to OPSMC for them to check me out.
So, 3pm Friday morning I met Dr Lari Trease, who spent a bucket-load of time with me, poking and prodding, asking questions and having me do about a million calf raises trying to actually bring on the pain.  Murphy’s law, but nothing worked………….
Finally, after what felt like a millennium of hopping up and down on one foot, the leg started to play up, albeit only on a slight scale to normal and Lari was able to pinpoint a few spots – sufficiently enough to dig her fingers in and subsequently squeeze a few tears out of me.
Checking out my feet, the first thing she noticed was that they are flat……..dead flat (Thanks Dad), and promptly set about taping my feet from the back of the ankle right up to just behind the toes, to try and create an “arch”.  Feels weird and she asked me to ensure that I ran over the weekend to see how I went with the taping.  It appears that some orthotics will be part of the solution, at the very least.
Still not quite sure what was going on, Lari walked me next door into their imaging area and slotted me in immediately for an MRI, which was promptly done.  Then it was back in the car for the trip home and to pick the kids up (slightly late) for the weekend.
As promised, in between Netball & Auskick, Skate park, colouring in and time at the park, I did my Saturday run on the treadmill, for a total of 6.5km before I nearly expired from the temperature in the lounge room after the kids had the heater running all morning.  Sunday I managed to fit in a 60 min session on the wind-trainer followed by 3km on the treadmill (done at 5min pace).  Finished the weekend with a very sore leg.  Now I’m awaiting my phone appointment with Lari tomorrow (Tuesday) to discuss the results of the MRI.
So, after starting the week with very sore legs, I finished the week………well, exactly the same way!!
Sessions for the week were:
Tuesday                                               Walk 6km, 50mins
Thursday                                             Walk / Run 6km, 45mins
                                                            Bike 50km, 1hr 40mins, 30.0k avg
Saturday                                              Run (treadmill) 6.5km, 45mins inc warm up
Sunday                                                Brick – Bike (wind trainer) Approx 30km, 60 mins
                                                            Run 3km, 15 mins (@ 5 min pace)

Official weigh in this morning was completed resulting in 108.0kg flashing back at me, a loss of 1.0kg for the week so still heading in the right direction.  So that’s a total loss of 12 kg in 12 weeks.  At the rate of 1kg per week, and with 50 weeks between the start of this program and the race, is it possible to race at 70kg???  Haha, doubtful, but if I am sub 90kg I would be extremely happy.
All this depends on fixing a dodgy leg of course.  We will see what happens tomorrow.
Train safe
Ayto

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