The great hip test....

Up at 5.30am to head to the gym to test out my hip on the treadmill. After a long warm up on the bike, I did my physio-ordered 3kms at a very easy pace (6.45min) followed by a cooldown and 30mins of stretches. Am very happy to report that there was no discomfort/pain in either the hip or calves/shins during the run. Back in the office, after sitting at my desk for a hour or so, there was a slight ‘thing’ in my hip when I first stood up so it's not 100% but not far off (lets say 95%). I have a massage tomorrow and a rest day planned for Friday – with lots of stretches in the meantime, I should be ready for another run on Saturday (which has been downgraded from 40mins to 25mins after Stu’s wise advice).

At lunch I headed back to the gym to see Satan. First time ever that I’ve gone to the gym twice in one day. After my ‘easy’ program last week, she was back to her old tricks today with a really tough program which included lunges which I was a bit worried about but my hip was fine !! My abs have lost some of their conditioning. Bugger. I hate ab work and had done so much of it after my back problem last year. Not to mention the additional blubber which now sits on top of them ;-) C’est la vie. Conditioning will come back quickly

After Stu’s wise words, I sat down tonight and have written myself a (conservative) program for the next 5 weeks (including an easy week) which should take my long run back to an hour. I will probably miss the CR challenge next weekend (though I may show up for breakfast :-) and a couple of fun runs/races in the meantime but better that than come back too quickly and bugger my hip, or another body part, up again.

Edit: + 30mins more stretching before bed :-)